54 thoughts on “WTF Is Margaret Beaufort Wearing in The White Princess?!?!

  1. That headdress looks like the unholy offspring of a bad French hood and an even worse atifet.

    I love Michelle Fairley. I’m kind of embarrassed on her behalf.

    1. I love her, too. That voice!
      She deserved better. I think they overworked in their attempt to convey the severity of Margaret Beaufort, but they would have been more on the mark if they’d approached the challenge with austerity.

    1. Not to mention the side of a cow he comes out in later on in the series. Like, an entire hide. No decoration but a pinned-on clasp band.

  2. i have been watching it in excitement for you ripping it apart and you didn’t disappoint i am embarrassed for them!

  3. The actress is way too old to play that part. Please note I would love to see more older women in serious rolls but Margrate was 13 when she had Henry so she should be in her late 30’s early 40’s not pushing 60.

    1. I know! I’m all for middle-aged actresses getting work, but this bugged the crap outta me too.

  4. The fabric in the Christmas Nightmare dress is actually a really beautiful pattern. I’m a big sucker for a good pomegranate motif. If only it wasn’t used to make a fugly Christmastime At The Ren Faire Bar Wench dress. Like, what????

  5. That mottled (diseased?)… chemise? is really… something. And that green gown is shouting “drapery fabric” to me, even though it’s the prettiest thing she’s got going on here.

  6. So glad others thought there was something really WTF with the costumes… really don’t understand the show’s concept

  7. Philipa Gregory makes me so frothing mad I could spit nails — I tend to avoid anything and everything she does because of that. To make matters worse, so many people think she’s historically accurate, and I’m not sure how to break it to them Gregory is all fiction and barely historical. The costumes here keep that ‘lovely’ theme of inaccuracy going.

    Bravo to anyone that can stomach her crap because I certainly cannot. And crap it is. Although your snark does tame the flame of despiction just a tad. Thank God for Snark! 🌷

    1. I hate her version of “history”. The first time I saw The Other Boleyn Girl, I could only stare in horror as the credits rolled. Seriously, did she do any research on her books?

      As for the snark, volumes could be written just with the first episode!

    2. I detest Philippa Gregory. She is in NO WAY historically accurate. I avoid her like the plague.

      This is another reason. Margaret Beaufort Countess of Richmond, was a descendant of John of Gaunt, through his liaison with Katherine Swynford, whom he later married. All of the children were born before the marriage. Including Joane – Cecily Neville’s mother. As the mother of the King, she founded a college -at Cambridge I believe, but wouldn’t swear to it- She was Henry’s most important advisor. Whether or not she was involved with the death of young Edward & his brother Richard (Princes in the Tower) is a matter for debate, but she was known for her piety.

  8. I thought you’d appreciate that… uh “French Hood.”

    I think modern interpretations of history have a “no wimple” rule. :P

  9. Everyone, it’s official: We’ve entered the age of stupid, drugged-up costume designers that don’t know what the BEEP they’re doing. The worst part is, I don’t think it’s gonna end any time soon. And here I thought the horrors of “The Tudors” and “Reign” were coming to an end.

  10. OMFG! I’m so glad I only get broadcast telly, or I might be tempted to watch this and keep falling off the sofa. A formidable and scary woman, Margaret Beaufort (yet another plausible candidate for the who-murdered-the-princes-in-the-Tower? game); she doesn’t deserve this wardrobe.

  11. Oh I have been waiting with baited breath to read your comments on this show! I liked the White Queen but so far this show is sort of terrible. The acting is ok (except for Suki Waterhouse, who thinks she’s on Reign) but the costumes and hair are killing me. So many questions:

    1. Why is everyone wearing their hair down ALWAYS? (bobby-pin shortage, perhaps)

    2. Why do half the actors look like they are wearing nightgowns/robes?

    3. Why does the wife of the King have such a crappy wardrobe? She’s been wearing that blue lace-up nonsense for months. Are they trying to say she doesn’t care enough to wear anything interesting? Is no one giving her money for things? What is that pink (lavender?) lace-up dress??

    3. Henry wearing pleather pants. Not a question but ugh.

    4. This could be wrong, but I thought royalty did not wear their crowns that often? Seems like Henry always has it on. I suppose it could be a conscious narrative choice (as in, he is overcompensating) but it seems anachronistic.

    On another note, it’s bugging me how fast and loose the show is playing with history, which is interesting enough on its own (but I blame the source material for that). They have also really kicked up the magic aspect with the mother and it’s pretty dumb – it was handled much more subtly in the first series. The Tudors had some sketchy costuming but at least it didn’t constantly distract me from the show itself, whereas here all I can see on screen is that awful turquoise and gold lace-up thing.

