Plenty of publications will tell you what they think are the best and worst of the year — but we want to hear what YOU think! Today, you can vote for the best historical costume movies and TV shows of 2019. Later in the week, you can decide which of these is the worst. We’ve listed all the frock flicks we could remember that got a general release in the U.S. this year, including a bunch of December 25 flicks for thems who like to see movies on opening weekend. Let us know if we missed anything…
Now, vote for your top three!
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Tell us why you voted for your top three!
I just saw Little Women. I went in with the attitude, “Does the world reeeeally need another Little Women movie?” But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Costuming left much to be desired, sadly. There was a shocking lack of petticoats and hoop skirts, almost everything looked so limp and not Civil War era shape. And even the good outfits (Amy had a few nice ones towards the end), were very simplified and stripped down. Not much in the way of trim or decoration. Some costuming choices struck me as odd, like Marmee always seeming to wear a sweater with a ribbon belt.
At first I had complained about all the “hair down” from the trailer, but I didn’t mind it in the movie as much as I thought I would, since it was clearly used to indicate what was a flashback to childhood and what scenes were their adulthood.
The director and costume designer were clearly going for “relatability” in costumes for the modern viewers. Which… Sigh. But the movie itself was very sweet without being unbearably saccharine.
I laughed, I cried, I’ll buy the DVD. It’ll be the perfect thing to put on while sewing.
Judging by your list it really was a poor year in Period Drama. Don’t you feel it’s on a bit of a downturn?
When compiling this list, I was impressed by the variety of period shows. There’s a range of historical eras represented in both theatrical releases & TV shows. It was a banner year for queer representation & for female-centered stories (esp. not just QEI & Victoria). I think it’s a sign that period drama is changing & diversifying, which I’m happy about.
I had not seen many of them due to lack of interest and had trouble with three best. I liked Gentleman Jack more than I expected…enjoyed the Crown mainly for Helena BC, and found All is True light entertainment. Hoping for better in 2020 though my period favs are limited…prefer 16th-19th century England or Europe and also Edwardian. Not a fan of US history…Civil War era is too depressing. I admit to being a superficial period drama fan…looking for fancy dresses, hair, wigs, assembly rooms, drawing rooms, palaces, etc…
Outlander Season 4 gets my vote.
Ah, season 4 started in 2018 so that’s why I missed it for this list.
Gentleman Jack. The 1830’s were not the most graceful period of clothing for women, but the costumes were both period and attractive. Not to mention the creativity for Gentleman Jack’s clothing. Besides, the show was filmed in her house based on her diaries!
I too voted for Gentleman Jack. I loved everything about it.
So we’re all voting for the Spanish Princess, right? 😁
we should all come back on April fools and do just that.
You’ll vote for worst later this week!
I don’t have access to a lot of the shows, and I didn’t see as many movies… so while I can tel from this blog how amazing the Gentleman Jack costumes were (probably the best ones!), I stuck with the ones I had seen. That means Harriet, Current War (I may still be the only one to have seen this, lol), and Jojo Rabbit, which I had kind of forgotten was a costume flick… although so much were uniforms and a kind of heightened reality (although they do linger on the shoes and coat of the mother character… and that’s all I can say about it without spoiling).
Little Women, The Aereonauts, and Ophelia were my favorites this year.
Damn that was rough. I picked Jo Jo Rabbit because it’s among the top movies of 2019 period. Mrs Maisel however probably had the best costumes as far as the actual tone and vibe of the thing working together, with Gentleman Jack a close second.
Can you please review Dumbo, Carnival Row, the Little Women movie, and Ophelia?
I wish Portrait of a Lady on Fire had been released in the US this December like originally planned instead of getting pushed back into February. I really want to see it! Hope you guys cover it when it does come out!
Downton Abbey all the way!
Have not seen the movie yet…may buy it tomorrow night…do love that era for clothing.
I voted for “Tolkien” because J.R.R. Tolkien is one of my all-time favorite writers and it took some audacity to turn his first 30-40 years into a biopic. Could the movie have been better? Yes. But it was well done and very enjoyable. Sorry, but I have very little knowledge of the fashions of the time or how well the movie made use of period costuming.