I think I have surpassed the point where I do not sound like a complete dork, so now I can finally dive into the multiple adaptations of pride and prejudice(hold the applause)! As you can gather from the title I am going to be deciding whether the 1995 miniseries adaptation of pride and prejudice or the 2005 movie is more historically accurate costume-wise. I will not be taking artistic liberty into account but I will say that it’s not always a bad thing, especially with regency era costumes because many find the very high waist unflattering(me included).

The first thing to note about these two is that the 2005 version takes place in the 1790s instead of the early 1800s because the director didn’t like the high-waisted gowns of the regency era. Unfortunately he was flawed in this assumption that moving back the years it takes place would change the height of the waist-line because high-waisted gowns were still the norm in the 1790s.

The first part of fashion accuracy I am going to pull apart are the colors of the costume. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you might remember that pastels and white dresses were very popular at the time. In fact, the 2005 version is often criticized for having too many white dresses! During the Netherfield ball scene Elizabeth and the majority of the girls there are wearing white dresses, this seems odd, but it’s not completely impossible considering wild popularity of the simple white dress look. As for the 1995 version, the amount of creme, light pink, white, and light blue dresses is very accurate to the era. The seasonal colors are also very accurate.

Oh! And we cannot forget the men. For the most part it’s harder to mess up men’s dress from this era because it was less ornamented. although still complex by today’s standards. The colors for the men are all in order, they are not as vibrant and varying as one might accept but it is satisfactory for the tone of the narrative. Although men’s clothing was pretty extravagant in the late 18th century, it ventured toward simplicity in the early 19th century

As for the designs on these dresses, the 1995 version is the most accurate, the 2005 version just lacks structure and complexity. Although the Georgian abandoned a lot of the rigidness and volume of it’s predecessors, it was still the 1700s-1800s in Europe so the gowns are not going to be flimsy and breathable. Below is a comparison to drive my point home, on the left is a picture of Elizabeth from the 1995 miniseries and the right is Elizabeth from the 2005 movie(2005 Elizabeth is in green).

Hopefully you get what I mean, 1995 Elizabeth’s gown is just more hearty looking. So, the big reveal is that the 1995 version is more accurate, although I may be biased because I love Colin Firth. Overall both adaptations have merit and what the 2005 movie lacks in accuracy it makes up for in artistic decisions and the fact that Kiera Knightley is a goddess.