Death Comes to Pemberley Episode 1
A Costume Critique
Overall I believe that the costuming was suitable. The costumes were suitable to their purpose, and extremely period accurate, however there was much lacking in the way of character expression. The costumes had more to do with the role the characters played in the episode than how well they suited their personality. Marianne Agertoft was the costume designer of this miniseries.
Lovers of the original and witty characters Miss Austen invented will disappointed not only in their portrayal by the actors, but also their presentation.
Mr. Wickham--charming, vivacious, manipulative, devilish, and freaking amazing in a bright red coat. At least that is how I remember his character from the book and the most classic, long movie version. Instead, we only see him in dark, somber, black. The dark coloring most definitely connects to his role in the first episode of the series, as a man who "brings death to pemberly". His costuming offers a foreshadow to the storyline, but is disappointing when representing the actual character.
Elizabeth Darcy (Bennett)-- a pretty girl, second only to Jane (yes the person they cast as her bothers me A LOT), smart, witty, bright, interesting--how could Darcy help but fall for her? But looking at her in this series is again quite disappointing. In the classic movie version (with Collin Firth) she is usually found in white/bright clothing that matches her bright personality and quick thinking. In this series all of the costuming choices for her seem to be so DULL. Absolutely uninteresting. Also, so far her personality is quite altered. She is not witty or hardly interesting. I miss that spark in her personality. I suppose the costuming matches the role she is given. But it is so absolutely disappointing to see such an amazing character major character being brought down so much.
And Lydia, who married poor and fast is the most extravagantly dressed character. For once the personality and costume matched well; however Lydia's situation was carelessly forgotten. She married the scoundrel with the destructive personality and no sense of responsibility, and being no better herself, they would have ended up being quite poor, I'd imagine. Yet when we see her she is wearing a luxurious red dress that is absolutely stunning, with lots of interesting embroidery and fancy stuff. WAY nicer than the dress being worn by Elizabeth, who married basically one of the richest men in England.
Most of the other character costuming seemed tolerable, I suppose (heehee). But come on! The foreshadowing is really being laid on thick with the costumes. The ghost woman in the woods, wearing dark bloody red--then later in the episode, Wickham coming out of the woods covered in blood. Georgiana dressed in a gorgeous romantic gown-->BOOM, suitors. Some subtlety please!!
I realize I may be a little harsh, and I admit most else was done extremely well. Several maids, cooks, horse worker people, servants, like everyone looked really fantastic. It must have been difficult and time consuming to create costumes that were so convincingly period accurate. I was impressed with how well the extras and minor characters were done. I was just particular about the costuming of the main characters, because it was like seeing close old friends of mine, and wondering "What on earth are you wearing? That is SO not you".
*BONUS* remember that gorgeous dress I mentioned that Georgiana wore. It is light green and flowy with embroidery/beading on the neckline and sleeve, and this cute ruching on the sleeve. A sort of Greek feeling... Just so cute. Definitely my favorite outfit of the episode. Sorry I looked but I couldn't find a picture of it...:(
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