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Having just finished reading a great new combined biography of Marguerite de Valois and Catherine de Medici (The Rival Queens: Catherine de’ Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone), it was a good time to finally sit down and watch Henri IV (2010), a biopic about the Renaissance king of France. He famously married Marguerite, aka Margot, in 1572, then four days later followed the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in which thousands of Protestants were killed across France. You probably know this story from seeing the movie Queen Margot (1994), and yes, I’m going to compare the two movies against each other during Snark Week.
While Queen Margot focused on Marguerite, Henri IV focuses more on Henri — but not completely. Margot and her family (mother Catherine de Medici and brothers Charles IX and Henri III) are also key characters. Unfortunately I’ve only been able to find the movie in its French language version, without subtitles; while my French is pretty good, it’s hard to keep up with rapid-fire dialogue, so I know I missed a lot. (The film was an international production, with every actor speaking in their own native language, then German- and French-dubbed versions were released in those countries.) (Now I’ve just found it on YouTube with English subtitles, so you should be able to avoid this problem!)
I will say that Henri IV does a better job contextualizing the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre than Queen Margot. In QM (which is an adaptation of a 19th-century novel), the massacre seems to come somewhat out of nowhere. Henri IV makes it clear that the Wars of Religion have been going on for some time and the Protestants are a clear threat to the Catholics.
On the other hand … in reality, Margot and Henri were raised together from childhood into their pre-teen years. When they married, it was kind of like marrying your annoying kid brother/sister. They were never into each other, and despite Margot eventually endeavoring to capture her husband’s interest, he was far more into his various mistresses. In the film, however, apparently the two have never met until just before their wedding, and then they have Really Hot but Ludicrous Hate Sex alllll over the place. Repeatedly. I mean, biting and scratching and hitting while furiously shagging. Oh, and he tells her to show him her pussy, and she thinks it’s hot. I’m not kidding here.
Good-Enough (and Snark-Worthy) Costumes in Henri IV
But, let’s focus on the costumes, designed by Gerhard Gollnhofer and Ute Hofinger … and here I want to talk about the phenomenon of “Good Enough” costuming. Now, this movie isn’t all bad, costume-wise. And I’m sure, as with any production, that they had their budgetary and time limitations. But it felt like they just watched Queen Margot, said “Right, let’s get to work” and made up a few Simplicity patterns.
When we first meet Margot, she’s in her first essentially-copied-from-Queen-Margot dress, this one in red:


Then Margot meets Henri in another red dress:

Now, of course, the dress of the Renaissance is one of the most structured and opulent periods. That means it’s a ton of work to reproduce, the materials cost a lot of money, and the looks are very foreign to our modern day, athletic-wear culture. But what the fuck do those red dresses have to do with real French women’s styles of the 1570s?

Margot in the Valois Tapestries, probably 1580s. Elephant from the Valois Tapestries, c. 1576, Uffizi Gallery.

Marguerite de Valois, Queen of France, first wife of Henry IV, c. 1572, Musée de Blois.
Where’s the farthingale (hoop)? The layers? Trim and embellishments? Or gee, does it look like a crappy rip-off of the totally-pared-down style created by Moidel Bickel for Queen Margot?

Queen Margot (1994): simple bodice and skirt, shoulder puffs worn off-the-shoulder…

Queen Margot (1994): ditto, with sleeves worn more on the shoulder. Compared to others in the film, this dress is trimmed up the wazoo.

Costumes worn in Queen Margot (1994). Photo via Stitcheraddict 2.
Christ, at least Queen Margot did it first. I hope they got residuals.
Next, let’s look at Margot’s wedding dress. No, they didn’t directly copy the Queen Margot (1994) wedding dress, which had a whisk (flat) ruff and high neck.

Okay, so they added a nice sheer partlet and ruff. But why are her corset straps completely showing? And the pre-fab embroidered fabric with PAISLEYS, not seen in Western fashion until the 19th century … UGH. AND THAT HEADBAND.



Compare that with what Margot probably really wore to her wedding:

Blue fabric with fleur-de-lis, detailed gold trim on the neckline, white Venetian lace on the cuffs, standing ruff… Henri IV and Margot, 1572, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

And while I know that kohl existed in the 16th century (see this article at Elizabethan Costume, for example), take a look at Margot’s eye makeup at her wedding:

She’s upset, see, because her family is forcing her to marry a Protestant.

Next, let’s talk hair. Okay yes, shittily styled hair is THE trend for historical costume movies since the mid-1990s (with Queen Margot leading the vanguard).
The real Margot had dark hair (her mother was Italian, after all). So why is she always blonde in her portraits? Because blonde was fashionable, so she wore blonde wigs!

Here she is in her natural hair color. Marguerite de Valois by François Clouet, c. 1560, Condé Museum.

And with a blonde wig. Marguerite of Valois, Queen of Navarre by Nicholas Hilliard, 1577, Denver Art Museum.
So actually, it’s kind of cool that when we first meet Margot in the film, she’s wearing a blonde wig! But check it out in all its glory:

Apparently putting some over-boiled spaghetti on your head counts as a “wig” in this world?

ROOTS MUCH?
Yeah. In this first scene, her mother and brother beat her up for having an affair with Henri de Guise (true story). Here’s how she ends up, and it isn’t much worse:

Please to notice that bare shoulder, where the sleeve has ripped.

And the bare skin showing where her bodice has separated from her skirt. In other words, no corset or chemise here!
This photo shows you the most elaborate her hair ever gets — and she’s never shown in a blonde wig again.

Three bobby pins, I’m telling you.
THIS IS WHAT WE CALL “DIALING IT IN,” PEOPLE.
What really annoys me is that the filmmakers aren’t total idiots. Here’s how they’re able to dress Henri’s second wife, Marie de Medici:

At her coronation: ohhhh, now we found the trim, and the layers, and the ermine, and the decently jeweled fabrics…

Her everyday dress: not as ornate, but still better.
So, clearly, despite being an intelligent, royal woman with a head for politics who was a leader in fashion — Marguerite is reduced to simply a messy whore. I’m not saying the real Margot didn’t have affairs (she did, many of them). But costume-wise, by dialing it in on her character, the filmmakers have simply shown themselves to be 1) derivative (of Queen Margot) and 2) unable to handle complex characters.

A few more gems:

Visible panty line metal grommets, and misaligned spiral lacing, on one of the ladies in waiting.

I fucking hate the way the lady on the left is holding up her dress. It just screams “I’VE SPENT MY LIFE IN SPANDEX WHAT IS ALL THIS FABRIC!” Also, why is it that any mentally-off men wear shirts that look like they’ve been washed in the latrine?

I do believe the extra on the right is wearing a copy of the white dress that gets covered in blood from Queen Margot.

Henri’s mistress Gabrielle d’Estrées. Apparently there was a sale on machine-embroidered dupioni.

King Henri III gets one outfit for the whole movie. He’s apparently unsure whether he wants to be David Bowie in Labyrinth or Sting in Dune.
So, yeah. I don’t know if it’s the budget, or the director, or the producer, or the costume designer, but what an effort. I feel like the phrase “good enough for government work” should be replaced by “good enough for Henri IV.”

Does merely ‘good-enough’ costuming irritate you too?

Show them some off-shoulder-skin and it’s all good. Oh, and heaven forbid we spend any money on hairpins- let that hair flow wild and free!
I haven’t seen the newer Queen Margot but the 1994 one really irritated me.
Thank god someone finally gets me!