18 thoughts on “A Closer Look at Victoria’s Shamrock Gown

  1. I gave up. So many historical inaccuracies that I couldn’t take it any more. And it’s so boring! How can you make it up and then make it so boring?
    pretty jacket, though. I’d wear it.

    1. I’m with you. I think the shamrock ribbon looks very much like the sort of thing you’d find at Joann’s in the craft ribbon section immediately after they clear out the Valentine’s Day crap and start vomiting green shit everywhere for St. Patrick’s Day.

      I’m sure it reads better on screen. /sarcasm

    2. So true. The real history would have been much more interesting than, well, whatever weird nonsense was going on! Nice costumes, though

      1. Oh, and I do hope the real Crystal Palace was a bit more impressive than a couple of glass cases and a teepee sort of thing :)

    3. Hi Lynne,

      When you write about historical inaccuracies, do you mean the distortion of historical facts?
      Concerning my opinion about “Victoria” I couldn’t take it too beyond the first season, because the series looked like a puff for the British royal family. It was too glossed over.

  2. Thus, while I haven’t kept up with the series, I know the main characters, plot, setting, and period because DUH, and didn’t mind a little historical eye candy last winter. I was pleasantly surprised to see one costume in particular show up on screen — in episode 5, “A Show of Unity” (which just aired in the UK), the Queen decides to visit Ireland, a controversial choice, given the famines and Britain’s awful treatment of this subject state since, well, forever. Being a fluffy costume drama, the politics of the period are merely hinted at and mostly glossed over, of course.

    Sometimes, the series can go beyond fluff Have you seen the Season 2 episode called “Faith, Hope & Charity”?

  3. I really want to know the designer’s reasoning for not doing something like putting her in a green dress as opposed to the craft ribbon slapped on an existing Cosprop costume? We know they have access to the entire Cosprop archive… There have to be at least a few1840s green dresses in that collection that would have worked to signify “I’m in Ireland, bitches, let’s do some politics” better than shamrock craft ribbon. Especially since, like you said, they’re not adhering directly to recreating the actual gown she wore.

    1. Someone on Facebook said the jacket looked familiar, without the shamrocks, so perhaps it’s recycled? And the shamrock ’embroidery’ is the historical bit, so to me it seems like a decent compromise for TV. They knew Victoria used the symbolism but didn’t have time/budget to embroider shit, so there ya go. Other note, Tom Pye mentioned in our Gentleman Jack interview that Victoria, the show, pretty much rented out all the 1830s costumes in the country.

  4. I love the show. Love that they put her half-sister in the third season since everybody seems to forget about her.

    1. Ah! Is that who that is? I was wondering. I’ve only been half-following this show because it’s gone really hard off the rails.

    2. A shame they didn’t portray Feodore as she really was! She and Victoria were very close. I haven’t been really following the show, but my friend said at this point they might as well make her evilly twirl her moustache

  5. Yep, craft ribbon! haha
    I do like the bonnet, the beading/embroidery on the inside is really pretty, but the bows on it look crushed to me. Why didn’t someone fluff them up? What do you think? Was it supposed to look like that?

    1. Lol! It’s like on “The Paradise,” where every costume looked like rickrack and fringe threw up on them

  6. I also liked the ‘Shamrock Dress’ and also like the show. Season 3 was a bit of ‘Let’s see how Clueless Albert Is With Regard to Princess Feodora’. And Feodora made a poor substitute for Ernst. Evil Feodora was very inaccurate, but what I did enjoy was Lady Pam, the new Charterist Maid (still miss Skerritt, but with her marriage…) and the Crystal Palace Exhibition to name a few.

  7. Seeing this again, it definitely looks like a pre-existing costume that they added the ribbon to.

    The historical inaccuracies have made my roll my eyes so hard they’ve almost fallen out, but I’ve kept watching because it’s mildly entertaining and the actor who plays Albert is cute. But the writer’s attempts to turn Victoria into some kind of proto-feminist woke qween are just stupid.

    The costumes have definitely improved since the first season. I’m guessing the budget was increased.

    1. Yes to the historical inaccuracies and Albert’s cuteness. (He was apparently pretty adorable in private life, when he wasn’t worrying about V’s and Bertie’s moods.) And Victoria’s proto-feminist stuff. V was a fascinating person without this sort of anachronism. We are not woke.

  8. I don’t watch the show—I saw the first ep, was kind of confused by the storyline about accusing a lady of being pregnant who was just terribly ill (googling helped), and couldn’t unsee the housekeeper character from her Broadchurch S2 part which was truly disturbing, so that was it for me. But happy to learn more about the costume… I agree about why not dye the ribbon a bit, but maybe in the lighting it didn’t read as much.

Comments are closed.