26 thoughts on “Victoria and Victorian Fancy Dress

  1. I’m enjoying Victoria, too. Her Elizabeth I costume gets two thumbs up for the bodice and a thumb up for the forepart/petticoat without overskirt, a LOL at the Victorian version of the ruff and yummy for Lord M .
    Hopefully we’ll see the Philippa of Hainault gown in Season 2.

  2. I thought the fancy dress stuff wasn’t bad. Probably not far off from what it likely was, probably better than our fancy dress parties. At least, no ‘sexy nurse’!

    Have you seen the photos from the fancy dress house parties, late 1890s, The Prince of Wales and his crew? Some really awesome stuff there- if I can find the links I’ll post them.

    Emo Albert is amusing and annoying at the same time. But I loved the one heavily bullioned jacket her wore that was supposedly English court wear. *I*’d wear the damn thing!

      1. They usually get stuck in the moderation queue, and it might take us a few hours to approve them! We try to do it as quickly as we can.

      1. Yeah, that’s really weird that they removed it. And I feel like there’s some commentary in a costume that’s been used in productions actually set in the 16th century now being used as Victorian fancy dress….

  3. I kind of really want to see an adaptation of one of those Victorian/Edwardian novels set in an earlier period where the costuming is more like say, 1890s doing Elizabethan or whatever. So it’s kind of WTF as Elizabethan costuming but works as 1890s costuming if that makes sense.

    Cos a lot of those historical novels are more of their time, thinking wise and morally, than they are accurate reflections of the period they’re supposed to portray so it could be very interesting.

  4. Sarah you’re so much more into this show than me! I felt like Victoria’s costume was way too The Tudors-meets-Elizabethan and not really a Victorian take on 16th c.

  5. As someone else noted, the bodice is re-used from a gown that was originally made for Anne-Marie Duff in “The Virgin Queen.” I’m guessing they didn’t use the original petticoat because it’s probably way too long for Jenna Coleman and they couldn’t hem it because it was a rental.

    1. Ah, I see it now. It’s just the bodice not the whole dress that’s been reused. Still a pretty fugly skirt to put with it.

    2. Why not hem it? We used to alter rentals going out to productions all the time when I worked at a prop house. Whatever was needed was done. Then the rental was put back into original sizing when returned whether it was removing a hem or tucks to fit.

  6. Probably because it would have 1) taken time to pin or magic tape it each day and between takes 2) no-one thought of it 3) Rental contact

  7. The gown immediately brought to mind a costume that Alexandra of Denmark wore in 1871: Mary Queen of Scots.

  8. I watched finally the first episode and must say that I quite enjoyed it! Yes, it has its lenghts and changes the actual facts of history… but I found that, when I started seeing it as some kind of historical telenovela, it can be rather entertaining! Can’t wait for this fancy dress episode!!

  9. Apart from the weirdness of the skirt lacking an overskirt what’s bothering me is its limpness. I feel like this is such a trend right now – Love & Friendship, Poldark, now this. The skirts in each of these periods are supposed to be full and floofy and they just look so sad in these productions, very underwhelming. Is it thought that modern audiences would somehow find them less attractive if they were fuller? Or is it a logistics thing? Can’t afford the extra dress or petticoat fabrics or afford the time for dressing or something? And while I know this one is fancy dress it’s not like 16th century skirts were limp and as we see fancy dress costumes were heavily influenced by the silhouette of the time they were made/worn in.

    Eh, just a little pet peeve of mine. And I admit I haven’t watched the episode yet. I’m looking forward to when I have the time to watch this show properly – if only for Rufus (yum).

  10. After a bit of squinting… I think Victoria’s Fancy Dress crown is reused from Gertrude in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The shapes all match.

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