#beautiful beadwork

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

October: Gold Redux

The White Queen (episode 2, "The Price of Power") / Rebecca Ferguson as Elizabeth Woodville

Costumers like to use gold for coronation scenes, it seems, although historical record says that Elizabeth's actual coronation gown was purple. This one looks great on Rebecca Ferguson, though, so I'm not really complaining.

Nic Ede, the costume designer for the series, had this to say about the material in the behind-the-scenes-featurette: "I came across this extraordinary sort of gold crochet, which was unbelievable. It's been decorated with pearls, and it looks like a million dollars onscreen." While I doubt it is period accurate, I have to agree that the effect is spectacular, and suitably ornate. The ermine-trimmed cloak really adds the finishing touch.

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

October: Gold Redux

Boardwalk Empire (s3 e1, "Resolution") / Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Thompson

Margaret wears this gown to an Egyptian-themed New Year's Eve party on December 31, 1922. It includes a snake-shaped bracelet for a thematic touch and an openwork gold bandeau headdress. There's some lovely beadwork around the neck and shoulders, while the skirt appears to be a solid gold base with a sheer, sequinned overlayer.

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

October: Gold Redux

Catherine the Great (episode 1) / Helen Mirren as Catherine the Great

This is from the HBO series that came out in 2019. Catherine wears a few golden dresses over the course of the show, but this one, worn for a state speech, is probably the most elaborate. I love the gold lace edging the bodice and the beaded border to her overdress. The ruched sleeves are borrowed from a style that Catherine was known to wear, supposedly based on Russian peasant costume according to the designer, Maya Meschede. (However, FrockFlicks is skeptical of that claim.)

One thing that's annoying about how good cameras have gotten is that it has made filmmakers want to shoot historical dramas entirely by natural light (filtering in from windows) and candlelight for THE AUTHENTICITY(tm)--which means it's very hard to get a good look at the costumes. Here's a comparison of an original screenshot with an edited one, showing the amount of lightening I have to do just to get a glimpse of some of the details: