TBT: The Borgias (2011-13)

We’ve podcasted about the first couple episodes of The Borgias (2011-13), and Kendra wrote a three-part series about the kick-ass hairstyling in the show. I also compared this series to the similar, but IMO vastly inferior, French-German-Czech-Italian series. Yet we haven’t talked in-depth about the historical accuracy of the costumes, designed by Gabriella Pescucci. So let’s fix that right now and indulge in a whole lot of very pretty Italian renaissance dresses!

The series covers the papacy of Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons) who becomes Pope Alexander VI in the first episode, and he uses his power to secure position and wealth for himself, his children, and his lovers. The storyline covers actual historical events, everything from the warring Italian city-states and their conflicts with France to Savonarola and his Bonfire of the Vanities. But the focus is on the Borgia family who are framed like an Italian mob family out of The Godfather or The Sopranos with the Pope as the boss. Rodrigo depends on his sons, especially Cesare, to do his dirty work, and even his daughter, Lucrezia, must marry according to what alliances are most advantageous for the Pope.

In the forward to his published screenplay, show-runner and chief writer Neil Jordan said that when he had the chance to make a cable series on the topic for Showtime:

“I saw it as a unique opportunity to write a 40-hour film, about power, religion, and sex in the Renaissance period. It would be as lurid and dramatic as any Jacobean drama, but over four seasons, long enough to do justice to the complexity of the times and the family.”

The show leans hard into the rumors and myths about the Borgias buying and murdering their way into power, poisoning their enemies, and having sex with anything that moves (including a sibling). Yet it’s all based on their deep family ties, and the Borgias aren’t painted as the villains in this world where everyone else is out for themselves too. This makes for a hugely entertaining show, though yes, it plays fast and loose with history at times.

Alas, Showtime declined to produce a fourth and final season of The Borgias due to production costs. As Jordan noted:

“The series was expensive to produce, since we always did our utmost to do justice to the architecture, design, and costume of the period, however free we allowed ourselves to be with the actual events.”

The look of the series is expensive, as it should be! While the filming locations were in Hungary, it does resemble a Renaissance version of Rome, and the interiors are drop-dead gorgeous. Likewise, the costumes are fabulous, made of beautiful materials with loads of trim, embroidery, beading, and all the kinds of details that make us squee. Gabriella Pescucci worked with Tirelli Costumi, as she often does, to create much of these designs, so the quality is excellent. She told Deadline that she approached the show the same as she had working on movies:

“Never did I think of the costumes for the TV. The color, embroidery, jewelry, this was on such a grand scale. Never in my long years of doing this job did I ever have this number of costumes. Maybe 3,000 costumes, if you count the actors, hundreds of soldiers, all the priests, plus doubles and more costumes for the stunt people.”

Now, I can’t cover all the costumes in 30 hours of TV, not even in a Patreon post (that’d be at least seven posts worth, lol)! You know we tend not to look too much at men’s fashions, so that cuts down some things — though a fair number of the male characters in The Borgias are wearing priest’s cassocks. Still, I’m going to focus on just three female characters to keep it real here:

• Lucrezia Borgia (Holliday Grainger), the Pope’s daughter
• Vanozza Cattaneo (Joanne Whalley), mother of the Pope’s children
• Giulia Farnese (Lotte Verbeek), the Pope’s main mistress

Their costumes show the youngest woman (who is, in many ways, the most important woman in the show), an older woman, and a woman in between the two. I’ll go somewhat chronologically through the series, which spans 1492 to 1501, though as we’ll see, the costumes don’t necessarily scan with the historical fashions of the time.

I’ll state now that women’s fashions didn’t change dramatically in the nine-year-span the show covers. There were more regional differences in fashion than anything, so what was worn in Venice might be somewhat different than in Florence or in Rome, for example. But year by year, the clothing styles didn’t change dramatically across the Italian city-states.

What’s happening in the show is that the historical fashions from about the 1480s through the 1530s are being mixed and matched to suit a character and storytelling point of view. Which is exactly what costume design is about — character and storytelling through clothing. I think the point is expressed well through this series, so I’m just doing what we do best here at Frock Flicks, I’m nit-picking! And showing what those historical references actually are, that’s the service we provide ;)

Of course, Gabriella Pescucci knows the history because she does the research, as shown in her previous works like The Age of Innocence (for which she won an Oscar). In the Deadline interview, she discussed her costume inspirations:

“A lot of painters’ work from that period are in museums and online. Little by little, we made photocopies to get the women’s faces, hairstyles, clothing, also the clergy and the soldiers. … If you are looking in the right way, you are always surprised by something you find, something you didn’t think would be in that period. A button or a sleeve.”

