You asked for it, so here’s an occasional open thread to bitch about anything tangentially related to history, costume, movies, or TV shows! Or whatever else is on your mind right now. Note that URLs are automatically held for moderation, but most anything else goes as long as you’re not bitchier than we are!
Yes, yes, your Frock Flicks editor-in-chief is an unrepentant anglophile, though not quite a monarchist. And we do love ourselves some pomp and circumstance around here, so we can’t help being distracted by a certain ceremonial event across the pond. Not like there’s much else frock-worth upcoming this month!
Are you a royal watcher, old or new?
I’m a bit of an Anglophile myself, but also not a Monarchist. I got up at 5:30 am for Charles and Diana’s wedding. However, I will sleep in tomorrow morning. :)
I’m recording it ;)
Goodness me, what possible connection could there be between these two decisions? (-;
I was a lot younger then. :)
Have you ever thought about reviewing the Amercian Girl movies – Felicity, Kit, Samantha, etc.? I’m reading the Felicity books to my girls right now, and I’m so curious about the accuracy of clothing descriptions. For example, would the nine-year-old daughter of a prosperous store owner in Revolutionary War-era Virginia wear a bum roll or hoops under her dress, or just petticoats?
Kendra has short reviews of some of those movies — https://www.frockflicks.com/felicity/ https://www.frockflicks.com/kit-kittredge-american-girl-2008-short-review/
But I’m too old to know anything about them!
Watching Queen Charlotte on Netflix. Don’t mind the historical changes, since this is “AU history, but am disappointed that George has no character development and no personality. I have a soft spot for the Mad King George, and here he’s mostly meh.
We’ll have reviews of Queen Charlotte coming soon.
@Charity, at the time of his marriage His Late Majesty was years away from his first bout of madness and so profoundly respectable* there’s not even the faintest hint of a mistress (bar a somewhat dubious claim about marriage with a Quaker girl).
If you want the Good Scandal you really want to follow his sons…
*I’ve dreamed once or twice about a scene in THE GREAT where Empress Catherine gets the dirt about various monarchs across Europe – in a scene where various ambassadors/spies/gossips describe the lives lives of various monarchs by giving the names and titles of their wives and mistresses (The King of France gets a comically long list of names) building up to the punchline that the British Ambassador can only provide “Her Majesty the Queen”.
Embarrassed Silence –
“So how many children does the king have?”
Comically long list ensues –
I actually like that about him, that he was the only not horn-dog in a long line of serial royal cheaters. But I mean, if you’re going to give me 6 hours of George and Charlotte, give him a personality other than “I look at stars, and I farm, and I think you’re pretty.” Spend some time with him. Make me understand why they are “in love.” Marie Antoinette did this exact same plot (“… why no consummation?”) better. :P
George and Charlotte were a very happy couple until his mental illness wrecked their relationship. Charlotte knew he’d been out of his mind but the things he said and did hurt too much and she could never forget even if she could forgive. Very sad.
Ugh. Literally 7 minutes in and we’ve already got corset myths. Charlotte says her tight corset is whalebone and very sharp and if she moves she will impale herself. I’m Lotte dear, it’s actually baleen, which is cartilage and highly highly unlikely to poke through its own fabric, never mind your flesh.
She was AHEM, making a point. ;)
The best thing related to the upcoming coronation happened yesterday. English Heritage put out a new Mrs. Crocombe video where she prepared very patriotic roast beef and plum pudding.
No, I missed that. I love Mrs. Crocombe. Gotta see it.
The new Tom Jones is an oof. Very little hats or hair pins when outdoors! Don’t even get me started on the lack of fichus! I’m also worried about the lack of hair pins in the Gallows Pole. Perhaps Daisy left her’s behind at the Abbey?
Got a Tom Jones review coming too!
Eagerly awaiting the Review! >:)
To say nothing of the shit that doesn’t fit–how on earth did Shirley Henderson agree to wear any of those costumes?
I didn’t know she was in it!!! I’ll have to Watch. Love her!
MONEY, darling!
Yes, I have only seen the preview and the first thing in my head was “where are the hairpins”. Having seen the previews for Queen Charlotte where India Amarteifio’s hair is done up in at least approximately what is historical, the difference is very noticeable.
You know it’s Wrong, if even Bridgerton gets hair pins!
All that delicious Paegentry and I’m working morning to afternoon tomorrow.
Curses!
They have 1st look photos for the Gallows Pole! Set in 18th Century Yorkshire. Guess Daisy left all of her hair pins @ the Abbey? Or she’s too poor to afford 2 dollar hairpins?
Hadn’t heard of that one! Thanks for the tip, added it to our Upcoming Movies list.
‘Gallows Pole’ eh?
…
I’m not the only one who took one look at that title and wondered if it were a euphemism, am I?
I confess that I’ll be up at 2:00 a.m. to see whether Camilla’s stylists kept her stuck in 1980 (AGAIN). Would someone please give the poor woman a nice up-do and non-Joan-Collins eye make-up?
Diana will always been ‘queen of hearts’ in my book ;)
Yeah–I thought about her several times early this morning.
Diana sent the rain!
It rains a lot there in the spring. Diana would have sent thunder.
