
This is an occasional series highlighting historical movie and TV costumes that best represent the decade they were produced in. They may or may not be the most historically accurate, but we think these costumes stand out as icons of when they were made. Comment with your faves, and watch the blog for the next decade we review!
Boardwalk Empire (2010-14), costume design by John Dunn & Lisa Padovani
Downton Abbey (2010-15), costume design by Susannah Buxton, Rosalind Ebbutt, Caroline McCall, & Anna Robbins
Anonymous (2011), costume design by Lisy Christl
The Borgias (2011-13), costume design by Gabriella Pescucci
The Crimson Petal and the White (2011), costume design by Annie Symons
Jane Eyre (2011), costume design by Michael O’Connor
Mildred Pierce (2011), costume design by Ann Roth
Anna Karenina (2012), costume design by Jacqueline Durran
Great Expectations (2012), costume design by Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
The Hollow Crown (2012-16), costume design by Odile Dicks-Mireaux, Annie Symons, & Nigel Egerton
Les Misérables (2012), costume design by Paco Delgado
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012-15), costume design by Marion Boyce
Ripper Street (2012-16), costume design by Lorna Marie Mugan & Leonie Prendergast
Austenland (2013), costume design by Annie Hardinge
Belle (2013), costume design by Anushia Nieradzik
The Great Gatsby (2013), costume design by Catherine Martin
Peaky Blinders (2013-22), costume design by Stephanie Collie, Lorna Marie Mugan, Alexandra Caulfield, & Alison McCosh
Reign (2013-17), costume design by Meredith Markworth-Pollack
The White Queen (2013), costume design by Nic Ede
A Little Chaos (2014), costume design by Joan Bergin
Marco Polo (2014-16), costume design by Jo Korer
Outlander (2014-), costume design by Terry Dresbach, Glenne Campbell, & Nina Ayres

Penny Dreadful (2014-16), costume design by Gabriella Pescucci

Bessie (2015), costume design by Michael T. Boyd
Carol (2015), costume design by Sandy Powell

Crimson Peak (2015), costume design by Kate Hawley

The Danish Girl (2015), costume design by Paco Delgado
The Dressmaker (2015), costume design by Margot Wilson & Marion Boyce
Far From the Madding Crowd (2015), costume design by Janet Patterson
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2015), costume design by Barbara Kidd

Poldark (2015-19), costume design by Marianne Agertoft, Susannah Buxton, Ros Little, & Howard Burden
Versailles (2015-18), costume design by Madeline Fontaine
Wolf Hall (2015), costume design by Joanna Eatwell
The Crown (2016-23), costume design by Michele Clapton, Jane Petrie, & Amy Roberts
The Handmaiden (2016), costume design by Jo Sang-gyeong
Pride + Prejudice + Zombies (2016), costume design by Julian Day
Tale of Tales (2016), costume design by Massimo Cantini Parrini


Victoria (2016-19), costume design by James Keast & Rosalind Ebbutt
War & Peace (2016), costume design by Edward K. Gibbon
The Beguiled (2017), costume design by Stacey Battat
Feud: Bette and Joan (2017), costume design by Lou Eyrich

Harlots (2017-19), costume design by Edward K. Gibbon, Charlotte Mitchell, & Richard Cooke

Mary Shelley (2017), costume design by Caroline Koener
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-23), costume design by Donna Zakowska
Murder on the Orient Express (2017), costume design by Alexandra Byrne
Tulip Fever (2017), costume design by Michael O’Connor
The White Princess (2017), costume design by Phoebe De Gaye
Wonder Woman (2017), costume design by Lindy Hemming
Colette (2018), costume design by Andrea Flesch
The Favourite (2018), costume design by Sandy Powell
The Long Song (2018), costume design by Charlotte Holdich
Mary Poppins Returns (2018), costume design by Sandy Powell
Mary Queen of Scots (2018), costume design by Alexandra Byrne
One Nation, One King aka Un Peuple et Son Roi (2018), costume design by Anaïs Romand
Vanity Fair (2018), costume design by Lucinda Wright
Vita & Virginia (2018), costume design by Lorna Marie Mugan
Catherine the Great (2019), costume design by Maja Meschede
Gentleman Jack (2019-22), costume design by Tom Pye


Harriet (2019), costume design by Paul Tazewell
Little Women (2019), costume design by Jacqueline Durran
The Spanish Princess (2019-20), costume design by Phoebe De Gaye
What’s your favorite iconic historical movie costume of the 2010s? What would you add to the list?
Iconic obviously isn’t the same thing as good.
It’s a good question if a movie must be famous to produce iconic pictures?
Per the description, these are historical movie and TV costumes that best represent the decade they were produced in. So kind of famous, at least within the frock flicks watching crowd helps.
Exactly – were the costumes memorable? Did folks talk about it?
I recall you had a lot to say about The White Princess costuming, none of it good.
I loved some uniforms and some Just-au-corps of “L’échange des princesses” from 2017. Although I did not like that the Spanish court was looking too small I loved some scenes of the movie illustrating the destiny of the poor young boy without parents…
“Mademoiselle de Joncquières” from 2018 had a very nice style of colours and the decission to use simple silk. I loved it that the Mlle. was looking beautiful and that the audience could understand why the Marquis was so much in love with her. Great Cécile de France by the way – always elegant…
I mean…War & Peace lol…Spanish Princess…and Mary Queen of Scots stood out for me as my least favorite costumes as well as bad series but that’s just me…also White Queen…
Some superb costuming. But also, so. Many. Prom. Dresses.
In the words of Walter Cronkite, “And that’s the way it was.”
Why is Mad Men not on this list? It ran from 2007-2015!
It didn’t start in the 2010s. I know, arbitrary rules, but I gotta cut things down somehow ;)
Looks like I missed it in 2000s too! https://frockflicks.com/iconic-historical-movie-costumes-of-the-2000s/
But to be fair, we haven’t really covered Mad Men on the site. I didn’t like the series, & while Kendra did, tomandlorenzo.com wrote such an extensive costume analysis of the series, I guess there’s nothing more for us to add ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Of these, I’d have to go with “The Borgias,” for not only being period correct, but the exquisite execution. “Jane Eyre” for the same reason. “Wolf Hall” for using authentic pins and ties on the costumes. I do love a number of the recreations of extant clothing seen on “The Crown,” but in the case of Princess Margaret’s wedding dress, the petticoats underneath were sadly deflated compared to the real wedding dress. But bravo to them for their recreations of the two most important State gowns of the late Queen’s life: her wedding dress (reflecting her status as heir presumptive) and of course, the coronation gown. Personally, I would have included Sandy Powell’s costumes from “The Young Victoria,” although they might have missed the cutoff date. I’m impressed how many of your selections have been featured in FIDM’s exhibits of film and television nominated costumes.
Agreed. (That dusty pink cocktail frock more than makes up for Margaret’s wedding petticoats.)
The Miniaturist? Had some nice outfits. Many of these are in time periods I do not research, but there are a lot of good designers mentioned here. I did like Wolf Hall and Tulip Fever a great deal.
I would add Murdoch mysteries, it started in 2008, still on-going, plenty of good costumes and not just uniforms :-) and it has one episode about murderous corset- it was really interesting.