And in a conversation with WWD, the costume designer gave further details:

“There are painters like Bronzino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Pinturicchio, Raffaello, Carpaccio, and Perugino, all of whose portraits feature noblemen with their ladies and the lifestyle of that world. That became for me the main inspiration for ‘The Borgias.’ Paintings are very important during any research process for me to get inspiration of any kind. But it’s more difficult getting the fabrics and the colors of that period because they are no longer made in the same way. … That usually pushes me to search and choose materials to see what they will look like after the aging and dyeing process that is needed to create the look and taste of the period I am aiming to re-create. And as a result, I am constantly guessing the final result.”

I’ll refer to these painters as I go through individual costumes. Onward!

 

 

Lucrezia Borgia’s Costumes in Season 1 of The Borgias

As a character, Lucrezia goes on the biggest journey of growth, starting as a sheltered young girl and becoming an experienced woman capable of manipulating situations as deftly as anyone else in her family. Her costumes likewise go from sweet pastels in flowing, romantic styles to darker, more stately and mature designs.

The main type of dress during this period in the Italian city-states was called a gamurra, and it had a high waist with a usually front-lacing bodice fitted to and supporting the bust. The skirts were cut separately so they could be quite full (more so for the upper-classes), and the skirt might be closed or split in the front to show off a fancy petticoat. This pale blue gown on Lucrezia has all of these elements.

Key in this first season for all the women, but particularly Lucrezia, is the use of these narrow, multi-part sleeves with puffs of her chemise (called a camicia) showing through. It’s a style that’s seen throughout the late 15th to early 16th century in Italian fashions among the wealthy elite. Here’s a good detail:

The style is also seen in one of the few period images of Lucrezia herself:

She’s not the only female character to wear this sleeve, of course. Just that combined with her loose hair and the soft colors, it adds to her youthful look.

But it’s her pretty-in-pink gowns that make her look incredibly young and almost saccharine sweet. These are for scenes where she flirts with the Ottoman heir, her first seeming shot at love.

The second pink dress is just exquisite, combining velvet, satin, and beading!

The wide, low, rounded neckline of those pink gowns is a bit more common for Venetian women at this time period, such as:

Or this by the same artist:

That all leads up to Lucrezia’s wedding gown (her first), and we get an extended scene of the dress being made. And yes, that camicia she’s wearing should be made of a very fine linen, not what looks to be a sheer chiffon or organdy something-or-other. Many of the women’s camicias are made of modern sheer fabric, probably for an extra light and puffy look as they’re drawn through the sleeves. As the sleeve shape changes, so do the camicias.

Compare with an extant camicia from later in the period, though the use of linen embroidered in silk and full shape would be the same in the 1490s:

Dressmaking is followed by the big day. There’s surprisingly few gowns with a front-lacing closure, when that was common in period imagery of gamurra. Plus, in a show with as much sex as this one, you’d think they’d have used front-lacing for easy access!

For example, here’s a similar front-lacing gamurra that’s also split down the front skirt:

That marriage goes bad fast, and it’ll be annulled in a hilariously humiliating way for her husband that’s based in historical fact. But post-wedding and before that marriage ends, she returns to Rome for her little brother Joffre’s arranged wedding. Now that she’s seen some things, Lucrezia wears brighter colors and her hair is up. I feel like this green-and-gold fabric is an Indian sari material, but used perfectly.

 

 

Vanozza Cattaneo’s Costumes in Season 1 of The Borgias

Vanozza begins the series as the beloved but cast-aside mother of the Pope’s children. She’s older, past her sexual prime in men’s eyes (fucking patriarchy!), but still smarter than most men, including her sons and possibly her ex-lover. Her clothes show that she’s well taken care of, but not out for romance or bed-hopping.

She kind of wears variations of the same dress for a while. Her gowns are in rich, dark colors with a modest amount of decoration, and like her daughter, she also wears the narrow, multi-part sleeves with her camicia puffed through.

For the Pope’s coronation, Vanozza wears this gown that looks blue onscreen, but pix of it on display show it’s a cool lilac tone.

This is her most elaborate costume in the first season, which makes sense because this is the most formal event she’s allowed to be part of.

Most of her scenes are at home, where she wears refined but unembellished garments.

Given that she’s so often seen at home, it’s too bad she doesn’t wear the long, sleeveless overgown called a giornea that’s seen in period imagery, especially from Florence. For an upper-class woman like her, the giornea would be made of beautiful fabric, long and flowing, which would add even more to her style as an elegant queen bee. For example, this bedside scene by Ghirlandaio shows a lovely pink giornea worn over a white-and-red patterned gamurra.

Vanozza gets some gold trim on a few of her at-home dresses like this one. And is that a partlet I spy? That was called a fazzoletto in an Italian wardrobe. Good job.

