- And how terrible they are. and how did women breathe. How did we live, how did we function? I do not know. It is a mystery hidden
through the depths of history and we'll never be able
to uncover these mysteries because somehow women were able
to survive hundreds of years with these boned torture
contraptions around their bodies. (bright music) Gorgeous scenery, exquisite music and the sexiest awkward
hand flex of all time. (women screaming) Joe Wright's "Pride and
Prejudice" from 2005 has in so many ways, surpassed BBC's 1995 "Pride
and Prejudice" in popularity, costume swooning and memeability. (bright music) Okay, so full disclosure, when I set out to make this video, I was originally intending
on doing the comparison of the costumes from the 1995
version to the 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice". Tonight on Costume
Mania's, Battle of the PPs. I totally did just say PP on
YouTube because I'm an adult. But I realized very quickly that it wouldn't really
be a fair discussion. After doing a bit of looking into 2005 "Pride and Prejudice", it became clear that a
good deal of research was done on the period. And an artistic approach
was taken with the costuming instead of a true historical approach, which deserves respect as well discussion in its own right. While on the other hand,
there's a 1995 version of "Pride & Prejudice" literally
looks like they rated the VNA for original garments and accessories. By the way about that, they totally used originals
for the accessories. And you can tell by the quality of lace and the caps and the kerchiefs that they wear. So, rest in peace caps, nice knowing you. (weeps uncontrollably) Honestly, I wasn't a fan of this version of "Pride and Prejudice"
when it first came out. I was right in that stage
of the Dunning-Kruger effect that left me overconfident and leaving the movie theater
thinking that the movie was flaming hot garbage. And how dare they design
such a terrible movie. (groans) 15 years later, I was wrong. The costume is not flaming hot garbage. Well it's not perfect,
nothing ever is perfect. After many, many, many rewatchings, I've realized that it's
actually thoughtfully done. And today we're going to talk
about what they got right and what they got wrong
with the women's costumes. I am not talking about the men's clothing because y'all, that is
not my area of expertise. However, I can just say with
my very limited knowledge of tailoring that it's (indistinct). But it doesn't really matter because we're all too way damn distracted by Darcy's hand flex and rejected wet puppy proposal and Rupert Friend as Mr. Wickham because oh God he's so pretty. Oh God, he's so pretty. Also side note, can we just
talk about how Matthew Macfadyen went from this to this in just five years? Wow, before we begin going
through character by character, I want to make a couple of
just general observations about the general overall look and stylistic choices of the movie. The first thing I want to say
is that I really appreciated how the movie used color
for character and mood. I really hate it when designers
use shades of brown, grays and sadness for historical films. Yeah, I'm talking about you "Duchess". People loved color in the past. Honestly, more than we do today. And I always give loads of credit to designers who play with
color in historical films. Secondly, my biggest critique
of this film that I just kind of need to get off my
chest is that I hated, I hated the hair guys. The hair was smoking hot garbage and I hated 90% of it. I wanted to find things I liked about it but honestly, I couldn't. Don't even get me started
on what was going on with Lydia and Kitty's hair. That is some prime, bicentennial (gasps). I really hated it, it's bad. Okay, I'm done. Now moving on to much better things. Unlike like the 1995 version,
which is set in the 18 teens when "Pride and Prejudice" is published, Joe Wright set his version earlier and keeping with the first version of "PnP" that was written. So somewhere around 1797 to 1800. He's quoted as saying, "I find empire line dresses are very ugly and so I did some research. Although the novel was published in 1813 and Jane Austen wrote her first draft of 'Pride and Prejudice', then
called 'First Impressions', around 1797. So we used the fashions
of the earlier period, where the waist on the dresses was lower and more flattering." Okay, so with that in mind we're going to be looking at the costumes for the women in this movie, through the lens of the
turn of the century, 1797 to about 1802. And while I can totally relate
to the shapes of the 18 teens not being everyone's cuppa, this whole lower waistline
thing is a bit funky. Because in the last half of the 1790s, we actually have very high waistlines. The skirts shapes and
fullness are different but for the most part, the waist
