TBT: Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) Remains a Classic

I hadn’t seen Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) in decades, but upon rewatch, yep, it’s still a historical costume classic, at least in terms of costume design and execution. Despite loathing Gérard Depardieu on several levels, I decided it was time we took a deep dive into this impressive 17th-century-set production. The film is an adaptation of an 1897 play, which fictionalizes the real-life Cyrano, a 17th century French soldier who indeed wrote novels and plays and yes, fought duels.

Cyrano is played by Depardieu, who I will admit, is at his prime as an actor in this production. His love interest, Roxanne, is played by Anne Brochet (Tous les matins du monde) and manages to be fresh and romantic. In between them is Christian (Vincent Perez), the handsome but inarticulate (and possibly kind of dumb) soldier who has caught Roxanne’s eye. You all know how the story pans out, and I’ll say, the film lost my interest by mid-way through. But the costumes. Are really impressively good.

Those costumes were designed by Franca Squarciapino, who primarily works as a costume designer in Italian theater — most notably, for the La Scala opera company. Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau wanted to hire her husband, Edzio Figgerio, who also worked at La Scala, to design the sets. Figgerio accepted, provided they hire his wife, Squarciapino (who hadn’t done any film or TV work before) to design the costumes. Squarciapino went on to win an Oscar, BAFTA, and César for her work, so we can say she was pretty darn successful. According to Rappeneau,

“She was so picky about the details, down to things like the underwear, as well as every little fringe and button — things you don’t ever see on the screen. But she insisted the costumes had to be absolutely faithful, all of which contributes to the performances of the actors” (David Noh, Rappeneau Directs Depardieu: Cyrano Never Looked Better, The Film Journal, 1991).

So now, let’s deep dive into Cyrano’s costumes! Let’s start with the film’s jaw-dropping opening scene, which honestly, is worth a rewatch whether you watch the rest or not. We start in 1640 — although Squarciapino told the LA Times that she “fudged” the era a little, “because you have to put a little poetry in the clothes” (Love Wins by a Nose) — as all the main characters attend a play in Paris. What follows is the most beautifully rich visual (both sets and costumes) as you see the full span of French society — men and women, nobles and bourgeoisie and the poor — interact as they wait for the play to begin.

The upper class men wear varieties of doublets and breeches trimmed with prominent ribbon rosettes, along with wide lace collars and broad hats:

Comparing these with period portraits, the looks are spot on. Men wore doublets cut at or above the waistline with long, squared-off skirtings, wide sleeves, and knee-length, semi-fitted breeches:

Wide collars with lace were very fashionable:

Ruffs are going out of fashion, but they’re still around:

You’ll note I’m going to use a lot of Dutch images, and that’s because this is just the damn Golden Age of Dutch painting, so that’s a lot the imagery that’s available. No doubt there were regional differences between France and the Netherlands, but it’s much harder to find French images even today, and I’m SURE Squarciapino was drawing on Dutch artists. But here’s an English suit from almost the same time period for comparison:

The upper-class ladies wear gowns that have similar skirtings, so look more like jackets, with wide sleeves and necklines, while others are in high-necked gowns with ruffs:

To zero in on this look, let’s look at Roxanne and her ever-present attendant (called The Duenna in the credits). Roxanne wears a blue gown over a yellow petticoat; the Duenna wears a black ensemble with black ruff and pointy hat:

The Duenna seems to have a loose overgown, while Roxanne wears a very sheer cloak and black half-mask:

Roxanne’s fabric is a blue and gold brocade or damask, with gold buttons down the front of the bodice:

And those skirtings are cut in “flaps” that go down to her hip:

What you see in French images (I’m able to find more images of French women than men) are gowns without skirtings, but with a similar silhouette:

You do see those skirtings occasionally in French images:

My guess is they show up less often in those because they’re such formal portraits. You see the skirtings more frequently in Dutch and English images:

Those images were done by Wenceslaus Hollar, an English artist who did a number of fashion prints. There’s also this surviving bodice from just a few years earlier which has similar skirtings:

They give a great idea of the hair of the era, which is flat on top, curled on the sides and up in back. (Note: the wigs and hairstyles in the film were created by Paul Leblanc [Little Gloria… Happy at Last, Amadeus, Valmont, The Quick and the Dead, The Mask of Zorro]). They also frequently show ladies outdoors in black half-masks.

