upon my word truly splendid to see you
yesterday today we were here to talk
about the new Emma movie I was pretty
excited about it I saw the trailer and I
saw that it's kind of a fresh take on
Austin who is kind of the author that
people they prefer to do it the
traditional way because we all know our
Austin expectations and we don't really
like experiments or new stuff when it
comes to Regency ehre period dramas
especially Austin adaptation I was
pretty excited to see something new
being done to it I myself and I kind of
a person that loves to contradict the
supposed strictness of previous eras
with you know comedy and weird stuff
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I was excited and I was not disappointed
but today we're not really talking about
that we're talking about costumes
silhouette is crucial when it comes to
creating a historical look silhouette
and the fit of the clothing is so
important and so many period dramas
don't get that right because it's a
difficult thing to do a lot of period
dramas have beautiful thought-through
costumes but somewhere between the
designs and thirst fittings and the set
this silhouette kind of gets lost I
don't know if it's the matter of the
person putting the costumes on or but
designs are bad or bad notes given on on
putting on the costume but sometimes
this little bit just isn't there and no
matter how good the costume is if just
do it it's a bit off if it doesn't work
for the period that the film is set in
it can be a bit unsettling on the other
hand if you get the silhouette right
people will be okay with you
experimenting with clothing so let's say
in the favorite we have the right
silhouette and the right cuts but modern
fabrics and modern color palettes
costumes in Emma had a wonderful
silhouette you could tell that the
skirts were exactly the one thing we're
supposed to be the busts were properly
pushed up and the waistline was in the
right place which is not where the waist
is one of my pet peeves with Regency or
up here in dramas is that these feathers
are going crazy come on don't steal the
spotlight is that the waistline is often
higher at the front and then go slower
at the back in Emma all of the waist
lines were so delightfully even if
anything maybe the waist lights were
actually too even because if you look at
fashion plates from 1815 which is where
when the film is supposed to take place
centre front is the highest point of the
waistline and then the sides go a little
bit lower when I go through the male
fashion and male silhouettes the pants
were not as tight as they were supposed
to be and I'm not saying that because I
like the actors okay the pants should be
a bit tighter and I feel like a lot of
the silhouette was a little bit
nice like the vest could have been
fitting more the suits could have been
tighter as well but then they had
delightfully high and starched and stiff
colors that I just as they're supposed
to be paired drama set in the Regency
era often tend to go for a super toned
down palette sort of what I'm wearing
today mainly because we don't like
vibrant colors in period dramas because
we feel like they're not historically
accurate obviously some of the shades
some of the pigments were not available
yet but generally speaking clothes were
a lot more colorful that we make them
out to be if you choose to go for the
moat toned down palette is okay those
colors existed too but there's so much
more to explore and I'm not saying that
they went for super vibrant colors
because a lot of the dresses in the
movie were actually white or off-white
or light pink or cream but it still
explored some more options I feel and
some more exciting options as well so
Emma's color palette is pasta but
sometimes quite bold for example her her
signature yellow Polly police police
police police so the color palette
managed to show us what the period looks
like but at the same time it was fitting
with the director's vision so it fits
with everything that happens in the
frame all of the paint the streets all
of the wallpapers furniture it usually
plays along in some way and if it
doesn't then it's it's done on purpose
to show a contrast between the
surroundings and the person I think the
colour sorry I think the colour played
beautifully in the film it was a really
powerful tool and at the same time it
played nicely with the Regency era
fashion which are more vibrant than we
think and a lot of the excellent dresses
that we look at are obviously faded in
some bleach so those colors would have
been would have been much more vibrant
when they were worn
what you can't see on fashion place and
what comes to life in a movie very
nicely as all the textures how many
different textures were involved in
making a Regency era out of it you had
smooth rich silks or freely mash any
sets
Shem sets is this thing picking through
the dress to cover your neckline by the
way you had flowy Muslims see through
Gauss's soft feathers shiny leather
gloves stiff butter and Cotton's there
was so much going on in a single outfit
and it all comes together and it makes
it so much more real because you know
what those things feel like when you
touch them so when you look at an outfit
that is so textured you can immerse
yourself more in the story because you
know what they are trying to say to you
like this thing is soft or this is very
