Renegade Nell (2024) Makes Me Happy

Peeps, Renegade Nell (2024) is SO GOOD. The story — fun and heartwarming! The characters – strong and interesting and wacky! The costumes — AMAZEBALLS!

Written by Sally Wainwright (To Walk Invisible, Gentleman Jack) and costumed by Tom Pye (who designed those same films/shows), Renegade Nell tells the story of an English girl who becomes a highwaywoman. But more than that: Nell has an adventurous spirit. At the beginning of the story (1705), she’s just returned to her English village from soldiering in the continental wars. On her way home, Nell gets attacked by a highwayman who is mid-robbery, and that’s when we realize something different is happening — a little pinprick of light “enters” her and she suddenly is an invincible fighter, able to grab bullets out of the air with her hand.

Her family (father and two sisters) had thought she was dead and so are relieved and angry/happy to see her. Nell had left in search of adventure with an army captain. Nell is a great character — she’s essentially what we might term today genderqueer, with traditionally male interests and first arriving in a (very worn) military uniform:

Pye told Country & Town House magazine,

“We meet her coming back from the from the war of Spanish Succession, and she’s obviously picked up a uniform from somewhere. When I was first designing this costume, I took myself off to the National Army Museum in Stevenage, and had a really good rummage there. They had this exquisite red jacket that I took a lot of cues from. She wears this with a battered old tricorn hat with feathers that have seen better days, as well as a roll rag around her neck” (Tom Pye On Creating The Historical (Yet Fantasy-Driven) Costumes For Renegade Nell).

But lest you think “oh, it’s the Stereotypical Tomboy Character,” Nell will surprise you. After she’s framed for murder and goes on the run, there are MULTIPLE times she needs to dress as a lady and does so quite well:

Pye observed that Nell never wears her own clothes:

“Not once. Everything you see her in during the first couple of episodes is stuff that she found on the battlefield, and at home she wears her mother’s clothes. Once she goes on the run, she becomes a true magpie and starts picking up all kinds of clothing. She’s always in disguise, really, so we never really know who she is – although we do get a sense of her character through these ‘borrowed’ items and the way she wears other people’s clothes.’”

Once again, the film is set in 1705, and I was thrilled to see actual very early 18th century dress, instead of the usual “18th century/colonial/Marie-Antoinette” you often get on such productions. When Nell puts on mom’s dress, that turns out to be an appropriately working-class-ish “mantua,” the style of dress that was fashionable in the 1690s-1710s:

That dress looks like a lower-class version of this:

But, sigh, the one problem with MOST of the dresses is the anachronistic back lacing:

A more upper-class mantua can be seen on Jodhi May as Queen Anne:

That Pye did his research is clear from these and other costumes, and he told Country & Town House,

“I start by doing a lot of research with any project. It’s a way for me to widen my visual vocabulary for a specific moment in time. I’ll try and learn everything I possibly can about that period, and then it becomes a bit of a store – somewhere to go to when I’m thinking about a character or a sleeve or a detail. But Renegade Nell was tricky because there’s not much left clothing-wise from 1705. There’s only five dresses in the world that exist from that time. One of them happens to be in Shropshire, so I went to see it in person. I was kind of blown away by it. It was an incredible thing; bright lime green, with the most enormous, bizarre floral pattern on it.”

That would be this:

Another great costume was on upper-class Sofia Wilmot. She’s in mourning and so wears a lot of dark colors, particularly this great riding habit:

It looks spot on for turn-of-the-18th-century women’s riding habits:

Other key upper-class female character moments include Nell wearing what appears to be a more fitted mantua:

The style indeed got more fitted, with the skirt draperies go out of fashion, which is what will lead to the English nightgown for you 18th-century geeks at home:

Polly Honeycombe, who gets a mantua straight out of fashion plates:

And this upper-class lady (far right) who looks more 1660s than 1690s, but in a believable way:

The upper-class guys look good, with period-appropriate full-bottomed wigs, although their actual clothes seemed more mid-18th century than early:

The lower-class characters were dressed in very believable outfits that read as clothes, not costumes. The one thing I noticed was a lot of printed cottons on lower-class characters. Printed cottons were imported from the Middle East and India, and so would have been very pricey and much more likely worn by the rich characters. However, I know cotton reads “country” and “lower class,” so I was just happy the prints were good for the period.

It turns out (revealed relatively early on, so not technically a spoiler) that Nell’s magic is a literal fairy named Billy Blind. I bring him up because his costume is key:

“The basis of each design was in real, believable costume. But then in the case of Billy Blind I decided that he needed to be completely other, and so I looked at much earlier modes of dress – about 100 years earlier, so more Elizabethan – as well as folklore elements. His costume is covered in insects and flowers and all sorts of embroidery detail, sort of leaning into Green Man imagery… It was probably the one that took us the longest to make, as there was several layers of dyeing and painting, cutting and embroidering, and then adding other bits.”

Compare the lines of his outfit to these gents:

Finally, there’s one key and one supporting character who are dressed far more fantasy, and those are the fabulously entertaining Lady Eularia Moggerhanger (Joely Richardson) and her syncophant Valerian (played by trans/non-binary actor Iz Hesketh). Their costumes are somewhat to vaguely historical/18th century, but they are OVER THE TOP in a way that very much suits their roles in the series.

Lady Eularia is a tabloid newspaper publisher, and her costumes are over-the-top bright colors and patterns:

Valerian just hangs out and is fabulous:

And finally, add one to the shitty historical portraits list:

Other great things: race-neutral AND race-conscious casting, warm family relationships, several LGBTQ+ representations, and an ending that had me a little teary (in a good way).

So, if you haven’t fired up Renegade Nell, do so. You won’t regret it!

 

Have you seen Renegade Nell? Did you love it like we did?