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.

Today is an exciting day because I get to teach you about Marie Antoinette! I’ll start off by saying she was a real nut case. Moving onto some brief biographical information, Marie Antoinette was born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna in the year 1755 in Vienna. She hailed from the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, which probably explains the nuttiness considering the astonishing amount of in-breeding in the Habsburg line. Fortunately though, based off the paintings I have seen, she did not inherit the well-recognized “Habsburg chin”.

Marie married King Louis XVI in 1770 and became dauphine of France(which is like princess-status), four years later her husband ascended to the position of King of France and she became Queen. As King Louis’s reign continued, she fell increasingly out of favor with the people of France, who considered her overly-lavish, promiscuous, and all around conniving. Despite that reputation, she was a fashion icon of the Georgian era.

It all started with a painting of a sheet-like  white dress called a gaulle(pictured left). The painting quickly became infamous and was met with outrage. The thin muslin garment she is depicted wearing was in sharp contrast with the structured and flamboyant gowns uniform to the French court(pictured right). In fact, the gown resembled what was worn as underwear at the time. Nevertheless, she had sparked a trend. The “chemise a la reine” caught on all over France and England. Another reason this painting was considered outrageous is the lack of reference to the king and the throne. This was very unusual at the time and can be owed to the fact that Marie Antoinette desired autonomy and a reputation outside of her marriage to Louis XVI.

 

Now to expand on Marie’s desire for autonomy. You may be aware of her lavish lifestyle(yes, even lavish for a queen), which included exclusive retreats with her favorite aristocrats. She spent exuberate amounts of money on leisure while the people of France, or the Third Estate, were experiencing famine and economic hardship. It also certainly didn’t help that her famous chemise was made of fine English Muslin, the popularity of which was a detriment to the French silk industry. She was loved and she was hated. Her behavior and dress was in rebellion to the structure of the European court yet she fed into it’s luxury.

As I’m sure you know, a little thing called the French Revolution cut her dreamland short. Although during the 1780’s Marie Antoinette took on more of her political role as Queen and attempted to salvage her position, her reputation never recovered and she failed to do anything to aid the people of France. In 1793 she was publicly executed by guillotine in the Place de la Concorde.

Despite her odd life and early death,  Marie Antoinette’s impact of on Western fashion was solidified and was one of the first steps towards increasingly simple and casual dress for women. She also abandoned the heavy make up commonly worn by members of the French court, although this had already fallen out of fashion in most European countries. Modern eyes still see the garb of the 1780’s as gaudy, but it was definitely a change from the complex and ornamented dresses of the prior baroque and rococo periods. The Chemise a la Reine remains one of the most iconic moments in fashion history to date.

As with gloves, the use of parasols was not a new concept in Europe before the Georgian era. Ladies had been using umbrellas to maintain a ghostly complexion since the 17th century, and later on used oiled paper umbrellas to protect themselves from rain in the 18th century. Pale complexions were a symbol of wealth because they distinguished the nobility from common laborers, who could not afford parasols or sun hats, or to lounge around in the shade all day. Oil paper umbrellas originated in East and South East Asia and spread to Europe under the slang term “kittisols” when world trade picked up in the mid 18th century.

Men and women alike employed the use of kittisols, which were largely unknown to the countryside of the U.K. till the 1760’s. Before the widespread use of the modern umbrella, umbrellas were large and used over carriages to block rain, in fact they were so unwieldy that they required an attendant! The first light weight umbrellas were available in 1710 in France, but as mentioned, they took a while to gain popularity.

Georgian era kittisols were commonly referred to as parasols, even though there is debate on whether or not they are the same thing. Whenever a woman was using an umbrella, it was referred to as a parasol.

Yes I know, this is all so confusing- to further confuse you I will give the etymology of the word parasol. No surprise here, it’s a French word(almost all fancy things have French names it seems), para means “to shield, shroud, or defend”, while sol is derived from the word soleil, which means “sun”. For all intensive purposes, parasol can be translated as “sun shield”. Now, if there is any francophones reading this, let me further disambiguate that while sol by itself means “floor”, that is not the intended meaning in this instance.

Moving on from those rather dreary distinctions, parasols were most commonly constructed of wood ribbing and oil or wax coated canvas, silk, and sometimes leather, and of course, a brass or wooden handle. It was not uncommon for a particularly well off lady’s parasol to be decorated with all sorts of taffeta and gold/silver detailing, lace attachés were also a common ornament. Parasol colors generally followed the color scheme of Georgian gowns- appearing usually in white or pastel colors.