structured and cold it just makes it a
much more immersive experience when
there is a lot of textures involved
speaking of fabrics one of the ways of
displaying your wealth in the 19th
century and first centuries before that
was by showing off your fabric fabric
itself was incredibly expensive that's
why people didn't own a lot of clothes
but the good ones were so good it's
unreal in the Regency era they were all
handmade and hand open and because of
that they were so delicate and luscious
and flowy it's impossible to achieve by
modern technology it's just unreal
that is why I really appreciate that in
Emma a lot of the fabrics are gorgeous
and you can tell they spent a lot of
time looking for the right ones
sometimes it's really crucial what kind
of fabric you use for what garment like
if you use a wolf or a police let's say
like the one that M is wearing the
yellow one if you used a wool that is
too thick the pleats on the back would
be completely ruined it wouldn't work it
would be too bulky and to I don't know
just heavy so never underestimate the
choice of fabric especially in a
historical costume
the main purpose of movie costumes is
telling the story and in a period drama
if it was only about getting the period
right you could easily just borrow you
know any dress that you can find from
particular period in a rental and your
biggest worry would be whether or not
it's gonna fit the actresses but we know
it doesn't work like that every movie
costume designer should analyze this
story and work closely with the director
to make sure the costumes are enhancing
this story they're helping the director
tell the story and here we have just
that the story revolves around a young
independent confident woman handsome
clever and rich and that's what the
costumes are they're rich they're
complicated multi-layered and well
fitted you could even say they're
perfect and that's it so well with the
whole motive of perfection we see
throughout the movie and the adjective
that is given to Emma at some point of
the movie costumes also play a massive
role in creating the characters after
all the first thing we see when a new
character enters the frame and an
apparent Donna it's not so easy for us
to decipher social differences and
personal touches in clothing so it has
to be really really precise and clear to
the viewer the costumes has to give us
this message very clearly so we pick up
on all the hints because most of the
characters in Emma are wearing quite
fashionable clothes like no one is a
decade behind and the silhouette does
not differ that much it's not mainly by
differences in the fabrics the colours
and the decoration note how plain
Harriet's or Jane's clothes are compared
to the ones worn by Emma and Harriet
costumes also evolved through time she
started quite plain and then gets more
and more fashionable up to the point
where she kind of looks like a copy of
Emma
sometimes characters are established
through costume by the contrast of
different styles and often words well
tailored garments that are decorated in
self fabric trimmings and that kind of
makes them look simple but effective on
the other hand we have the fabulously
over-the-top mrs. Elton but seems to be
wearing more French fashions with
and irritants and have your decoration
so their costumes compared to what Emma
wears look kind of silly and seem to be
too much but we only know that because
emma is established as the more clever
and sophisticated one so costumes help
create the characters but the characters
also help us understand the costumes
which in a period drama were a regular
viewer is probably not a Regency era
fashion scholar it's quite important to
get that right to get the message clear
they say imitation is the sincerest form
of flattery and with Emma that's
certainly true because a lot of the
looks are almost direct copies of
original dresses or fashion plates or
paintings copying nineteenth-century
garments makes it even more authentic
sometimes not only dresses but the whole
book is copied like the black dressed up
and the worst when her sister visits
it's almost a direct copy of an 1819
Austrian portrait and even the infamous
fireplace scene was directly inspired by
a Regency or a caricature these are some
lovely touches that make the movie even
more grounded in the iran it's
portraying but it doesn't mean that the
costumes are just some random copies of
pretty dresses they most likely have
been carefully selected from like
thousands of fashion plates and
paintings if you ever wondered why
people back then needed maids and
butlers to help them get dressed up it's
because there was so many layers
involved a typical young lady's outfit
would consist of a shamisen a pair of
stockings a pair of Stacy's Chevy sets
petticoats
/ before an actual dress was put on a
dress which sometimes consisted of more
than one layer that's why you just can't
achieve the the right look without all
these layers how else would you get this
carrots to be so deliciously flowy and
and the bust to be so high in Emma the
layers of outfits are often suggested by
flash of a petticoat or an underlayer
peeking through sometimes
caps peeking out from under the bonnet
even overshoes de and that takes off at
some point in the movie they reveal
another pair of shoes underneath it was
also the norm among the rich to change a
couple of times a day depending on the
activity and dressing or changing
clothes is the topic that appears in the
movie quite often and it allows us to
have a peek into all these layers and to
understand the looks are much more
complicated than it seems and it allows
us to understand how ceremonial life was
back then the movie allowed a couple of
mistakes into those ceremonials though
such as revealing necklines during the
day or covering them up at the evening
which is not really something you would
do it was clear that one was for today
and the other one the other look was for
the evening so it was usually done by
characters whose personality could
explain doing that
a good period drama costume isn't just a
dress or a suit something that we often
forget nowadays is that the clothing in
the 19th century was sort of your
business cards you could use it to
accentuate your social position so one
way in which you could express how much
money thought and work went into your
outfit was through the accessories as
you can see when I look today
Regency ladies love their accessories
and they kind of excelled in this they
could wear so many things at the same
time Seamus adds gloves I'm wearing an
outdoor outfit right now which is why
I'm wearing gloves and an opponent but
anyway you could were settled early a
heavily decorated bonnet knit gloves and
expensive cashmere shawls and elegant
veil a cap of fine lace and embroidered
chamois said practical galoshes a silk
parasol all these things could improve
an outfit and in the Regency era the
less is more rule didn't really apply to
anything in mother cinema we often tend
to go for the modern aesthetic and we
don't really appreciate the accessories
creating the look because it looks
ridiculous at some point there is just
so much going on by modern standards we
underestimate the power of accessories
when creating a historical law when it
comes to Emma I have to say that the
accessories were one of the only pieces
of costume in the movie that made me
raise my eyebrow a couple times mainly
when it comes to strange neck were the
odds lonely neck wrapped up mrs. Elton
wore and it looks like it was missing a
chamois set and the one that Emma wore a
strange to punky sort of neck corset in
the early 19th century there was a lot
happening on ladies heads because
complicated elaborated hairstyles meant
that you could afford and made to get it
done for you I also appreciated that the
director was not afraid of curse because
a lot of pure dramas sets in the Regency
era tend to shy away from curls and
pretend curls didn't exist mainly
because they seemed unsexy by modern
standards
it just doesn't look hot enough but the
majority of women in the early 19th
century cut the front of their hair
short especially so they could curl it
and wear it sort of like this and if
look at the designs of hairstyles from
time or the actual portraits of women in
the 1810 there is some hairstyles
without the crazy curly sides but it's
usually an exception so Emma was very
truthful in that aspect as almost all
the female characters had curls on the
sides of their faces I have to say
though
Emma's curls were really odd they were
going for the rocker look as we see in
one of the scenes Fleur and my swearing
rep calls in in her hair but it's not
nearly enough rags for that type of look
and that many tight curls and also I
tried achieving that look by using rack
curls and it doesn't work like that at
all according to the hair designer for
the movie it was a conscious decision to
modernize to look a bit to me it was
obvious that a modern curling IRA most
used but then I'm also you know used to
curling my hair in a Regency way and I
know the results so for me it was
obvious that it's not what would happen
in the 1815 because the rest of the look
was so immersed in history the hair did
take me out of the story of it because
all I could think about was how the very
ends of Emma's curls are straight
because you can't put them inside the
curling iron as you do it that being
said I am still impressed that they went
for some intense curl action and they
didn't go for 90s style lose Beach waves
or lose hair at all and it is true that
the look invented by the hair designer
is quite unique and maybe in the future
it will be known as the Emma look mrs.
Elton's hair was a bit an acoustic
mainly because it featured an Apollo
knot which was this weird stiff thingy
on the top of her head and that was
popular from 1820s to mid 1830 but it's
an anachronism that establishes her
character as fashion-forward and also a
little bit ridiculous and its contrasts
with other characters very well overall
I really appreciate the efforts of
making the hairstyles moderately
historically accurate and not being
afraid of experimenting when it comes to
looks that are at nowadays could be
considered strange a weren't afraid to
make actresses look lame which is
something I really appreciate
Sonia costuming a period drama is a
difficult job and a lot of thought goes
into it which is also why it's sometimes
so disappointing learn good story gives
a really good opportunity for gorgeous
historical costumes and that
opportunities wasted luckily for us Emma
wasn't that story so excuse me while I
go and create a new set of Regency
wardrobe for myself because I want to
look handsome clever and rich peace out