I wonder if the horizontal trim is supposed to mimic front lacing? Again, front-lacing was really common for gamurra, like this:

She gets a somewhat fancier dress when Cesare sneaks his mom into Lucrezia’s wedding against the Pope’s wishes.

Then Vanozza plays a larger role in her youngest son’s wedding, escorting him down the aisle in this royal blue gown and matching veil.

 

 

Giulia Farnese’s Costumes in Season 1 of The Borgias

“La Bella” Farnese was a legendary beauty who insinuated her way into the Pope’s bed. Giulia’s costumes have some of Lucrezia’s youthfulness but none of the sweet naïveté. This is a knowledgable sexy woman, out to get what she wants. She spends a lot of scenes half-naked in Roderigo’s bed, but when she’s fully dressed, she wears dark, rich colors with some flashy trims. And again, she’s wearing the narrow, multi-part sleeves with her camicia puffed through.

Lucrezia first meets Giulia when the later is having her portrait painted, at request of the Pope. Giulia will become a friend and confidante for the younger woman throughout the series.

This scene must be inspired by several paintings that are supposedly of Giulia Farnese, although these were painted later than the scene is set. Her dress in the TV scene seems to take some very loose inspiration from the red and green colors in this Raphael painting, since the Longhi one is more allegorical.

In the same episode, Lucrezia wears an outfit that reminds me of the Pinturicchio painting of her, while Giulia is all in deep red.

For Lucrezia’s wedding, Giulia is prominently at the Pope’s side while Vanozza is excluded. Giulia wears this orange gamurra with lots of trim and beading. Also, she’s Team Head Necklace here and throughout the series — and she’s doing it in a historically accurate fashion because, yes, there is one!

 

 

Lucrezia Borgia’s Costumes in Season 2 of The Borgias

Let’s talk about outerwear, baby, let’s talk about coats for you and me! Or at least for Lucrezia and maybe Giulia. A long, loose coat without a waist seam, usually with a collar, and with or without sleeves was called a zimmara, and unlike the giornea, this was closed up the sides and intended to be worn outside the home. So it’s appropriate now that Lucrezia has married, gets annulled, and is generally out and about more, she wears a variety of zimmaras.

My favorite is this first one, that’s dark with long, loose, split sleeves. However the snug buttoned front reads more mid-16th-century than late 15th-century to me.

Both Lucrezia and Giulia wear coats lined in fur (or at least trimmed in fur to make it look like they have a fur lining), which was common in the period.

Compare with this fur-lined zimmara from a later date but similar style:

Lucrezia wears another sleeveless zimmara at the end of this season to flirt with an artsy fellow. Being sleeveless, this coat shows off the triple-puffed sleeves of her gown, which she’ll wear again later.

Reminiscent of the scarlet zimmaras favored by Florentines some 50 years later like…

And hey, how about a giornea type robe to help makeover an old gown from last year?

Look closely, that bodice and skirt are the same as the blue dress she wore in season 1, episode 3, but with the giornea and new puffy sleeves added. Here’s the dress on display with the S2 sleeves:

Here’s a side-by-side comparison:

Aside from outerwear, the big difference in costumes from season one to season two is the big, puffy sleeves on most of the women’s gowns. The narrow, multi-part sleeves are still seen, sometimes in costume re-wears but sometimes in new outfits. But the puffy sleeves really take over.

These sleeves with a big, round puff at the top and then a narrow part from the elbow and below are really a fashion that starts in the 1520s and goes through the 1540s in Italy. For example:

Lucrezia also has gowns where the big, puffed sleeves are slashed to show her camicia, like this one:

Which was also done in the period, just later than the show’s timeline, such as glimpsed here:

The full gown has the general shape of the later period as well:

Here’s a full view of a gown with big sleeves:

Another dress Lucrezia wore last season gets updated with big, puffy sleeves:

Take a look at the two versions:

Lucrezia’s last significant costume of this season is this icy, silvery-blue dress she wears for her betrothal celebration. It’s almost a throwback to her first wedding gown with a similar bodice shape with center decoration.

The triple-stacked, puffed-and-slashed sleeve isn’t really seen at this time in Italian women’s wear — not until almost a century later, such as:

 

 

Vanozza Cattaneo’s Costumes in Season 2 of The Borgias

All of the ladies get big, puffy sleeves in season 2, but it’s not the only thing worn. Vanozza still has the more-appropriate-to-the-supposed-period narrower sleeves, like this:

But it seems that she wears the big, puffy sleeves outside the home for more formal events, like this celebration of Lucrezia’s son in episode 7.

There’s only one image I know of that might be Vanozza herself, and it’s from the big-sleeve era with slashes too.

Here’s another of her big, puffed sleeve dresses in episode 10:

It looks very much of the 1530s or later though. Such as:

Then Vanozza wears one of my very favorite outfits, this purple and silver gown. So elaborate and pretty!

