What caused movie costume designers to design less historically accurate costumes than in the past?
Creating historically accurate costuming is expensive in both time and money. Media producers like to pinch their pennies.
There’s research to be done (which, pre-Internet, could take a LOT of time and not yield nearly as much data for the time spent), appropriate fabrics to be sourced (ditto) and historically-accurate construction can take a lot more time and manpower than figuring out a “Looks good from ten feet away” approach.
Even now, going balls-to-the-wall historically accurate in a film or show’s costuming is the exception, not the rule. For every “Elizabeth R” (the BBC series, that is) there’s “The Tudors” (shudder).
As for why accuracy seems to be more prevalent today than, say, 40 years ago, I think that’s a case of increased audience knowledge and, in turn, higher expectations. If Joe Bloggs, TV Watcher, wants to learn about historical costume, they can start learning very easily, right from home. Joe doesn’t have to truck out to the library, locate the right books and go paging through them to determine that the wheel farthingale went out of fashion in 1650. It’s so much easier to be an informed viewer than it used to be.
And, obviously, it’s easier for the costuming crew to do their research, find their fabrics, etc, than it was 40 years ago, too. :)
Of course, as soon as something amazing hits the airwaves, that raises the bar on what qualifies as good costuming in period piece and content producers are nothing if not competitive. I consider Elizabeth R a turning point, in that regard.
To be fair, there are *some* earlier-era films that really do try for historical accuracy, such as “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” from 1939, with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. So you can’t condemn everything from before Barry Lydon.
On a related note, for a great blog that cheerfully eviscerates bad historical costuming in media, I suggest you check out Frock Flicks | There are no spoilers in history
The previous answers are all very good but none of them touched on the elephant in the (fitting) room; EGO. You can have the most historically accurate design, the perfect fabric with actual period trim, colors approved by the Art Director, the sound guy signing off to any potential "noisance" caused by textures, the DP happy with your choices and a director that is pleased that all of his team are on the same page. Until the actor (or his agent/coach/manager/assistant/best friend or significant other) starts objecting, picking it apart, voicing their opinion or telling the talent what a mistake it would be to be seen wearing THAT! How it doesn’t highlight their best features, is just too much “costume” for them or that the outfit will take the focus away from their performance. (Imagine a busty female with a short waist trying to look “period” wearing a silhouette from 1929, where the look was long, lean and angular; women bound their chests flat to effectively wear the predominate silhouette. From a business standpoint, how are you ever going to convince an actress whose image is synonymous with large boobs to ignore and camouflage some of her talents and bind those girls down flat so that the dress will work and look accurate? Sometimes even the producer or money people will object because they hired her for those precise “talents.”) So all of this work and compromise is a wasted effort if the talent won’t wear the costume. Even if she did agree to wear it there might always be someone in her camp telling her that her performance would be better if she wore something else or, after shooting a scene the director isn’t happy with her performance on screen and she then blames the costume? Re-shooting with another dress would be too expensive in most cases, the dress being the least of that cost. These are all pitfalls of costume design, in varying degrees. Now, imagine doing this with every dress, hat, glove, piece of jewelry, pair of glasses, undergarment, color, fabric for an entire film wardrobe…
Costume Design is problem-solving and as the Designer, you are lucky if you can get even a little bit of what you want into any finished film. There is no room for a prima-donna in the Costume Design department. In most cases, the star and/or the Director have a lot more clout than the Designer. If you want to continue working, you must behave in the most professional way, make few enemies and be as nice as possible. To everyone.
An oft-debated question! Budget, time, available materials and good research are the limiting factors to achieve accurate costuming in TV and Film. Chances are, if the producing and directing teams agree that accuracy is to be achieved, then, it is possible given enough money, time, availability of the materials necessary, talented craftsmen, and good research to aid the costume design team. Even when all this is possible, there is one additional factor, the elusive factor, that determines what is put on the screen. That is current taste.
Here’s an example:
Cleopatra is depicted in many films wearing different costumes. History tells us that she most likely wore bleached linen. Yet Hollywood has given us many dress styles that didn’t exist back in her day…starting with this Theda Bara rendition below to the bust enhancing, waist-defined silhouette worn by Elizabeth Taylor.
Under “artistic license,” Theda (1917) and Elizabeth (1963) wore the styles and silhouettes that were “current” when their movies came out and which highlighted the actresses in a way that would capture the interest and eyes of potential ticket buyers. It would be difficult to quantify the effect of accurate costuming to ticket sales as costume designers choose to exercise revisions to history in even the most highly reputed “costume dramas” today. Designers stretch reality to encompass and highlight sex appeal. The red gown worn by “Claire Frasier” of “Outlander” below is split in the center of the decolletage to show extra front cleavage, which matched the fashion of the deep V neck in 2016. The criss-crossed detail on the front bodice is not typical of any clothing in that era. The blue silk gown worn by Claire’s companion holds to the color palette and details we understand to be favored by Louise XV’s court at Versailles in the 1740s. Note also the size of the red earrings worn by Claire Frasier. Real Rubys of that size would have torn her earlobes off!
Frankly, perfectly accurate depictions of the past would be boring. People dressed in far less exciting clothing than we’d like to imagine…
Costume designers who design period costumes have to work inside a relatively well defined box. That isn't to say there can’t be a lot of freedom inside that box. And new discoveries are still made about historical fashion to fill the box. But accuracy is not always important or relevant to the story. Remember, we are talking about historical fiction entertainment, not documentaries.
A lot of period costumes are unflattering and often prudish to modern tastes. And can also be uncomfortable. For example, if you want to convey female physical sex appeal to a broad modern audience, a bare ankle is not going to cut it. Cleavage bursting from bodices or uncovered corsets seems to be the lowest common denominator in that regard, as unimaginative and lazy as it may be. I won't suggest such shorthand is necessary; actors and directors can pull off amazing things, but I can forgive it “junk food” or low-budget historical fiction.
In addition to the excellent answers you’ve already gotten, I’d add that part of what you're perceiving is a matter of sheer volume.
I'm a big believer in what is known as Sturgeon’s Law; “90 percent of everything is crud.” There is exponentially more original scripted content, especially television, being made today than there was even 10 years ago. As a result, there is a lot more crud. There is also a lot more excellent work being done, it just takes a bit more effort to find it.
It really depends on the designer.
In my personal opinion costumes should be period correct if you want my respect.
“The Tutors” is one of the worst examples of a period costume fail that I've seen in recent times.
Should Designers Mess With Historical Costume? | Frock Flicks
Коментарі
Дописати коментар