is directly under the bust. I would even argue that
sometimes the lines were higher in the 90's than they were in the teens. Just saying. However, I agree with Joe about
the 1790s versus 18 teens. I frigging love the 1790's and I encourage everyone to give it a go. It's a wild decade for fashion. Lord only knows why. - [Narrator] Angry, young
aristocrats would roam the streets looking for
revolutionaries to beat to death. (grunt in pain) - This doesn't mean that they were wrong about the lower waistline. It just means that they must've found a few of the very random, lower waisted fashion
plates from this period and used those as their main inspiration. That's right, if you weren't aware, there was this random flash
trend of dropping the waistline somewhere between your
under boob and your waist. Let's call it your middle rib cage at random points around 1799 and 1800. It wasn't a dominant trend
going through Gallery of Fashion and other fashion plate books. You see more higher waisted gowns but this lower waistline is
sprinkled throughout the pages for those years. Some originals in museums also appear to have this
slightly lowered waistline but sometimes it's hard
to really judge that because it could also just
be that the gown was meant for someone with a fuller
bust than the mannequin. I think trying to work
with this awkward waistline was an interesting decision and reflecting back on it right now, I can actually see how this
kind of helps tell the story of age and fashion. When you compare a Mrs. Bennett to Lizzy to Caroline Bingley, for example. - I mean, I'm just surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I'd rather want to know
that you're not knowing any. - Are you so severe on your own sex? - I never saw such a woman - According to the "Pride and
Prejudice" companion book, the designs for Lizzy were
founded in a more tomboyish, natural, bookworm approach with a heavy leaning on
natural colors and earth tones. Overall, the costumes are
actually pretty okay honestly and there's nothing terribly exciting or overly offensive about them. I do however, want to
take a moment to talk about a few of my favorites though. First up is my most favorite
gown in this whole movie. I'm not even exaggerating,
this is my favorite gown. Now the blue and gray stripes number that she wears at Netherfield
Park when Jane is sick. Now I know this sounds weird, but hear me out. I totally get that on some surface level you might think this
gown is ugly and weird. However, this gown is actually awesome. Because of the way it was cut and styled, which is that of a gown that was remade from an earlier style. When you really sit there and stare at it, trust me,
I've stared at it a lot, the hallmarks of a remade gown are there. And I think it's just amazing. We have this inner front closing with this front being on the dental bias which was a thing for the 17 and 80's gowns. The back of the gown has
back pleats that are just kind of cut off in this
really awkward area which is a great hallmark of a remake. Also just kind of how the skirt hangs, the neck line, all of it. These kinds of details
are seen in original gowns that were refashioned from older styles. I cannot get over this kind of detail. I fricking love it, it's my favorite. I just love how it looks. I love the detail of this design and how it really helps add to the story. Was this a remake of
Mrs. Bennet's old dress? Was it a remake of a dress
that Lizzy wore pre 1795 when she was a bit younger? I don't know and I don't care. All I know is that I love it. And I think it's great. Next up is everyone's
favorite, that brown dress. What we could call a jumper
dress is also a favorite, even though it's not perfect. Sleeveless dresses with white shirts or shimmies sets were totally
a thing during the 1790's. And I love how hers has this cool, casual, very relatable feel. The buttons and the neck line have a more modern appearance to them, and they don't really fit with what you see in original imagery. But I do love the concept. Also this gown appears
to be made out of wool, which I'm partial to because I think for
Lizzy's character wool make a lot more sense than the gauzy, homespun, weird cotton dresses that she wears throughout most of the film. I really liked the texture of it. As for the shirt she wears, I thought they did a nice job with it, to the details of the color and the shoulder reinforcement. The size of the sleeves. All of this gives a lovely artistic and natural feel to Lizzy which I think does very
well for the 1790s. These shee-mee-settes are shirts with the more masculine color were also a trend of the 90's and I think having her in the
style does help separate her out from her sisters and does a great job
conveying her character within the bounds of
