Alright people, I got nothing better to do so I finished The Cook of Castamar (2021) and I have thoughts about the costumes, hair, and ending! Semi-spoiler alert! If you don’t want to know some things about how the series ends, watch it before reading.
Again, this miniseries is based on a (modern) novel and set in 1720 Spain. Clara (Michelle Jenner) is a down-on-her-luck cook who gets hired to work for the fabulously wealthy Duke of Castamar. And I won’t tell you anything other than that!
Let’s work our way to up Amelia, who of course is the most fun.
Roberto has nice side rolls, but I kept staring at that sideswept almost-combover.
18th century hairstyles all went BACK, not to the side | Francis Hayman, 1707/8–1776, British, George and Margaret Rogers, between 1748 and 1750, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Flashback mom! I actually kind of like this ensemble for late 17th century. It looks like a loose gown over stays, which, yes! The sleeves are kind of random, but they’re not bad.
It’s kind of like a casual version of this silhouette? Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland and Countess Castlemaine (1640–1709), c. 1670, via Sotheby’s
Sol Montijos gets a good dark-themed riding ensemble for a flashback scene, although I feel like that print is suspiciously close to paisley.
There are a LOT OF HAIRNETS being used in these hairstyles, which look almost 1870s. Now, I actually love a good hairnet! But you need to pin it IN to the hair in places so it’s not so obvious!
What they were going for | Augustin Pajou/Sèvres Manufactory, Madame du Barry (1746–1793), 1772, Metropolitan Museum of Art
What they achieved | Revue de la Coiffure, 1876
Flashback Sol, looking very 1660s-1670s, which would be 50ish years before the present? So maybe not?
Kind of like this? Silver Tissue Dress, 1660, Fashion Museum (Bath)
At the very end, Clara gets a robe à la française (1740s and onwards style) for a Very Special Occasion. I liked how they picked something almost white but not quite, and kept it pretty but understated, like Clara’s character.
However, up close I’m not loving the beige. The Indian printed cotton IS accurate for the period.
A hairdresser comes from France and styles Amelia’s hair in a new style! Which is basically her same old ratted/aqua-netted Gibson Girl updo, except with less side volume.
She also has massive hairnet action. And 1870s-style hair.
The BIG MOMENT is when she wears this caramel-colored court dress. It is cut relatively correctly for a court dress, with fitted bodice and back-lacing.
She’s got HUGE puffy bows on the front. A “ladder” of graduated-width bows is definitely a style you see in the mid-18th century.
I couldn’t figure out why I kept staring at them.
Until she stood sideways and I realized they were placed too high on her chest.
The classic mid-century “ladder” of bows | Portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher, 1756, Alte Pinakothek
THE BACK. WAS THE BEST. I don’t think ANYONE showed that much shoulder blade until about 1920.
Your standard court dress came up high in the back | Sofia Magdalena’s coronation gown, 1772, Livrustkammaren
After that, everything else was a let down, like this closed-front mantua (a 1730s-50s style).
It’s kind of like this | Tibout Regters, Portrait einer adeligen Dame, 1743, via Wikimedia Commons
This jacket was cute! If 1780s.
I scoffed at how she’s dressed to the nines, not feeling well, and then 30 seconds later her hair is down in beachy waves.
Or spiral curls, to be more precise.
Another shot of the Brooch of AliExpress Castamar!
Amelia’s white wedding dress is delivered … without even a bag? Sheet wrapped around it? Something? IT’S WHITE, PEOPLE. IT NEEDS PROTECTION. (Also, this is about 150 years before the White Wedding Dress)
Someone had some problems getting the overskirts to angle correctly.
This is the line they should be going for | Sack (robe à la française), 1775-80, Victoria & Albert Museum
THE MOST HEAD-NECKLACE-Y HEAD NECKLACE EVER! It’s one of those Edwardian dog collar chokers!
Someone went CRAZY with the head bling.
Did you finish The Cook of Castamar? Did you scoff at what I scoffed at?
“…this caramel-colored court dress. It is cut relatively correctly for a court dress, with fitted bodice and back-lacing.”
Eh???
I have never seen back-lacing on an 18thc dress with a stomacher (which is what an échelle of bows invariably sat on). The stomacher was always real, not a decorative appliqué. Back-lacing gowns had a plain front.
Very nice point.
However I have the impression that such aspects doesn’t matter in such a mix of costumes from different decades of the 18th century and as it was explained perfectly even aspects from the 19th century.
It’s almost always the same that the producers think that the style of the first half of the 18th century is too boring or just not what the audience would expect from 18th century costumes and therefore they make a mish-mash of all decades with a favour for the 1770s/80s because the hairstyle was very elaborated. We see the same (with better costumes) in “Thieves of the wood”, “Tom Jones…” (1997) etc..
I ask myself if that is of any real significance for the audience or if the audience would not like the series with correct hairstyle and costumes too. Is not storytelling, weapons, actors etc. of more signifcance for me?
“I feel like that print is suspiciously close to paisley…”
To me, it looked more like something with a Moorish influence. But no idea if that’s any more plausible or appropriate.
Great coverage and pics, BTW. I love it when you watch these things so I don’t have to!
You know this is set in Spain and not France….it’s not french court or fashion.
It’s not Spanish court fashion either (which, by 1720’s would be very similar to French court because the king was French and had won a war to sit on the Spanish throne, so everybody was trying to suck up to him).
The thing is… the flashbacks are not accurate either, because those are French fashion, and Spanish fashion in late 17th Century was very different from the French.
BTW, that last framegrab:
I could see the one dumb head necklace getting used, because even though it’s a lulu (an obvious “dog collar” choker?) it’s still par for the whole series– “Hey, just stick something sparkly in her hair, and we’re good!”
But WTF happened in that last shot? Was she on the losing end of a snowball fight with the contents of the jewelry chest?
I don’t have a lot to say on the costumes as I don’t know the period anywhere near as well as you. But if that “special occasion” for Clara is what I think it is, it shouldn’t be outside; that’s not even allowed in Catholicism today without some sort of special permission. It’s so odd to me that they were so good about having her wear a cap a lot (which so many miss) and but miss things that they seem like they could have known.
“Another shot of the Brooch of
AliExpressCastamar!” – oh, thank you so much! 🤣