    But I’ll probably keep watching because, why not?

    1. Yeah, I kept saying to Trystan as we were watching, “That could be the most spot-on crown repro ever, but I’m still calling it: Burger King.”

      And we will DEFINITELY be getting into how they’re mangling the history!

  12. I’ve been waiting for you guys to post about this frothing nightmare, though I haven’t laid in enough liquor to watch it myself yet. Just the promo shots make me stare in horror.

    The French hoot-attifet-hooded-cobra-thing…wow. Now I’m staring at both the dresses and the headwear. I’m with one of the commenters above–I actually like the pomegranate designed velvet(?) and wish they’d done something a little less awful with it.

    Maybe it’s just me, but I absolutely hate the pleated gray turtlenecked chemise that Margaret always seems to be wearing. It looks pseudo-Victorian to me for some reason. Also it’s ugly.

    I can’t wait to read what y’all think of the outfit I’ve dubbed “The Little House on the Prairie Dress.”

  13. Say what one will about THE TUDORS (and I’ve said plenty, believe me!) at least the costumes were fun. Insanely non-accurate, but fun, and they looked expensive. The costumes in WHITE PRINCESS…I can’t even…what the hell is that blue gown with the upcurved front that “Lizzie” wears so much of the time? You know, the one with the leg-of-mutton sleeves?

  14. Thank you for hate-watching this so I don’t have to. I love being able to participate in the gleeful snark without having to sit through hours of awfulness. I can’t hate-watch everything. I appreciate you all!!

  15. Oh my sweet lord! My eyes bleed at the sheer mishmash of attempted historical costume. A hood that reminds me of the one worn by Marie Stuart in some of her later portraits. A sideless surcoat somewhere between 50-100 years late (I forget the actual dates) WITH a late French hood. No veil, natch. The last picture reminds of Russian kokoshniks. And those hanging/pocket sleeves–what’s the actual date? Not 1485/6, I’m pretty sure. And I just don’t know what that purplish one is about. Although I believe I have a shirt of the same material the underdress is made of that I bought several years ago.

    While I like the black and silver dress with the dark teal apron and the big sleeves, that’s the one that really looks like Maleficent got religion. And it certainly isn’t period.

    Although Elizabeth’s gown looks closest to timely, it still seems somewhat out of fashion.

  16. I feel like the production co spent all of about $50 per character for costuming, including shoes, hose and jewelry. The little sisters look like ordinary children. Can’t imagine the stress of the costume dept finding cheap rolls of fabric to try to clothe the actors. I thought the Tudors was bad! Gonna go watch an episode of Wolf Hall, which at least avoids hair down and fabrics that look like they cost something.

  17. There is certainly major costume discontinuity in the White Princess and Beauford’s head piece, boy howdy, but even worse for me is the actress playing Margaret B, is way, way too old. She had him when she was about 13 which would make her plus or minus 30-ish. She doesn’t look a day under 60. The casting and costuming were much better done in prequel, White Queen.

  18. OMG! Where to begin? Oh, the horror! The headdress that looks like a dark blue taco shell. The cheap-ass sideless surcoat with the turtleneck thingy under it. The “Christmas nightmare” outfit that looks like it was made from two fleece throws. At least the silver gown looks vaguely from the time period, although something on her head would be appreciated. I am SO GLAD I don’t get STARZ. I would be throwing rocks at the TV.

  19. What in the name of all that is holy IS that tie-dyed chemise she’s apparently wearing??? Even my handmade, doubtlessly overly buckramed etc. French hoods were all doing the $3.99/yd cheap ass acetate thing/plastic hairband/craft beads thingy, but you know, I made it for my kid who was 5 at the time!

  20. Is a gable hood that hard? Interesting note: on formal occasions Elizabeth and Margaret used to dress alike, Elizabeth would wear her crown and Margaret a smaller coronet. Whether on loose hair or a hood I don’t know.

  21. Are some of the head peices eastern european? It may have been groovy for those particula outfits to be in a fantasy production.
    I did draw an eastern styled hat on a rough sketch picture of Vampira…I wonder if got it right (:-0

  22. Acting wise, Michelle Fairley did a pretty good job as Margaret Beaufort. Costume wise, it’s all wrong. In portraits of Margaret, you see her wearing white gable hoods and dressed sort of like a nun. Why couldn’t they get that right? It isn’t hard to look at portraits of 15th/16th century women and copy the fashions from there.

  23. Man I know I’m years late, but compare the Minnie Mouse/cobra hood to a Zuniceratops. It’s uncanny.

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