 

 

Giulia Farnese’s Costumes in Season 2 of The Borgias

Giulia gets some competition in the Pope’s bed, and her star is on the decline, thus I didn’t find as much of interest to screencap with her as the series goes on.

But I found it interesting how she shows up in several scenes that display the different sleeve styles used simultaneously. On episode 10, Giulia is wearing one of her very first gowns, while Vanozza wears a new gown with big, puffed-and-slashed sleeves.

In episode 9, there’s a full lineup of all three women’s sleeves. Lucrezia has the biggest puff sleeve, her mother’s are next biggest, and Giulia wears a smaller double puff. Is it a status thing? Or just a way to differentiate them a bit.

 

 

Lucrezia Borgia’s Costumes in Season 3 of The Borgias

The final season starts with Lucrezia’s second wedding, which will end even worse than the first. But she still gets a fabulous costume because she’s the heart of this show. Her wedding gown is all in gold and white with big, puffed sleeves, and she’s wearing her hair entirely up and with a balzo headdress.

Like the big, puffy sleeves, the balzo is a fashion from the 1530s. I called The Borgias out during Snark Week for as a show using the wrong hat for the period, even though it looks pretty. I guess the idea is to make more of a distinction between “young” Lucrezia and “mature” Lucrezia, but I think the other costume changes do that well enough.

Anyway, these photos of the costume on display show the beautiful fabrics and trim!

Other than her wedding gown, Lucrezia’s costumes go dark this season to suit her plotline. No more pastels and only a few brights. She’s in a bad place! She wears a lot of brown, black, and plum tones.

At various times, costumer friends and I have debated the really low bodice line on gowns like this in the show. It’s dramatic (hi, boobs!), and we wonder how it’s achieved from a construction point of view. It does seem to be based on historical images, which, of course, may have artistic license and be exaggerated to promote the beauty ideal of the time. Compare with the bustline and camicia in this painting:

Also, there’s some structure going on underneath that bodice. According to costume designer Gabriella Pescucci in a conversation with WWD, the women all wore custom-made corsets, which she describes in detail:

“The corsets are made from scratch. … Double canvas stitched together first, then steamed to shape them up to be finally hard-sticked [boned] in order to softly push the breasts up and frame the bosom within a gentle roundness or sometimes for a more squared-neck line. … I understand that it feels like torture, but the warmth of the body helps make it more bearable — the actresses can confirm that, but of course, it will never feel like a soft sweater.”

Lucrezia practically goes goth here in a gown that’s either super-dark brown or black.

Perhaps it’s a reimagining of one of the period paintings thought to be of her?

I’m contractually obliged to love this purple dress. It’s not as shiny as my other faves in this show, but it’s certainly lovely.

She wears blue again, but notice how much it’s toned down when combined with brown. Miles away from that first pastel blue costume.

Her narrow bodice that exposes a camicia-covered bosom is seen in historical images like this one from about 30 years later:

More muted, dark tones and big, puffed sleeves as she plots and schemes.

This dark gold and black gown shimmers dangerously…

Showtime released a few promo sheets about the costume and production design for season 3, which shows Gabriella Pescucci’s design sketches for this outfit.

Lucrezia also wears this dress with a balzo. Good effect, still not of the right period.

Let’s close out Lucrezia’s costume journey with more outerwear. She has a new zimmara (it has a different collar and narrow gold trim) worn over the same gown with triple-puffed sleeves she wore at the end of season 2.

And it’s fitting to end with a picture of Cesare and Lucrezia, since they have the final scene in the series. This blue is the brightest thing she’s worn since her second wedding, as if her life is about to change again … but we’ll never know (OK, Neil Jordan did write a screenplay for the supposed series finale, but I can’t bear to read it based on the reviews).

 

 

Vanozza Cattaneo’s Costumes in Season 3 of The Borgias

Early in the season, Vanozza is having a new dress made, and we love a dressmaking scene on film around here! Note that her new gown will have narrow sleeves. So there’s no rhyme nor reason about this that I can figure out.

She even repeats a narrow-sleeved gown from season 2.

While she also wears a new puffy-sleeved gown, all in solid green.

The embroidered camicia and square neck of that gown remind me of this later painting:

 

 

Giulia Farnese’s Costumes in Season 3 of The Borgias

Guilia makes one major appearance at the end of the show, just to get the Pope’s approval of her fiancé. She wears a dress with that 1520s-40s silhouette, using the same orangey color scheme she wore much of the series.

I’m reminded of this kind of dress shape, plus the braids (but do check out Kendra’s series, linked above, for details about the show’s hairstyling):

You can see Gabriella Pescucci’s design sketches for this outfit in another of Showtime’s season 3 promo sheets:

 

 

What do you love about the costumes in The Borgias?

 

 

 

 

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