You asked for it, so here’s an occasional open thread to bitch about anything tangentially related to history, costume, movies, or TV shows! Or whatever else is on your mind right now. Note that URLs are automatically held for moderation, but most anything else goes as long as you’re not bitchier than we are!
Spring is springing! Frocks are flicking! We actually have new stuff to watch, and yes we’re trying to catch up, but remember that we tend to wait till movies in theaters hit streaming. And we’re always working our way through piles of classics.
What are you catching up with this spring?
Has anybody watched The Bride, it’s been getting some hate by critics. Not as much costume content!
Or the new Mini-series version of the Count of Monte Cristo on PBS?
We’re planning to review that once more eps air.
There are some interesting background costumes, and Penelope Cruz as a secondary character is given more wardrobe variety, but Jessie Buckley as the Bride herself is stuck in the same orange dress the whole time.
I’d like to see it but it’s in the theaters, so unlikely. The story looks interesting & while there’s not a lot of costume content, it was done by Sandy Powell.
How about ‘the other bennett girl’? I enjoyed it [although not an Austen fan in general’, but what’s the verdict on the costumes? Some of them seemed very Bridgerton…
I haven’t seen it yet. I’m not sure if it’s available in the US. An AuDHD creator I like, MyFavouriteJo, says Mary is quite autistic coded, so I’m interested.
I’m definitely going to check it out, looks better than the dismal P&P remake, color-wise, at least!
As soon as it airs on BritBox!
Can’t rate the costumes, but it’s a very endearing show, not least due to it’s leading lady (and has at least one gleefully OTT ‘Miss Mary Bennett is living her best life’ scene).
Also, there is a doggy in at least some of the episodes (Though sadly it comes attached to perhaps the most mean-spirited Mrs Bennett of them all).
Oh, and one of Miss Mary’s nascent harem is played by the chap who plays a youthful Moriarty in YOUNG SHERLOCK on Netflix (Which is a show I’m also quite fond of at the moment).
Does anyone have recommendations on channels or creators who look at hanfu? I follow Claire Yixuan Zhang and Laurence Wenyu Li already, and would like to learn from more Chinese and Chinese diaspora creators.
I’m also making not one, but two capsule wardrobes with a 1790s Creole and French influence, based off the American Duchess SImplicity patterns. Any research recommendations are welcome.
I love the 1790s! French Creole seems quite interesting! I know that the Chemise A La Reine was inspired by what French Caribbean women were wearing in the 1770s/80s!
Yep, Kendra’s written about this – https://demodecouture.com/on-the-origins-of-the-chemise-a-la-reine/
I came across the trailer of Marama recently. This looks super interesting, plus Toby Stephens is in it…. anybody seen this?
Yes, I saw it at a film festival. Do you like horror / not mind blood?
Horror is not usually my jam, I don’t mind blood though. The Maori aspect is another thing that makes it interesting to me.
In case anyone’s planning to visit Finland, I highly recommend checking out a museum called Vapriikki in Tampere. Until 2028, the are having an archeology exhibition with some absolutely beautiful reconstructions of bronze-age and iron-age clothing from Finland’s area.
Which makes me even more annoyed of the Kullervo movie that came out earlier this year. Like yep, that sure is some fine mud-colored leather you’re wearing fellas. Väinämöinen seems to be wearing something that resembles a blue shirt but they felt the need to add a MANLY double belt so that the character wouln’t feel like “a sissy” I guess. Like why even specify that the setting is 12th century Finland, if it does not look like 12th century Finland!?
Either way, I have ranted enough of that movie. On a more positive note, I have been reading Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso and I’ve been wondering: Where are the adaptations for that book!? It’s such a great story! Like apparently there were couple of Italian projects in the 70s-80s but nothing since then (and even those are preeetty difficult to find anywhere). Gimme a big screen adaptation of the badass ladies that are Bradamante and Marfisa, dang it! We’ve had a century’s worth of adaptations from Arthurian mythos, why are the film makers not looking what other countries have to offer?
The teaser trailer for the Netflix adaptation of Little House on the Prairie just dropped, and it looks like prime snark material!
I just found out that there is going to be a documentary on the show Wishbone coming to PBS soon, which sounds really fun! I can’t say that show is the main reason I started watching flock flicks, but it was an important cornerstone, and I’m looking forward to seeing the behind the scenes footage of the costume department.