1790's fashion trends. My other favorite gown that she wears is when she visits Pemberley. I really enjoyed the stripes and the shape of it, including
that bias bit at the bottom. That helped to make it feel a little bit more fashion forward. While the embroidery in the
back was a little bit odd, I was able to find some
similar Sue Tash designs and Spencer's so I'm assuming that they kind of drew
inspiration from those motifs. My one complaint with this
dress is that it felt very flat in the skirts. And I realized when she was
standing in front of a window when the sun coming through it, you can see through the
layers of her clothes. And there doesn't seem to
be an under petty coat on. I actually found this surprising since they do show Lizzy and Jane wearing under
petticoats while getting ready for the Netherfield Ball. But she doesn't seem to have one on here. And frankly, that's a shame because that would have really
helped get the silhouette to looking a bit better than what it does. Because I do feel like
her skirts are very limp and flat throughout most of the film which honestly is my biggest
complaint with her costuming. And while I understand
that clingy muslin skirts were a trend and you can see that in fashion plates, it's one of those things
where the success of this look depends on the textile. And for the late 1790s,
there was a lot of fabric in the skirts, especially
if the fabric was thin. Even when you get into the 1800's and 18 teens with the
flat fronts of the gowns, there is still a lot of fabric
in the back of the skirts to help really create an elegant shape and give some ease of movement. This limp skirt issue
is why I'm not as big of a fan of her other
dresses in the movie. Like the brown and the green
round gowns that she wears for a lot of the film. While the green and brown round gowns were fine and classic 1790s and their cuts and designs,
the skirts just felt a bit limp and I wasn't terribly fond
of the fabric choices. They looked too thin and flimsy almost as if they
were going to just shatter and fall apart. If we're working within this
natural feel of a character in the countryside, I would have liked to have seen a more practical fabric used. Lightweight worsted wool or a heavier weight linen. This is a really minor critique. I just kept looking at these fabrics and thinking how poorly woven and limp they were looking. It didn't feel fully
within the realm of Lizzy to wear such an impractical
fabric that also wouldn't have lasted a long time. This is in contrast to her blue stripe and brown wool gowns, which
were very much in keeping with Lizzy's character choices. When you look at more average, everyday clothes that survive in museums, there is a hardiness to them,
a substantialness to them. They have this weight and quality to them that
feels very wholesome and just there and sturdy And I feel like I'm
describing beef stew now. So there's that. For example, these gowns in the Colonial Williamsburg collection are great examples of
normal everyday clothes that are beautiful as well as practical. Also given Lizzy's propensity
for going on walks outside, for hours at a time with
little regard to the mud, I would hope that she'd wear
a better fabric for this pastime unless her goal was
to actually make the laundress who takes care of her clothes,
really fricking hate her, like a lot. Overall, I liked the
design choices for Lizzy, how they integrated her
character into the clothing. It created a really nice contrast to the 1995 Lizzy who
actually looked like she just literally fell out of
an acroman's repository. - [Narrator] Mr. Darcy and Mr. Benjamin - All right, I have to be honest. If I had to pick a better dress sister, it's gonna be Jane. I like her costumes better. But I also fully embrace my love of pink and blue far outweigh my
love of the color brown because I am not an earth tone girl. I'm a winter, okay. According to the director and
designer, Jacqueline Durran, Jane is supposed to be
the most fashion forward in the family. And the way that I see that
translated is that they stuck to a more fashionable and normal higher waist with her gowns. The costumes are a bit
spread out, date-wise from her blue pelisse that has
a very strong 18 teens feel to her open robe and round gowns that are great examples of the 1790s. I particularly enjoy the fullness and shape of her Netherfield ball gown. It's simple, it's full and a great example of the 1790s. Also, 10 points to the stitchers
who did the hand stitching on the neck lines of her gowns, because you can see that in the film and it's just, chef's kiss. I see you, I acknowledge you and I appreciate you. Thank you for all that you do. I also want to give a special
shout out to the morning gown that she wears when she
goes down to breakfast and this is kind of around
the house sometimes. I love it so much. It's just (indistinct), it's so good. It's so good guys like it's
