PBS Masterpiece brings a reimagined version of John Galsworthy’s ‘Forsyte’ novels from the U.K. to U.S. viewers. This costume drama about the complicated lives of an upper-class family, The Forsytes (2025-), features costumes designed by Nic Ede. Check out our recaps of season one on Mondays after new episodes drop on PBS each Sunday.
Episode 2 starts immediately after episode 1, with Frances coming home all freaked out about her husband’s past affair. At least she has a nice dark floral gown (though a little trim wouldn’t be amiss).
At June’s birthday party the previous night, Jolyon Sr. announced that he was retiring and leaving the family business to his son (this was all Frances’ idea; Jo Jr. is more artsy and doesn’t really care about the business). So now Soames and his dad (Jolyon Sr.’s brother) are pissed off because they want to run the business, and honestly, Soames would be better at the job.
But Jolyon Jr. DGAF about that crap, he’s all obsessed with his past affair and indulging in Venice flashbacks. Which I don’t mind because I adore Venice, although Jo’s curly, stringy, long hair in the past is hilarious.
Back in the office, lawyer pal Issac Cole (Owen Igiehon) brings Jo back to earth because apparently he knows all about Louisa. According to the press pack, the two characters have been best friends since Oxford, though the show has so far only shown that Issac is friendly enough that he and his pregnant wife were invited to June’s birthday party.
Owen Igiehon did mention this costume in the press pack: “My favourite costume is a beautiful blue suit that was extraordinarily comfortable to wear.”
In the press pack, costume designer Nic Ede said:
“The challenge has been to make the 1880s — a pretty rigid period of Victorian society — into something acceptable for a modern audience. … Applying that same approach to the men’s costumes was a little trickier as the men wore a lot of black whichever social class they came from. One way to do this was to remove their coats in the office — something that wouldn’t have happened but we’ve taken that dramatic license with our stockbrokers.”
Sure, mixing things up from standard-issue black suits by showing an occasional blue suit works. But having most of the guys at the office in their shirt sleeves, no jackets, looks silly!
Even in modern TV, business meetings show men in jackets, not shirt sleeves (unless maybe it’s a “getting shit done” montage). Compare with the wildly popular Succession — everyone’s in suits with their jackets on, and maybe one guy skips the tie, that’s as casual as it gets.
Furthermore, Nic Ede went on about Jolyon Jr.:
“Jolyon was a whole different ball game because the challenge was to make him a bit of a rebel. He is a man who has greater cares in life than stocks and shares. To achieve that look Danny often doesn’t wear a collar or a tie, so he looks much more like a modern man.”
Ugh, it just makes him look sloppy and weirdly out of step, at least at the office.
Later on, the whole family goes to the opera. Soames’ mother Emily (Naomi Frederick) is a wacky little lady always carrying around a small dog, and she gets a similarly wacky hairstyle for the opera that I needed to screencap:
Maybe she’s supposed to be harkening back to her somewhat more youthful styles a decade ago?
It’s a night of wacky hairstyles on background characters! The Carteret daughter, Olivia (Tallulah Evans), wears a lovely blue dress and this low-key Bridgerton-esque hairdo, which I have no vaguely historical stretch for.
Meanwhile, Frances continues to try and force a match between June and the Carteret son (who’s the dullest dud who ever dudded). June begs off and then literally runs into the fellow who’ll be the love of her life, much like Soames ran into Irene (fun fact: neither will turn out well).
In the press pack, Tuppence Middleton described Frances’ wardrobe:
“Frances’s look was very important because she always has to be the belle of the ball. She is the most fashionable, the most glamorous in any room that she walks into. That was very important for Nic, so many of her costumes were unique and were made rather than hired. Everything I wore as Frances was beautifully designed and so sumptuous, a beautiful range of materials and colours. We wanted her to look the very best she could at all times, always put together, always pristine. It was important that her wardrobe, more than any character, gives the audience an idea of how important appearance and standing is for her.”
Even though his wife is the most fashionably dressed woman at the opera that night, Jolyon spends the whole time fantasizing about Venice.
So he goes to see Louisa afterwards, which, of course, doesn’t make anyone feel any better.
Next day, Soames tries on a linen suit! He’s got a hot date with Irene.
She mentions that she as an audition in a month at a Paris ballet, which speeds things up in Soames’ mind.