Below are some examples of parasols. The picture on the left depicts a lady in ornate Georgian attire yet a with a curiously plain, yet attractive shade of pink, parasol. In the middle you will see an example of a more of an ornate parasol, also in pink, with lace attachés, that were, as previously mentioned, fashionable at the time. Finally, on the right of these two, you will see a parasol that borders between beautifully intricate and down right gaudy, this would have been very expensive. I’m still deciding whether or not I like it as I write this.

Hm, after finishing inserting these pictures I’ve decided the one on the right looks very much like an old couch. Anyways, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and look forward to the next post, where I will be describing Marie Antoinette’s impact on 18th and 19th century fashion, as well as some of her strange habits.

 

Gloves were a must have for any proper lady of the Georgian era, no outfit was considered complete without them, and an ungloved hand might even be considered scandalous. Although a major part of fashion and accessorization, gloves still served a lot of practical purposes. Ladies would knit gloves with openings in the finger tips so that they could still carry out fine crafts and stitch work. A cousin of the glove, fur muffs were also worn to keep the hands warm. Beyond these practical uses, glove etiquette was more complicated than one might assume.

Day wear gloves were shorter color varied greatly, while evening wear gloves went as far up as just past the elbow with the most popular color being white. Pictured on the left is your average lady’s regular day gloves, while the more elegant and sleek evening gloves are depicted on the right. These particular evening gloves are from 1805 and made form leather, other popular materials were silk, linen, and any other sort of animal skin.

Another interesting aspect of what I’ll call “glove culture” is that men touching women in company without gloves on was considered far too intimate, and ladies usually only removed their gloves to eat. Also, as previously mentioned evening gloves were very long so almost at Georgian era evening dresses have short sleeves. Another odd thing to note is that British women took to wearing baggy evening gloves that somewhat resemble disconnected dress sleeves.

Pictured here is a lady in these baggy gloves an a Grecian influenced evening gown(notice light color, high waist, and ornamented turban).

Gloves remained a staple in western European fashion for a long time after the Georgian era, especially among the rich and powerful. In fact, gloves didn’t really go out of fashion until the 1960s, after a brief revival due to mod style.

Hello all! This blog is dedicated to Georgian era fashion and the history that influenced it. To start off this series, here is a little crash course to the Georgian era:

The Georgian era is a period of British history from 1714 to 1837*  marked by the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Gothic Revivalism(also known as Neo-Gothic), war, social/religious reform, and, of course, a lot of cool clothing. As you might have guessed, the namesakes of the Georgian era are the four Hanoverian Kings, George I, II, III, and IV. Not a lot of creativity going on in the naming department if you ask me.

The Georgian Era found its beginning with the death of Queen Anne, the last monarch of the House of Stuart, who was succeeded by George Louis, the Elector of Hanover. Thus began the Reign of the House of Hanover(yes, like the pretzels).

Some major events of this period you that might remember from history class are: the Seven Years War, the passing of the Stamp Act, the declaration of Australia and New Zealand as British Colonies, the American Revolutionary War, the banning of both the slave trade and slavery, and the Napoleonic Wars. As you can see, lots of important things going on.

There is also a sort of overlapping period during the Georgian era called the Regency era, which is the time period of great literary minds such as Jane Austen and Lord Byron. The Regency era gets its name from the Regency of George IV while his father was considered unfit for the throne. The formal Regency Era* differs from the literary Regency era, which has the broader span of ~1790-1830.

While referring to the different details of a piece I’m reviewing I may switch in-between saying Georgian and Regency, fear not, I’m simply making a little distinction.

Some literary, artistic, and musical movements of the time were Romanticism, Naturalism(near the end), Neoclassicism, Baroque,  and Rococo(primarily French). You will see the motifs of some of these movements in the clothing discussed on this blog, especially ladies-wear.

Along with reviews of Georgian gowns and fashion staples, I will also be providing snippets of interesting history from the era after each post , such as King George’s bouts of madness. At first I will be publishing a series of posts about Georgian accessories such as parasols, purses, and the different types of gloves worn. Although I will be mainly focusing on women’s fashion, I will also discuss men’s fashion when relevant.

Just to start off, here is a fantastic example of a Regency era Chemise a la Reine, popularized but Marie Antoinette. You might recognize this style of dress from the movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and other period pieces. I will be elaborating on the somewhat strange origin of this trend of dress and how it influenced the slave trade in a later post.

*The last King George of the Georgian Era died in 1830 and was succeeded by King William IV, but the Georgian Era isn’t usually considered over until the start of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1837, officially kicking off the Victorian Era.

*I will be referring to the Formal Regency era unless otherwise indicated.