Has anyone been watching "The Paradise"?

I love the paradise and any costume drama's, but must admit havent gone much on Katherine Glendennings outfits. I must admit I do feel that the costumes she is wearing look cheap and not at all flattering, the shop girl uniform that Denise wears it much more flattering. But I could'nt say if this is a true representation of styles and fabrics used in those days. Maybe as modesty was paramount in those days with even a cheeky ankle being tabou they werent allowed to strip their customers down. who knows. im sure there is someone out there that does on VFG.

Steph

 

I used to be a big fan of costume dramas - it's how I got into collecting and becoming a fashion historian by trade. However, sometimes its best not to look TOO closely! I have been recently rewatching the Agatha Christie Miss Marpole mysteries - the ones done with Joan Hickson (who I still think is THE best Miss Marpole ever), however the costuming often has huge mistakes - the men's hair is very 80s in cut, the clothes range from 1948 to 1962, and they use a lot of 1980s pieces that LOOK like 1980s pieces. I try to watch Downton Abbey, but I find the costuming distractingly bad - even Mad Men makes major errors in costuming - especially last year.

I haven't seen The Paradise yet, but I watched the trailer, and overall it looks good, until you look closer and there are some very weird hairstyles that don't look like anything from c. 1870 - I noticed that the clothes were a range of c. 1868 - 1885. I think what they are trying to do is get the flavour without being academically authentic, which sometimes works - Jenny Beaven is excellent at doing that in Merchant Ivory productions, but these shows are too ambitious and try to fit out 50 extras plus the principles, and they just don't have the time to research and build what they need, or the money to buy what they need, and there is still a commonly held 'what does it matter - it's not a documentary' attitude amongst filmakers and fans of costume dramas...

 

Yes I would imagine it would be very pricey to have that many genuine costumes on a programme. especially when its in its infancy. Its a big lay out to make if you dont know if the programme is going to be successful. But it would be interesting to know if the costumes are right or not. I love the show though and am a major fan of downton abbey and although the clothing may be off, I think it makes you feel like you would have loved to have lived in that era, preferably above stairs of course.
Steph

 

I have not seen the show here in the USA, but certainly will look for it. I do try to park my critical eye somewhat and try to enjoy a show without looking too hard for costume errors, but sometimes there are SO many that it hurts. I recall that most of the hats on Downton Abbey being rather hum drum and middle class for such rich ladies, as well as some of the evening gowns being sparse and plain as far as fabrics and trimmings, and some day dresses and womens suits were off in dating. They even had some hats doing double duty, re-trimmed and passed on as a different hat! Gasp! It's true, look for it next time you watch. But I did get caught up in the story and I like the show. And I love costumes even when they are not perfect. But it is nice to see people at least try to get it right, sometimes the lazyness shows, I mean if WE see it, why don't they?

I will say that not having seen the show, and not knowing who Miss Glendenning is, and nothing of her social status, that it seems perhaps a bit odd that she would go to a dressmaker and stand behind a curtain and get measured by a shop girl. I would think that in the 1860s the dressmaker would go to the rich patron's home and take her measurements, or at the least take her to a private room at the shop where the dressmaker herself would take her measurements. And serve her some tea while she waited to boot!

 

I haven't seen "The Paradise" but I'm a costume designer by trade and yes, I frequently have trouble watching "dramatisations" and have to remind myself that artistic license is often applied.

It's when the mistakes are so glaring that it particularly upsets me - eg, last year we had two local TV series set in the '20s and one dressed up the main character in early '30s (almost every outfit highlighted her trim waist) and the second featured some sex workers in '40s satin bullet bras. Oh, how I cringed! The 1920s appears to be a particularly problematic era for modern viewers, rarely are they accurate, I'm not sure if it's because they want the actresses to look beautiful and sexy and the fashions just don't accomplish that, so they "update" them or make them "fashion forward".

Then again, I feel for film makers because modern audiences are much better educated about historical styles than previous generations, so you can't get away with the sort of things they used to do in the Golden Age of Hollywood when the styles were more current than historical.

As an example, consider Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like it Hot" wearing gorgeous and precarious late '50s stilettos, despite the 1929 setting - and Orry Kelly won an Academy Award for his costuming! Then again, so did that chap earlier this year for "The Artist". My enjoyment of that film was destroyed by the lax attention to detail.

 

Funny.....I was not impressed with the costumes for "The Artist" either and was surprised at the win at the Oscars. Then, however, I did get to see some of the actual costumes in person, up close. They looked much better in real life! So I changed my opinion a bit on that film costuming but I am still not thrilled with it. Funny, the film did not pick up the details, but maybe because it was black and white...I don't know.

 

Funny you mentioned class Barbara, because that is one of my biggest complaints - that and age appropriateness. It often isn't considered in costume dramas. One of my favourites continues to be Gosford park - a smaller film in terms of costuming, and the costuming is exquisite for the ages and social classes in the film. The best is a middle class guest who wears a cheap green dress - and it looks it! It's perfectly fashionable, but it reeks of cheap rayon instead of silk!

 

I loved Gosford Park! Just such a wonderful film in so many ways, and I couldn't fault the period detailing, or the costuming.

 

OH DEAR GOD! That Chinese fuchsia dress is horrendous! There were some pretty insane colours in the early 70s, but that is wrong on so many levels.... and that blue thing looks Edwardian with its surplice bodice and high neckline - its just wrong.

I loved OSS117, but it is way off in the period - at least they got the feeling of a James Bond film right.

 

I wish I had more time to watch these shows, they look and sound good even if the costuming is a bit off.

Miss Marple is my fave fictional character and Agatha Christie was disgusted with BBC's choices for the role. Imo, the best was Angela Lansbury in The Mirror Crack'd. Aside from her smoking in the film, very silly as that's something MM (or AL for that matter) would have never done, she was exactly what AC had in mind - tall, slender and astute. I wasn't surprised by the overwhelming success of Murder She Wrote years later, she was a natural in the role.

 

Those brocades are probably being used because they are a decent weight, readily available and inexpensive. Thai Silks carries them , even Joanne's Fabrics in the US has them in the rayon version.

Hollis

 

Lansbury was made to look about 80 in the film, she certainly didn't look her true age!

 

I guess it was Margaret Rutherford who Christie didn't approve of? Joan Hickson was actually told by Agatha Christie that she should play Miss Marple some day. That was in the early 1960s when Joan Hickson was MUCH younger and playing a bit part in an Agatha Christie movie with Margaret Rutherford playing Miss Marple. So, Christie's wish eventually came true.

 

I really enjoyed the series, I did not to think about the mistakes, that was not hard as I do not know much about that time frame any way,
What made me laugh was the amount of stock been unloaded in the yard and not much on display for sale.