Vanity Fair: Those living in Tudor period England may not have benefited from such modern inventions as photographs and Photoshop but they did, as Wolf Hall costume designer Joanna Eatwell points out, have portraits and eager-to-please painters commissioned to create them. “We manipulate images and I think that happened very much in paintings,” Eatwell told us during a phone call last week about Wolf Hall, the six-part series adapted from Hilary Mantel’s 2009 novel about Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power in Henry VIII’s court that premiered on PBS on April 5. “We know that Henry VIII sent [German artist] Holbein to paint Anne of Cleves, who was to be his future wife. And when she arrived he did not recognize her [because of the portrait’s inaccuracy] and the marriage was never consummated.”
5 comments:
The amount of research that went into the make of these costume items is breathtaking. I'm a huge fan of research myself, so it's always so fun to see what people have discovered that makes their craft or their design just the slightest bit more real or the tiniest smidge more believable. I think that having all those ties and clips and pins helps the actors out as well. I mean, if it takes two hours to get into costume, you certainly get a sense of what these people went through to look like what they did every day. And how you move in all those layers definitely defines your character as well! Costumes are supposed to enhance an actor's performance, and they're incredibly important in period pieces like Wolf Hall. Fashion was what separated you from duke to king, peasant to artisan. And if a person is the embodiment of their class, then they need some physical dress to portray that on screen.
I love the amount of research put into this. There are so many historical films and tv shows out right now in which the costumes are all wrong (if you want a really great example, check out the tv series Robin Hood. *shudder*). I’m no costume designer, but I am a bit of a history buff and it’s really better when the costumes look like real clothing that someone would wear- meaning all of the little details of wear, dressing techniques, status, and the making of the clothes themselves are visible. The right methods of making something make a difference in the way that clothing falls, or how it emphasizes the person’s shape: and all of these things are important to consider when dressing in period clothing. There are so many paintings, records, and references out there as to how these things were made, and I hope a few other shows (cough cough) could take the hint!
The amount of research and dedication applied to the making of these costumes is unreal. The results are suitably stunning. With such accuracy and detail concerning the clothing, I really hope the actual narrative and plot of the show is relatively accurate. The costume designer has successfully used primary sources, metabolized them, and realized them to yield a very approachable and clear understanding of clothing and what exactly clothing meant during this time period. This elevates the show from mere entertainment into a type of living history that will allow modern audiences to see a more true depiction of a time that is so often egregiously romanticized.
I was also very impressed with the designer's understanding of the symbolism of clothing, and how colors and material were a language all their own. While many designers today will emulate the look of a period, so few develop designs with a true understanding of why the clothes looked the way they did. I think this difference is what makes this particular designer's costumes so successful.
I am so excited to see this show. I am a huge sucker for stunning period garb, and even from these photos the show looks crystalline in ways I didn't expect. I am also excited because there are several shows these days that replace period perfect clothing with period close-enough. Reign for example has many beautiful costumes, but the accessories look more like they belong in an urban outfitters catalog than in a museum. The think people forget is that people LIVED in these clothes. They weren't just pretty pieces of decoration. I loved reading about how people in that time could replace their sleeves after they had worn out. The average layman watching the show might not notice that kind of specific detail. but the overall effect of that much realism creates a highly detailed world that provides endless mysteries to watch. I'll be interested to see what yet another rendition of the story of Anne Boylen will add to the lavish tale.
Its true that paintings were often painted to please the ego of the person who was commissioning the painting. Features and the figure of the person sitting for the portrait were often changed to make them better fit the ideals of the time. Lucky for those of us who look more at the clothing they are wearing than the features of their face, their clothing seems to be a bit more accurate. Thankfully we have extant garments that help to prove that, unlike peoples features that aside from a skull recreation, it will be hard to prove or disprove the paintings. Something often gets over looked when doing historical recreations is the closures we put on clothing. I think its admirable that Eatwell kept to the period closure details. The Tutor was clearly so well researched and Eatwells attention to all detail shined though each episode of the show. It is a joy to watch a show who's costume designer pays so much attention to the details in the costumes.
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