Yahoo Style Canada: Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star as Cathy and Heathcliff in director Emerald Fennell's reimagining of Emily Bronte's classic tale and Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran has now opened up about the movie's lavish looks - insisting the stunning outfits are an amalgamation of different fashion from across the centuries.
8 comments:
I haven’t seen this movie yet but I read the book in high school and feel very passionately about this story being accurately represented. From what I’ve heard about the movie so far, it seems they may not be entirely doing the story justice as Cathy doesn’t even get to be a ghost and haunt the narrative which I would argue is the plot point that delivers the most important messages of the book. So its not surprising to me that even though it wasn’t marketed as a “stylized version” of Wuthering Heights, it is. Me personally I wouldn’t have chosen to stylize the story in this way. Wuthering Heights is an uncanny, surrealist ghost story and so it doesn’t need to be entirely real, however, the characters experience very real emotions and the story reflects very real themes that beg for some sort of historical accuracy and normalcy in the design.
I saw Wuthering Heights the day after it came out, with no intention for this movie to be any good. Boy, was my hope optimistic. This movie was bad. This movie was a poor recreation of the original story. This movie has some crazy costumes. Not only were they not period accurate, but they were also just... strange. At one point, she's wearing what looks like a dress made of pleather, and another Catherine is wearing some sort of plastic Saran Wrap-like material? I think comparing it to McQueen and Mugler is a poor comparison. I think comparing it to anything, really, is a poor comparison. The costumes and production sets were not meant for this movie, and I don't think that the theming of the costumes worked for either a cohesive look or a cohesive storytelling element. I really did like the red dress she wears with the white cuff when she goes to visit her dad, though.
I am a big proponent of the fact that costume design does not always have to be historically accurate to be powerful, meaningful, and a good fit for the story. That being said I really am not a huge fan of the design for this version of Wuthering Heights. I think there are a lot of ways that you can blend together historical influence and a more modern feel, but you have to be so careful with the way that you do it in order for it to look good. It also has to fit with the story and i’m not sure that this is the right place to implement this technique. I think that they way that they’ve done it makes the whole thing not feel cohesive at all, and it diminishes the artistry of the pieces they are creating. Also some of them just look straight up bad, they lowkey look like they came from shien and are pieces of plastic that are going to fall apart in two seconds.
“Wuthering Heights' costume designer has insisted the outfits seen onscreen aren't supposed to be "historically accurate".” In my opinion if you’re making the design seem "aesthetically close” for a modern audience without making it clear that it’s not historically accurate, you’re doing your audience a disservice. I don’t think that costuming has to be 100% historically accurate to tell an evocative story, but costumes that take you out of the world and make obvious historical inaccuracies do not help serve the point of any movie or show. I haven’t seen the movie, only advertisements, and from what I’ve seen the bolder costume choices do not serve the theme of the book. A big part of Wuthering Heights is that it is not at all louder than life - it is somewhat of a darker, surrealist story. It is gothic, and in my opinion the costumes for the new movie do not reflect that.
I hadn’t heard of this movie before, and the discussion about the costume not being historically accurate is a really interesting point to raise. I’ve heard some productions that emphasize how their costumes are historically accurate, and there are some educational purposes to them, but actually, they are still a combination of different elements from that specific time period. For either theater or screen approach to the costume, I think it is important to research what people actually wore at the time to get a sense of that time period setting, and help the audience get the time frame of the story. However, it is also crucial to consider the application of costume during a performance, and how much aesthetic will be emphasized. So most of the time, we want the costume to fit what our story is about and implement more elements that the audience nowadays can understand. Serving the audience, the story, the performance, and the historical context are all as important as each other, so we can’t neglect any one of them. It is interesting to hear people behind the scenes to bring them up to the audience, so they will have more perspective in understanding the design process.
Stupid people can get really uppity about “historical accuracy” in media, usually as a way of trying to prove how smart they really are. Personally, unless the film’s goal is to recreate a historical time period or event, I couldn’t care less about “historical accuracy”. I think staying 100% true to a particular time period can increase immersion when used appropriately, but staying true to accurately depicting historical dress and events can stifle directors' creative freedom and ideas. I’m reminded of Tarentino’s Inglorious Basterds in his breaking of convention in the historical fiction genre with the third act assassination of Hitler succeeding, ending the war long before it did in the real world. Would Tarentino’s film be better if he had adhered to historical accuracy throughout? I don’t think so. On a much smaller level, the non-historically accurate costumes of Wuthering Heights indicate that the production is much more focussed on a specific artistic vision for the production rather than producing a period piece. Recently, a lot of movies have been getting flak for a lack of “historical accuracy” beyond Wuthering Heights like Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey that is set to release this year. I think these takes lack nuance and reek of the echo chamber of online film discourse. If a movie is going to be better because Margot Robbie is wearing Chanel jewelry then I couldn’t care less if that jewelry isn’t time period appropriate.
I have not seen this movie yet, however, my roommate is obsessed with it. She has told me that it is her new favorite movie which kind of surprised me because I have not heard the best of reviews. However, after she explained it to me, I think I understand a lot more why people don't see it like how she does. The way she explained it to me is that the director wanted it to be how she pictured the book when she first read it as a teenager. So despite there being some parts that are a little odd, it's because this is a teenager imagining this book. It's not supposed to be perfectly accurate too how the book was originally written, which I think some people don't like. This movie was not made to be book or historically accurate. Even though I have not seen the movie I have seen many videos/pictures of the costumes and I have mixed feelings about them. I think they are a little odd and not something that people would typically think of when they think of movie costumes, but in a way that makes them special. I might have a new opinion after watching the movie, we will see.
When it comes to book to screen adaptions im never one to say that a piece of media needs to be 100 accurate to the book, i think its important for artists to take liberties because it helps them create broader artistic works, limiting people to details usually doesn't turn out well(i also always say that if an adaption is one to one with the source material than nothing is gained from watching the adaptation while you do get that visual experience the arctic vision is the same just slightly dampened), i say all that to say that i have no bias in saying that i think they might've taken too much artistic liberty when it comes to the wuthering waves adaption. I haven't seen the movie yet but I am familiar with the book, i like it enough to find myself wanting to watch a movie about it , but from what I've seen the director isn't really prioritizing remaining faithful to the book. When it comes to the costumes i dont really see the benefit of straying away from the time period it is based on, i think that you can remain faithful to the time and still tell a really good story arc through clothing.I also dont think that chanel jewelry pieces make sense for the story that they are going for, not only is it not historically accurate but it doesn't seem to align with the inspiration periods that they were looking for either, the way it was said it seemed more like product advertisement than a meaningful design choice
Post a Comment