Has anyone been watching "The Paradise"?

Oh I am very shallow if i watch the next series will depend upon if there any thing better on the other channel. It could end up more like a soap opera than a good old costume drama. The story line not that strong either maybe they were trying to appeal to every one at the same time.
 
Midge said:
I love costume dramas, and the trailer for "The Paradise" on BBC looked interesting enough. However, I've found myself just hanging on for the past couple of episodes to find out how it ends... The story hasn't really gripped me, I admit. But that's just one problem this series has in my eyes.

What keeps bothering me at least as much as the story are the costumes. I'm not usually the one to notice a lot of errors in costuming, unless they're really big, I admit that, but some of the dresses seen in this series just feel "wrong" - or even look cheap. Mostly it's Katherine Glendennings outfits. There was one white dress where the two colors it was trimmed with were jarring, and now in last weeks episode, that white dress with blue, fuchsia and gold trimming - it felt so overdone - and again, cheap, to me :(! And she's supposed to be a rich girl... And is it just me or does someone in that wardrobe department have an over-fondness for Chinese-style brocade? It crops up in so many of the outfits, but everytime in a different color. Also most obvious in the last episode. I have nothing against that type of fabric, but I don't like the way it's used in so many of the costumes - I doubt that it was THAT popular in the 1870s...

I'm also not quite sure about the shop assistant leading Miss Glendenning to sort of changing room to measure her for her wedding dress. She closes the curtains, so no one can see them - and then measures her customer over her dress? I know little about how these things worked in those times, but it seems beyond illogical. Shouldn't she have taken her dress/bodice off to be measured just with her corset/underwear on? At least it makes no sense to me looking at this from a modern view point. If I could have from my seat in front of the TV, I would have banged my head on something :wacko:!

Anybody else feel like this - or any other way - about The Paradise?

Karin
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I definately agree. Where do I find an address to write to this wardrobe department? Katharine's outfits are sooo bad. The rest are good enough and the men seem well done but for an aristocrat she is most horribly dressed. And just a little side note...you ask if anyone feels this way and a bunch of people answer not having even watched the show. That's weird. Guess they just like to see their name in print. As for the story, I like it. It leaves me with a good feeling. Not too much sadness or suspense; I can just relax and roll along with it.
 
I have started watching it. I agree the costuming is not the best, and Katherine's dresses in particular are lacking. I know the have a small budget and time constraints, but they could have spent a bit more money and time on Katherine as she is quite rich. They also tend to dress her in feminine colors and almost always with tiny flowers around her bosom, much like a young girl's clothing, which I feel fits her spoiled little girl persona.

Again, it is the small budget, but the hats look home made, (and not very well made) and the trims look pasted on and too modern and cheap, like like something they found a a local hobby shop. Hats are small and don't cost as much to make (generally) so they should have splurged a bit on them. And don't get me started about the cheesy flimsy ostrich feathers they made such a fuss about! Plumes back then would have been much more sumptuous and thick. Those feather "plumes" things look SO cheap, ugh.

I like the story, and the book was written by Emile Zola and I am sure they played with it. A soap opera, yes. It is not Downton Abbey and is not Mr. Selfrige, but I still like watching it.

WHO AM I KIDDING? I watch it because I am developing a crush on Mr. Moray. He needs a shave but who cares? :drooling22: Every girls' crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man......ZZ Top
 
I'm watching the second series. I realise I divide TV into programmes I sit down for and really watch, and programmes I enjoy having on in the background while I'm getting on with things, half watching but I'm not really committed. The Paradise is definitely in that second category. Though Mr Moray is very appealing I agree.
 
Exactly - mending TV! Poirot is one of those for me too. It's says something about The Paradise that it's become that even though I haven't seen it before. Whereas Downton is still definitely stop-what-you-are-doing-and-watch-it-properly TV.
 
I think the point of Katherine's garish dresses has more to do with character than history. She is the "IT" girl, and must stand out from her more conservatively dressed friends. I'll admit, this is an example where it is best to not have too much knowledge about historic styles, which describes probably 95% of the people watching the series, including me. I do think that some of her dresses have been showing a bit too much decolletage for day.

This series is about a department store, which was a new concept in the late 1800s. The Paradise has beautifully designed plate glass window displays, at a time when stores were still cramming as much merchandise as possible into their windows. Carefully designed windows did not come into favor until many years later. And plate glass was rarely used before the 1890s.

Another show that bugs is the The Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries. I love the show, but they have her parading all over Melbourne in pants. Unless Australia was very progressive, fashion-wise in the 1920s, pants on the street and in public buildings was not the style.
 
Even my husband commented on the terrible Glendenning dresses. "Is that a Halloween costume?" I think Lizzie is right, her inappropriate dress is an extension of her shallow insensitive character. Was aqua a color used in that time period. Denise's new dress is puzzling. The front seems to be from one period and the back from another.
Marian
 
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