I’ll be painting the bathroom and/or making curtains. The obscene waste of public money to glorify hereditary privalege disgusts me, especially at a time of financial hardship for many people in Britain. There is widespread indifference to the coronation, just as there was for the jubilee and the Queen’s funeral – not that you’d know this from the fawning media coverage, particularly that of the BBC.
An estimated 2.6 million tourists went to the UK last year bec. of the queen’s jubilee, & 29.2 million watched her funeral in the UK (that’s over 40% of the population). The old lady had some fans. Chuck? Not so much, undoubtedly.
A big part of why I enjoy historical dramas is for the pomp & circumstance that modern life is lacking, so watching a once-every-70-years-or-so fancy ceremony in a stunning church (that I’ve admired & visited many times), heck yeah, I’ll record that & watch ;)
Except we all know it won’t be another 70 years before another coronation. It’s not like Charles is young.
Well, I’m old enough that I can’t count on seeing a second one, heh.
Charles comes from a very long-lived family. He’s 74, but could live to 100. So, I’m figuring this is it for me to see a complete coronation ceremony.
@Julia: If the upper classes are going to spend our money anyway, at least a coronation lets us see where the money goes.
Also, Bank Holiday!
Actually it’s the long history of Great Britain and the continuity of its institutions that’s being glorified and the English are obviously enjoying themselves enormously. As QEI said ‘it’s a more glorious thing to see a crown than wear one’.
Don’t forget the Scots, the Welsh and some of the Irish! (Amongst others: it’s actually quite surprising how many Realms His Majesty remains at the head of, at least for the duration).
Definitely a royal watcher–old!!
I saw Chevalier recently-it covered the basic facts of his life but I didn’t feel like they truly captured how cool he was. Mixed feelings on the frocks, some good, some not so great (a lot looked like it didn’t fit right). The lipsticks were ridiculously modern. I understand some makeup to make sure the actresses look fine on camera but come on.
Each of us has been so freaking busy, we haven’t been able to get to the theaters to see Chevalier :( I’m disappointed. Going to have to find it as soon as it gets on streaming though.
I’m definitely a Monarchist. I’ll be watching the coronation tomorrow. But I gave up on the Crown after 2 years bc of how they treated Prince Philip. I am addicted to Bridgerton in all its permutations and gave already binged Queen Charlotte, which was excellent fun. The bunny comment about Pom-Pom had be ROTHLI and I thought they did an excellent job casting Young Queen Charlotte. The costumes were I’d Wear That tier and not Just Stab Me Now.i was disappointed in the men biopic on Margrethe I of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, etc.
Having been lucky enough to see the Coronation up to the crown being set on His Majesty’s head, I’m not disappointed – this was some JUICY Old World pageantry.
Hopefully Prince George was thinking “That’ll be me someday!” rather than “Oh God, that’ll be me someday!”
Sorry this comment probably doesn’t belong here as it’s not about the portrayal of historical dress in TV or film, but since you folks are the ones that made me aware of the problem of skirt hiking, I direct you to the photos of Camilla and Catherine in Vanessa Friedman’s NY Times article today on coronation fashion. Egregious skirt hiking. Surely there must be someone available to teach royal personages how to walk in long skirts if they don’t already know how. The effect of the dresses is totally ruined. I totally understand if you need to delete this.
Hah, I though the same thing!
For Camilla’s defense, walking through all the abbey with a 4 pound crown on the head and gigantic train, her only thought must have been « don’t walk on that f… dress!! »
I thought her skirt was simply too long. An inch shorter and she’d have been fine. That and the crown smooshing her bangs making her fiddle with them convince me that the staff must detest her!
Apropos of nothing very much, it has consistently occurred to me that the younger Glenn Close would have been an excellent casting choice for Marie Antoinette de France: she has the right sort of lovely but not classically perfect face for the role, we know she can handle 18th century couture with panache and she is an exceedingly good actress.
Also, imagine the whiplash of going from Marie Antoinette to the la Merteuil!
Quick question – would MAGPIE MURDERS, a TV mystery which switches between the present day and the 1950s count as sufficiently historical for the purposes of this blog?
It would count, sure, but also, one of us would have to be interested in it ;)
I suggest The Last Princess, about the last princess of Korea, born in 1912, and taken to Japan during the pre-WWII colonization period. (Spoiler alert, she is able to return to Korea in 1962 where she lives until 1989). Lots of Korean hanbok goodness, and lots of western clothing that looks appropriate and attractive (hats! hairstyles! Yay!) And it is very much in the Frock Flicks ethos of ‘women having to live within the true realities for women of their time period.’ Which is one of the reasons I love you guys so much!!!
That one’s been in my queue for a while, I’ll bump it up!
Leaving aside all other issues the costuming of Netflix Cleopatra is AWFUL Alexandrians didn’t dress like that, Romans didn’t dress like that NOBODY in the 1st century BC – AD dressed like that!!!
AEs didn’t do bare midriffs, though they sometimes did bare breasts. Anyway Cleopatra would have worn the Greek chiton and himation every day and a lot more colors than white! To her credit she was the first Ptolemy to take an interest in native Egyptians culture but Alexandria was a Greek city.
I just wanted to drop a recommendation for the Italian show “Paradiso” (or “Il Paradiso delle Signore”). It’s based on the same novel that inspired the British show “The Paradise,” but this version is set in 1950s Milan.