13 thoughts on “Costume Designer James Keast: The Frock Flicks Guide

  1. I want to give him a hug, dealing with all that on “Victoria”. And a retroactive pass on all of the Claire’s tiaras.

  2. omgoodness the actress in Victoria sounds impossible. Allergic to lace, haha! And then not to get the list of actors well ahead of time for a costume drama. His costumes were pretty brilliant though!

  3. OMG the fire had shivers of dread down my spine… All those original garments lost! And knowing the Scandalous Lady outfits were done on a tight budget, well, bravo, Maestro. On the Victoria drama, somehow not surprised: Big budget productions of anything tend to attract the Bridezilla types, I’ve noticed… Allergic to lace, that’s a good one!

  4. I still watch the House of Eliott every couple of years, there are some clothes of Evie’s that I would sell my soul/burgle Cosprop for. And I bought Season 3 of Mr Selfridge purely so I could freeze-frame the costumes.

    I’ve encountered a performer who claims to be allergic to polyester (well, aren’t we all?) but lace is a new one!

  5. What a hero! I don’t think I could have recovered from the fire. But, you know, if it had to happen to any production it would be a Thomas Hardy one.
    the Victoria thing sounds like a complete nightmare. ITV don’t have the vast costume department that the BBC has, where you can go and get emergency stuff (I used to work at Granada in Manchester). That whole production is a mess and he was well out of it.

  6. His Georgian ones: The Aristocrats and the. Scandalous Lady W. I do love the Victoria ones, too. But he sounds like the production team was either rushed, unprofessional or having a ‘annus horribilus’. The Sally Lockhart Mysteries look really good.

  7. I would have made a run for it from ‘Victoria’ too, if I had to deal with all that crazy. Allergic to lace… wow. Kudos for using the term ‘Amazeballs’! I see some things I’ll have to check out.

  8. That poor man! I looked at her IMDB and while she has been in mostly german productions, she has done several period pieces. She should have been taken to task for her lace and petticoats tantrums.

  9. Tess is definitely my favourite of the above. I re watch whenever I feel like giving my tear ducts a good workout. Loosing all those historical costumes must have been heartbreaking.
    What a nightmare working on Victoria sounds. As a kid I had an adverse reaction to nylon lace. Almost broke my Mum’s heart, not being able to dress me in frilly lacy undies. No wonder I have an aversion to frilly, lacy things.

  10. Oh dear. I have the sympathy about the actress that was “allergic” to lace. I costumed a soprano, who was “allergic” to the color I had made her dress in. (Producer, instead of telling her to shush and wear the dress, asked if I could remake it in another color. Yeah, sure. I will have that meeting with the director and the scenic designer again, to change the entire color design of the show, and I will be glad to re-cut and re-sew another copy of the 18th century shepherdess dress. Just for her.) Yes, I am still a wee bit angry about that.

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