12 thoughts on “Catherine the Great (2019): What’s Right in the Costumes & What Isn’t

  1. If I recall correctly (I did PhD on 19C depictions of the Petrine era many yrs ago), the ‘ruched sleeves’ are from an earlier style of rubashka (shirt) than those shown in the Argunov and Torelli paintings, where the sleeve style is copying Western 18C chemise sleeves. The sleeves of the shirt used to be made much longer than the arms, so were worn scrunched up. See some of Surikov’s late 19C history paintings, which are pretty good at recreating late 17C costume:
    https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/13/01/66/08/le-matin-de-l-execution.jpg
    or one of his fancy portraits:
    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/4b/4c/d44b4c8ce9d2088785a183c06ddd0c0c.jpg

  2. Well researched and executed costumes review.
    Mirren is amazing in everything she is in, but for my movie money, I prefer Dietrich in The Scarlet Empress.

    1. I agree. Catherine was German, and however much she was determined to be Russian (and however much one believes, or not, in cultural stereotypes), she stayed German. I prefer Mirren as Elizabeth I. (By the way, Catherine’s memoirs of her early days at the Russian court, while undoubtedly as self-serving as any politician’s memoirs, are fascinating. She was a very precise, vivid writer: https://daily.jstor.org/the-memoirs-of-catherine-the-great/)

      1. I’ve always been amazed that a little German princess managed to get the support of the governing classes against her husband the native heir. Peter must have been crazy scary to make a foreign woman look like the better bet.

    1. I thought I recognized the look. There’s a short jacket in the V&A collection, I believe, that’s a dead ringer for that jacket. The full one though really is a Russian look, though I couldn’t swear to the century.

  3. I wonder why the designer thinks that the overgown is a loose francaise,when it certainly is not.the robe may have been a sacque back,but those wide revers,the waist seam and what should have been the lack of any apparent distinction between the bodice and the underskirt convinces that the fusion of the two styles was not a good idea.the dress should probably have looked more lie a roundgown with the overgown of a turque.Also,the regional Russian influences seemed more 19th c. than 18th.
    The fabrics however were gorgeous.

  4. As I’ve said before, pretty makes you forgive a lot. Personally I’m happy if they get the silhouette and basic look right. My expectations are low 😉

  5. I agree, the whole series was just plain BAD. The whole time I was watching it, I couldn’t help comparing it to Ekaterina (2014), the Russian series I had watched on Amazon Prime. While it was a bit soapy and the romance portion was rather melodramatic, this series about Catherine’s rise to power was quite entertaining (costuming was quite good too!). Overall, Ekaterina was far more watchable (and longer) than Catherine the Great.

    Just today I found out that there was actually a second series set during the early years of her reign and there is a third series yet to come out. So excited!

    I highly recommend someone from Frock Flicks watches Ekaterina, if only to do a single-post comparison to the Helen Mirren sh*t-show.

    1. Also, Season 2 has some great dressing scenes showing all the various layers, as well as a few times showing her maids literally sewing her in to her dress! Double yay!

      1. I agree with you! Somebody from Frock Flicks should watch Ekaterina. I also really like the Russian series Sophia in Amazon Prime, which tackles the live of Sophia or Zoe, who married into the Russian royal family (before it was unified) but was the last Byzantine princess. She was also the grandma of Ivan the Terrible. Although not 100% accurate, o really enjoyed this series.

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