Awardsdaily - The Oscars, the Films and everything in between.: Autumn de Wilde’s interpretation of Jane Austen’s Emma is a candy-coated dream thanks to the production design and the costumes by Academy Award winning designer, Alexandra Byrne. This iteration is so loyal to the text, but de Wilde makes it feel loose and more comedic than versions we’ve seen in the past. Byrne’s work is so colorful and feminine with a lot of pinks, light blues and deep blues. And bonnets. So many bonnets.
3 comments:
Honestly, the Regency period has some of the strangest trends and norms when it comes to costumes. It's really interesting how clothes that were so much in style then can just look straight up wrong when recreated today. I think that super high empire waist of the time is most commonly associated with nightgowns and that can be a hard association to override or break. I wish that the article had included more images, so that when the questions or answers referred to a specific look the reader could have an idea of what the article was talking about, even if they had not seen the film. It was interesting to learn that this period in history was the first time when 'fashion journals' were published, so trends could start to be prescribed and disseminated throughout the (upper class) public. Would be interesting to learn more about how publication affected fashion.
I love historical fashion, and have given a couple attempts at creating period pieces for my own fun, but the regency era is one I haven't touched much. I never really think of it as a glamorous period and instead when thinking of high historical fashion and glamour I think of the earlier time periods with bigger skirts and bustles. However after reading this article I will have to go back and both watch Emma and give another look into the regency era fashions. I am personally not a fan of the empire waist look that is so iconic for the era, but I may have been too quick to discredit it all together. Byrne's insight into her designs and decision making process has made me once again interested in exploring further into this topic. Watching Emma will definitely be my first step in this process because from this article I can tell that a lot of thought went into the costumes and making them accurate while also fun.
I have read a few article about the costuming in Emma, but they all have some new pieces of information! I found that Emma had some of the best costume design in movie I have seen in a long time. The designer is so knowledgeable on the historical costume, so relating those styles and silhouettes to a modern audience seems effortless. When ever we think of a dressing scene in film, i will always think of Danger Liaisons. It was truly the blueprint. However I find that the production designer and costume designer have so successfully created the world of Highbury you do not become distracted by the costumes. I think what she said about not over costuming was very poignant. I could tell when watching the film that the same dress was worn, but when the petticoat is changed underneath it makes it see like a whole different dress. - Evan Riley
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