How nice of the Emmys to provide us with a neatly packaged Top Five Friday theme! Let’s take a look at the short list for 2025’s Outstanding Period Costuming Emmys!
American Primeval (2025-)
Costume Designer: Virginia B. Johnson
Costume Supervisor: Donna Casey Aira
Costume Supervisor: Tonya Barrett
Assistant Costume Designer: Mila Hermanovski
Assistant Costume Designer: Sueann Leung
Head of Workroom: April McCoy
Per Elle magazine, American Primeval is “an exploration of a violent conflict between cultures, religions, and peoples, in which each fights and dies to protect their land. Or to become its undisputed ruler.”
This is unlikely to be one of the shows we cover on the blog, mainly because it’s a Western which all three of us are very lukewarm about in general. That said, the costuming, particularly for the Native American characters, is likely what got the attention of the Academy. The show features a number of Native American tribes, particularly the Southern Paiute and Shoshone, with exacting attention to detail in their respective clothing.
Bridgerton (2020-)
Costume Designer: John Walter Glaser III
Costume Supervisor: Amanda McLaughlan
Associate Costume Designer: Dougie Hawkes
Assistant Costume Designer: George Sayer
Assistant Costume Designer: Anthony Brookman
A perennial Frock Flicks favorite, Bridgerton returned last year for its third season following the exploits of Penelope Featherington in the highly stylized and intentionally historically-inspired show. This isn’t historical accuracy, it’s pretty and you either are cool with that, or you’re probably not watching it.
1923 (2022-)
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
Co-Costume Designer: Gaby Acosta
Costume Supervisor: Jaclyn Tamizato
Assistant Costume Designer: Kelly Chambers
Assistant Costume Designer: Megan Guthrie-Wedemeyer
1923 is the follow-up series to 1883 (2021), and the prequel to Yellowstone (2018). It follows the story of the Dutton family who own the Yellowstone Ranch. The setting is, you guessed it, 1923, which takes the Duttons through Prohibition, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression. Technically, it’s a Western, but this installment of the trilogy has a lot of interesting non-dusty outfits. Janie Bryant is always excellent — she’s been raved about since her work on Deadwood and Mad Men.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2025)
Costume Designer: Joanna Eatwell
Costume Supervisor: Havva Buckles
Assistant Costume Designer: Clare Vyse
I think I speak for all of us here at Frock Flicks when I say that this is the show we are all rooting for to win in the Outstanding Costuming category. Joanna Eatwell once again brings the spectacle of the Tudor court to life, without sacrificing the sort of period details that make our hearts race.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2025)
Costume Designer: Stephanie Bradley
Costume Supervisor: Michael Sandvig
Assistant Costume Designer: Shannon Campbell
On behalf of all of Generation X, I am appalled that we are now old enough to start seeing our generation’s greatest media shitshows mined as “historical flicks.” This show also breaks our 1969 cut-off rule, so no, we won’t be covering it.
Congratulations to the nominees and may the best costumes win!
Who do you want to win the 2025 Emmy for Outstanding Costumes? Tell us in the comments!
re: American Primeval – How dare they put Betty Gilpin in something so dusty and plain! She deserves better.
I too am rooting for Joanna Eatwell. :)
Yeah, me, too, especially for Jenneke’s and Mary’s costumes.
Anybody else have a “hard” time taking their eyes off that codpiece on Damian Lewis?!
I want to watch “American Primeval,” but somehow I doubt I’ll have anything intelligent to say about it! And I did watch “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”; highly entertaining, especially as someone who refused to pay attention to it while it happened.
I’ve subscribed to Vanity Fair since about ’84, and Dominick Dunne’s reporting on the Menedez trial was a fascinating take. Aside from the Los Angeles Times coverage (local paper), no platform was better. And Dunne’s writing came from the perspective of being the father of murder victim Dominique Dunne, who was one of the young actors in the original Poltergeist. She was killed by her former boyfriend, and Dunne’s raison d’être became writing about high profile trials with much sympathy for the victims. This is the reporting that led me to dislike criminal attorneys who lie for a high enough price.
When it comes to Henry VIII there’s no such thing as ‘Too Much Codpiece’ … except for the audience and it’s not as though he ever cared about the supporting cast of his own personal Lifetime Movie.
No Gilded Age? I’m shocked. In that case, my vote goes to Wolf Hall. And I think Damian Lewis is the only tall hot ginger who could play Henry.
THE GILDED AGE wasn’t eligible for these Emmys. They will be eligible next year for season 3. The first season was not nominated for costumes in 2022, but the second one did earn a nomination in 2024.
Bridgerton is more Disney fantasy than Historical, lately. I miss Ellen and Sophie’s whimsical but beautiful designs! Lately it’s been looking chintzy!
Codpieces … I’ll never forget the timeline of Henry’s armor that used to be at the Tower of London. They got fancier, and fatter, of course, but the best part was that the armored codpieces got bigger, and bigger — !
I’m happy Bridgerton was nominated. I think a lot of the backlash the costumes got was not based on a fair assessment of that season’s actual work, but instead a preference some folks had for the first two seasons that wouldn’t allow for it to be judged on its own merits. (And certainly not period purity- the show has never lived up to that!) Taken on its own, the designs were lush, enchanting and really helped tell a story- and when I’m looking at costume design for TV and Film I do like the clothing to speak to me. Penelope’s self-determined wardrobe overhaul, Colin’s leading man looks, Cressida’s red dress reveal- it made costume a character for S3 in a way that worked for the story they were trying to tell.
I kind of hate watch the costumes. I really prefer historical authenticity, not hysterical prettiness, but I feel like Bridgerton costumes come from the Sandy Powell/Cinderella school of fantasy costuming. I will say that I love the fabrics used. Not so much the final product, but I find myself thinking of what I could do with the base fabric on that tweed Spencer (wtf?! How do those two even come together?). Yeah – still team Wolf Hall.
No contest is there: Wolf Hall is far away in the lead.
No idea though why Bridgerton is in there, because the costumes are fantasy (as is the whole show) and not period. Okay, could be period fantasy. And, yes, I stopped watching the first season half way through, the second after fifteen minutes and the third during the scene with Colin and Penelope in the carriage. I like being able to believe I am watching a reasonable representation of a historical time and place.
Always loved the costuming in Wolf Hall for the attempt at historical accuracy, but this time I actually loved the way it further explored characterization (larger budget perks, i guess). Henry and Jane dressed in gold and silver to represent the sun and the moon, the informed choice to keep the Anne of Cleves’ gown open fronted (not unlike the extant Mary of Habsburg dress) in sharp contrast to the ubiquitous use of placards for Tudor dresses even though closed frontend German gowns existed. But personal favorite was definitely Mary with her starting dress a very faded black, then her strong attempt to assert her royalty in the most garish reds and over the top train on the gown (even the queen doesn’t have it with that length)