But note how this one is tied on, on the sides AND on top:

And while the Duenna’s outfit reads as older to me, with her pointy hat and ruff:

Hollar includes images of what are probably more middle-class English women in similar looks:

But there’s more! We see the middle classes in a wide variety of ensembles, but note the caps, hats, and collars:

Down the social scale, materials might be plainer but the same cuts are there [remember this image when we talk about the soldiers’ outfits, including Cyrano’s!]:

The poorest are in the pit, where they stand (or sit while waiting) because there are no chairs. Here we see a lot of rough fabrics in natural colors, but they’re clearly in the same world as those above:

Compare them to:

Finally, the actors are in over-the-top, fantastical outfits with heavy stage makeup:

Actors and other stage performers wore very formalized outfits in this era. In particular, men’s costumes tended to include knee-length skirts, like the one worn above:

According to the LA Times,

“Squarciapino designed all the principal actors costumes, using the Atelier du Costume in Paris, and Morani’s in Rome for the military costumes. Some of the extras costumes were borrowed from Tirelli’s, also in Rome. Much of the lace was found in European flea markets” (Love Wins by a Nose).

And a fan site tells us that the film used “2000 costumes, half of which were created especially for the film” (Cyrano de Bergerac – Sur Scènes et sur Écrans).

Let’s briefly look at Depardieu and Perez’s costumes, which are appropriate to the period and to the characters. My irritation with Depardieu increases when I read Squarciapino say of dressing Depardieu,

“[It was] A battle. He wouldn’t come to rehearsals. He would say, get my brother-in-law and dress him, we’re the same, then my tailor can fix it if necessary. He also drank, so he’d be bigger one day and thinner the next. At the end of the film, I told him I would never do anything else with him. But then he called me for another film (“Colonel Chabert”, Ed.) and he was more disciplined that time” (The Unforgettable Eyes of Nureyev).”

All the soldiers wear doublets with similar squared-off skirtings, semi-fitted pants, white collars (with little to no lace), and knee-high boots:

Cyrano himself gets slightly darker colors with a touch of lace:

While Perez contrasts in his lighter buff colors:

And now let’s wake up by checking out the rest of Roxanne’s wardrobe, as that’s the main interest of the film!

Her next outfit is a blue jacket covered in embroidery, over a yellow petticoat and stomacher:

The embroidery looks great for the period, which was all about Indian florals and metalwork:

And the embroidery layout reminds me a bit of men’s coats and waistcoats from the following century:

Next Roxanne wears a full-length chemise with a wide ruffled neckline, over which she has some kind of dressing gown type thing on. Except it seems to be two piece:

She wears it again later, so let’s jump to that:

But most dressing gowns of this era were loose, T-shaped garments, so I’m not sure what’s up with that.

Except then we get another dressing gown over chemise, except this gown seems to have some pleating that’s sewn down at the back shoulders:

It reminds me of these slightly earlier overgowns, worn 1580s-ish-1610s, so this seems more plausible:

Next we get the other Major Outfit for the film. Roxanne starts in a pair of embroidered stays (aka corset):

Women did wear separate stays under dresses, but more often in this era the bodice of the gown was itself boned. The corset looks a lot like a 1660s-style bodice, so I’m going with it. Most surviving stays are from a bit later and so have higher necklines, as was fashionable:

She then puts on several layers, including a yellow bodice and a solid petticoat with another sheer one over it.

The bodice construction is great. See how far in towards her spine the sleeves are? And how while it laces center back, you can’t see the lacing holes in the fashion fabric?

Sleeves did exactly that in this era:

And that back lacing construction mirrors what’s seen in the period:

She then adds a peach silk petticoat with a sheer panel that’s got gold embroidery and pangles:

And then finally, a matching sleeveless overbodice is tied on top — the one element that kind of confuses me, but hey, it’s plausible and it’s pretty:

When Roxanne goes to join the boys at the war, she wears a men’s suit so I fall asleep:

And then the implausibility happens, as we jump to a few decades in the future and Roxanne is dressed in mourning (sure):

But she’s wearing a mantua, a style which didn’t come into fashion until the 1680s, so I hope it’s literally 40 years in the future.

When was the last time you watched Cyrano de Bergerac? Did the costumes still hold up for you?

 

 

 

 

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