Aristocrats (1999) is a BBC miniseries adaptation of the non-fiction biography of the four Lennox sisters: Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland (1723–1774), Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster (1731–1814), Lady Louisa Conolly (1743–1821), and Lady Sarah Lennox (1745–1826). All four were descended from an illegitimate son of King Charles II and the daughters of the Duke of Richmond, and so highly placed in mid-18th century English society. And three had very interesting lives, as the mini-series demonstrates: Caroline defied her parents and married leading politician Henry Fox, Emily married the rich Irish Duke of Leinster, while Sarah was rumored to be married to the heir to the throne, the future King George III, but didn’t and went on to have a turbulent life.
Most important, the costumes, by James Keast, are very close to spot-on for the period, covering the 1740s through the 1780s, with some obvious budgetary limitations (in that many costumes are worn for “decades”). Once again, I had hoped that this post would be short, because didn’t I discuss everything I needed to when covering episodes one and two and then three and four? Well, five million screencaps later, yet again, apparently no I didn’t. These episodes cover from 1770ish to 1792ish, and there’s plenty of interesting things to talk about, especially hair and transitional fashion.
Emily Lennox
In the 1770s, Emily stays in her formal sacques as they were called in England (aka robes à la française in French), but they now have closed-front bodices as became fashionable in this decade based on the popularity of the closed-front robe à l’anglaise (which the French had adapted from the English nightgown).
Here’s how things evolved:
Once again, I’m not going to capture literally everything worn, just my highlights. Emily attends a formal function in this blue/black shot taffeta sacque. Her hair is higher, and there’s serpentine ruches on her bodice — something the character frequently wears.
She also has this floral — pretty sure it’s a brocade, not a cotton print, based on the weight — closed-front sacque.
The hair gets high, as it should in this decade, and it’s really pretty! But the back styling isn’t correct for the era.
Allow French actress Mademoiselle Luzy to demonstrate what the back of 1770s hairstyles looked like:
Remember I said to notice that painting? That’s because it’s of the real Emily!
She also wears this blue sacque a lot. It too has the serpentine trim:
When her husband dies, out comes the black for mourning:
Over time her hair gets rounder, but still high on top. This tracks with fashionable hairstyles around 1780ish, as they transition between the tall 1770s style and the rounded 1780s style:
She’s got Yet Another blue gown, this time with some gold in it:
The story skips forward to the late 1780s and very early 1790s. Emily’s — now played by Siân Phillips — wardrobe gets nice-but-boring-to-discuss, with closed-front robes à l’anglaise, fichu neckerchiefs, and curly-and-wide hairstyles:
The dress silhouette is much narrower, with a small rump below the waist, as was fashionable. Here’s a typical robe à l’anglaise from the period:
Louisa Lennox
Louisa continues to be the go-between of her family. She dresses similarly to her elder sister, mostly in sacques:
Her hair gets a little smaller, but it’s been pretty 1780s throughout the entire series:
For many of the characters, they give them a bit of ruffled lace as a cap/hair decor. It works to age them slightly and is also pretty:
Louisa also gets robes à l’anglaise:
Black for mourning:
Older Louisa is played by Diana Quick (Brideshead Revisited), and while her wardrobe is beautiful, I spent the entire time wondering why they had such a hard time fitting things around her bust. I was even convinced that these must all be recycled from some other production, and so not originally fitted to Quick, but checking Recycled Movie Costumes, none of them are listed as having been worn previous to this production!
First she has this purple with floral woven pattern robe à l’anglaise:
Then this grey jacket and waistcoat with embroidery, which is GORGEOUS and another take on a real piece at the Kyoto Costume Institute:
As with all the other characters, the back of the 1780s hairstyles is pretty, but not historically accurate:
It took me a LONG TIME to accept it, but the backs of women’s hair in the 1780s was left long and straight and either 1) looped up in a wide ponytail like in the 1770s, 2) ditto but in a wide braid, 3) ditto but in a wide twist, 4) ditto but hanging down, or 5) ditto but hanging down ending in ringlets. Okay, there were a few other variations, but the basic haircut looked like this:
Want to know more? Check out my book on the history of 18th century hair and wig styling, with modern how-to tutorials:
Louisa also gets this green lévite-style gown. The lévite was a very complicated style, in that it often resembled other popular gowns like the robe à l’anglaise and chemise à la reine. Read more about it in my post about Turkish-influenced 18th century fashions on screen, and then even more in my book:
One iteration of the lévite was a sort of cross-over wrapping gown, which connects to its origins as a Turkish-influenced dressing gown:
Louisa’s is slightly high-waisted, as was coming into fashion, and has the sash that was nearly always worn with the style:
It also appears to cross over in front:
But once again, I’m convinced that this was made for another actress because the darker green bit filling in the neckline is clunky:
Louisa gets another cross-over style lévite, again with clunky bodice fill in, for mourning:
And at the very end of things, she has a gathered bodice or jacket that is very chemise à la reine-like:
Sarah Lennox
Sarah is isolated from society and Thinking About What She Did, so her wardrobe is SUPER boring for episode 5. I tried to include her in screenshots of other characters, so keep your eyes peeled throughout the post for examples of her sober and snoozerific wardrobe.
A few things worth talking about: her hair is pretty!
But is inaccurately styled in back, like everyone else:
I REALLY didn’t like this hairstyle on screen – it’s just not a good silhouette for her:
She’s frequently in sacques but also robes à l’anglaise:
Thankfully she gets remarried, and things liven up! She’s the first to wear the bushy, rounded, wider-on-the-sides hairstyles popular in the 1780s:
She too is recast for the final episodes. Her wardrobe continues to be nice but nothing to talk about.
Caroline Lennox
Caroline isn’t around much, except to be sad and die. She rewears her red dress with fur trim a few times:
But then mostly wears this weird fabric wrapping gown in front, sacque in back thing:
Minor Characters
And a few final thoughts!
And that’s it for Aristocrats (1999)! Check it out if you haven’t watched it, you won’t be sorry.
