30 thoughts on “Ekaterina (2014) – Nyet Bad Costumes

  1. Watched the whole season 1 online somewhere – just binge-watched it was so much fun. How could you not comment on the several way too short gowns of Ekaterina! I laughed so much at those. The actress playing Elizabeth rocked – will miss her.

  2. I really loved this show. I was surprised that it was mostly accurate. Though I did note most of the things that you did in your commentary. That zone front gown jumped out at me because those didn’t show up for another twenty years at least. But still, good show. I’m looking forward to season two.

      1. Season 2 is up on Amazon! I can’t speak to the fabrics, but I did notice a LOT more robes à la Française,

      2. Season 2 is up and it looks like they did get that major budget improvement. I only noticed one truly glaring back-laced dress, with metal grommets you are shocked, I know. (It’s an extended shot of a main character, during a ball, from the back. Ouch) The one thing that stood out most, and it comes solely from learning from you lovely ladies, is that they have Catherine in a black court dress that look like 1730-1750 appearing in the 1770-80s.

        Also, take a note of the portraits that appear. Some are better that others, but it looks like they at least tried to make them look of the period.

  3. We liked it overall – but then we are Tsarist history obsessed here. And you are right – the costumes weren’t as bad as they could be; the sudden “WTF is that” clothing intrusion into the story line was relatively low. So, two thumbs up, with caveats. >>On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Wolf Hall as having the most historically accurate costumes on screen today,<< Except for that astonishing, head-scratching tabard-schmata-thingy that Anne Boleyn wears for archery practice.

  4. Thanks for highlighting this—I’ll have to look for it on Netflix. I am surprised they didn’t do better on the costumes/hair; I’d largely agree with the cultural self-assessment (although reserving on the comparison). Russians go to art and historical museums all the time—I’ve waited in a long line out the door for a special pre-Raphaelite exhibition, for example, in Moscow, and on new year, their biggest winter holiday, the same was true for the Hermitage. I’ve been to Catherine Palace (named for Elizabeth’s mother, not Catherine II—never “the great” under communism), Catherine’s Moscow palace, the Hermitage, the Tretyakov—there’s no lack of portraits, and in general Russians do beautiful recreation work, with incredible precision. (Sometimes I feel that Russians love beauty like the rest of us love air.) So the lack of wigs is really odd to me. But I do look forward to watching the series regardless—be interesting to see a Russian popular take on the history.

  5. I think that wiglessness and other oddities in costumes is just because of a really strict budget. Just look at another russian tv-series about Ekaterina “The Great” (2015). They had the largest budget among any other russian tv-series ($10millions is the craziest sum for russian tv), so “The Great” has wigs (though rather “plastic”), dresses are richier and so on.
    https://youtu.be/aw3UUpO5d28

  6. I’m surprised the costumes weren’t better when they have cases and cases of Catherine’s actual gowns on display to work from… not to mention the abundance of portraits and statues. Oh well, I’ll definitely be checked this out anyway!

    1. Unfortunately, they had historical sources, but had not enough money to reproduce it :(
      Russian tv-series usually have a very limited budget.

  7. I, too binge watched this on YouTube for season 1. I was impressed with the 85-90% historical accuracy, and like Athene am pro-Tsarist Russia here too. I’m looking forward to seeing Matilde (about Mathilde Kschessinkaya and Nicky II love affair, his marriage to Alix and her subsequent affairs with two of Nicky’s cousins)
    What I giggled and popcorn tossed at screen (actually hard as I watched on my smartphone) was the backlacing garments, poly-brocade fabric. I wanted to give the designers an award for making Elizabeth Petrovna look awesome and powerful.
    I will watch season 2 when it gets on YouTube or Netflix.

  8. Bringing up the costuming of Elizabeth Petrovna, I would love for you guys to do a best and worst plus size costuming lineup (if there are actually enough characters in costume dramas that aren’t normal/thin). Certain time periods were spectacular for the larger figure yet, there are so many ill fitting sacks out there (or they’re just straight up boring matronly stuff). It perpetuates the idea that either everyone in the past was super thin, and/or that larger people didn’t/don’t care about their appearance.
    On the good side, I would have to list the HBO biopic Bessie, for making me reconsider the 1920’s as a “thin girls only” decade. On the bad side, Taboo’s depiction of the Prince Regeant, which was both ill fitting and gross.

  9. Wanted to check it for ages, your post is a good push into right direction. I have a small crush on Alexander Lazarev, guess ogling him could compensate for back-lacing moments.
    There is also series called “Secrets of the coup d’etats” (Тайны дворцовых переворотов) dealing with two previous decades of Russian history from Peter the Great’s death through subsequent head cutting and different plots to ascendancy of Empress Anna Ioannovna. I watched 6 out of 8 episodes couple of years ago, and it was all glitter but more or less good both in terms of plot and costuming (men had huge wigs, too). The director said it was intended to be specifically focused on lives of Russian empresses and consorts.
    But my all-time favourite is Russian version of “Queen Margot” – to the point that I sometimes confuse the actress with Margot portraits facepalms

  10. Wow. Agreeing with your rating of historicity. I’m reminded a little of the Sophia Coppola Marie Antoinette. Okay, not everything was rock solid period, but I managed to forget that (and the script, oof, yuck, I hope it sounds better dubbed in French) because I was too wrapped up in the Atmosphere and I can forgive some anachronism in color (like that one hot pink number). Ekaterina’s zone front is gorge, though I could be biased as I have wanted a zone front for ages. Thanks for letting me know that this exists!

  11. “Also, I can see boning through the front of the faux-stomacher…”
    That’s not all I can see. Did she really flatten her boobs down along her ribcage that way?
    Not the point (pun intended) of the stays, and ouchies besides!

  12. Thanks! I didn’t know about this series, and I’ve been a fan of C the G since I was a teenager–heading over to YouTube now.

  13. I can tell Russians appreciate historical accuracy because even their ballet companies have pretty accurate historical costumes!

  14. Had to stop watching after the second episode! I was like…”What the hell is going on with the attire?” It’s the 18th century folks…wigs are absolutely non-negotiable. Sorry…couldn’t do it no matter how good the acting was. What a shame…

  15. I can’t believe you haven’t mention the jewelry. It is horrid ! There was no clip on earrings in 17-th century. You can see the cheap plastic and rhinestones ( at very best) . Tacky!

  16. Guess I am truly Western. I watched the story from the viewpoint of historical perspective, acting talent and visual entertainment. The costumes were adequate to support those goals and I didn’t quibble about the threads per inch of the fabrics or the design of the fasteners. For me, those details are too trivial to affect the entertainment value of the series. Which, of course, means I stumbled onto the wrong website and commentary. All the best…

  17. Thanks for your review of this show. I’m in the process of binging and I’ve gotta say..I love it!
    I’m not as expert in historical costuming, but I’ve learned so much from this blog site that I actually noticed many of the “bad” things you pointed out. Thanks again for all the fun!

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