In the press pack, Millie Gibson described one costume element:
“We named my wig Ophelia. I’m blonde usually but every time I put the wig on, I felt like Irene. [Hair and makeup designer] Magi Vaughan tried all these wigs on me, and as soon as we put the red on, we just knew that was the one, that was Irene as it was so fun.”
The hair and makeup designer said in the press pack:
“When we first see Irene, she’s a young woman full of life and hope. She loves to dance and as a ballerina, her hair would naturally be much looser. She doesn’t have a lady’s maid so she would fix her hair herself and there would be no structure to her hair. As she becomes part of the Forsyte family it begins to become more structured, but still in a bohemian way.”
I’ll give June the young-girl-hair-hanging-down. I don’t love it, but I’ll let that one go if necessary. Louisa as a dressmaker really should have her hair pinned up while she works, and Irene is an adult woman out in public seeing a random man not related to her, her hair definitely should be up. She may be bohemian, but she’s not a whore! A woman can put own her hair up in a simple bun or knot by herself without a maid, we’ve been doing it for centuries. It’s also weird that in the one or two scenes where she’s dancing, all the other ballerinas have their hair in tidy little buns, but Irene’s hair is flying all around. Irene’s not even the leading lady at this point, so leading character syndrome shouldn’t apply, for frock’s sake.
Speaking of Louisa, Frances confronts her again because she’s not over it. After his wife leaves, Jolyon visits the dressmaker because he’s really not over it. He sees the kids and figures out they’re his. Louisa tells him the kids can never know, but she named the boy after Jolyon, DUH.
So Jolyon tells Frances he wants to acknowledge his kids with Louisa. Frances seems less concerned as his romantic partner and mostly worried about how it would look to society, how it would hurt the family business, etc. I’ve said it before, and once again Tuppence Middleton plays characters I don’t quite like. Here and there, she almost hints that she could be a warm, loving wife and mother, but nope, she reels it back in and always focuses on status and money first.
In the press pack, costume designer Nic Ede said of France’s costumes:
“Frances has the most comprehensive wardrobe of any of the cast because it’s her armour. She wears clothes to impress and, to a certain extent, put people in their place. I feel her dresses are what she hides behind. We very seldom see the real Frances and when we do, we see a deeply vulnerable and sad woman. I’ve created a wardrobe for her that is magnificent, expensive and totally right for the character.”
Back in the other storyline, Soames proposes marriage to Irene, suggesting he goes to Paris with her. This Soames starts out a lot softer than Damian Lewis in the last TV version — Lewis was 100% cold, sharp, and just became terrifying, and I can’t tell if Joshua Orpin is going there. There’s zero chemistry between Soames and Irene, which I think is accurate to the story because for him, it’s possessive obsession, and for her, it’s a marriage of convenience. At best, in this version, he’s twitter-patted, and she’s friendly. Which is fine, I guess, and we’ll see what happens.
What do you think of The Forsytes so far?
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I dozed off so I appreciate your recap of the story. But I remember getting annoyed again with the dressmakers long locks (have we ever seen this actress with her hair up?). Then the shirt sleeves in the board room and Jo’s no ties. I yelped ” wtf?”
The changes from the source material—Galsworthy’s novels—are driving me mad. Why is June Jo’s stepdaughter rather than his own daughter whom he deserted when he ran off with her governess when she was eight—an event that affected her entire character arc. And Irene, THE catalyst for the disastrous events in the saga, is, like Helen of Troy, a woman for whom men will burn down cities. This Irene is just a pretty young woman. (Fun fact: in the books, Irene has blonde hair and brown eyes—a coloring that used to be considered an indicator of a weak moral character)
So I’ll stick with the 1967 version, which for my money hasn’t yet been equaled. For one thing, the actors in it look like Victorians. And in this newest version, I miss James, Soames’ father, moaning that “Nobody tells me anything,” whenever something happens!
I think part of the reason the 1967 version is so good is that at least some of the creators actually KNEW Victorians. They knew something about how they would act and carry themselves. They knew for instance, that appearing in your shirtsleeves was the equivalent of wearing your underwear to a board meeting.
Love the men’s hilariously modern hairstyles! Trying way too hard to be attractive to the modern audience, in fact that’s my major problem with this production!