just (blows kisses) so good. To be fair, it is a bit
more 18 teens in it's cut and styling, but I just love
how the actress Rosamund Pike wears it just loosely,
semi tied, falling open, just whatever like these
little adjustments help bring these pieces forward as clothing and not just as costumes, which I think can often
be lost in translation. When we look at stagnant museum exhibition or portraits. The realness and diversity of
how people wore their clothing can be lost by that, and seeing these kinds of little details just make me extremely happy. These were people's clothes. It wasn't just one wear-to-wear a garment. It wasn't just you had
to wear your kerchief tucked into your neck line or not tucked into your
neck line all the time. There's nuances and personal preference, and personal comfort. And so to see her play with
that within these costumes and really make them appear to be clothes and behave like clothing, it's so good. It's so good to see that kind of comfort in the actress with her clothing and with her costumes. It just really helps with the
believability of everything. - Ms. Elizabeth Bennet. - Next up is Caroline. This is gonna be really short and sweet and to the point, I don't really have that
much to say about Caroline. Basically, yeah she looked great. She obviously was dressed
closer to the 18 teens with that smooth front of her gowns and a more fashionable under the bus look. I do love how they put her
in the sleeveless number for the ball to make her look
really fresh and forward. And then the red silk gown that
she wears when spending time with Lizzy at Netherfield Park, it's lovely, it's great,
that's it, like cool. - For we may not visit if you do not as you well know Mr. Bennet. - Listening, I didn't have a listen. - You must papa, at once. - All right, so this next one's
actually pretty hard for me because we need to talk
about Mrs. Bennett. And Mrs. Bennet's costumes
are both fantastic and problematic and are a reflection of my
overall, just general complaint with the design decisions for this movie. And just kind of
historical films in general and just kind of weird
ideas that people have about the past. And it is this, just because you're a woman
of a certain age does not mean that you weren't dressed in
the fashions of your youth. Can we please just put this to rest? The evidence that survives
shows actually just the opposite of this weird idea. And look, while I understand
that they did this as a way to show age and not poverty because literally every
woman over the age of 40 is dressed in styles, 1770 and earlier Lady Catherine
de Burgh more money than God. It bugs the crap out of me because women over 40 still love fashion. And women over 40 still
want to be fashionable. And that there were styles and fashions and accessories
worn by older women that would signify their age but still keep them in the same. Oh, I don't know, decade. I just really hate this idea
that people who were older in the past, just magically stopped caring about their clothes and looking fashionable and being on trend and being considered just a normal participant in society that over you, like the moment
you become a certain age all of a sudden you just stop caring. It's not like we see
people today dress exactly like they're not wearing
the same types of clothes from the 70's that they
wore in their youth. My mom is over a certain age and she doesn't dress
like she did in the 70's. She dresses like a woman over
a certain age in 2020 dresses. It's just weird and why wasn't Mr. Bennett
dressed then like a sofa? He was dressed like everybody else. Basically, I mean maybe he
had a more conservative, older style cut off jacket. He didn't look like that. Why do the women look this way? Allow women just over the
age of 40 to participate in fashion in the past. Allow them to actually give a shit about empire waist gowns. Allow them to be interested
in fashion changes. Don't force them to wear what they wore when they would have been 20. That just doesn't make any sense. And frankly, it's lazy. It's cool to explore what
older people would have worn during different fashion periods. What would have women over the
age of 40, who was a mother, what would she have worn
to make her look different from her daughters? That's interesting stuff
that's fun to explore. I think, leaning on this
they dressed in that fashions over their youth. Look, clothing was remade over and over and over and over again. And 1770s and 80's
gowns were easily remade into 1790s and 1800 style gowns. Labor was very inexpensive compared to the cost of the material. And so having gowns and clothing remade to be
updated was extremely common for both women and men. It would have only cost
a few shillings to have a gown remade, updated to the
more fashionable silhouette. Mrs. Bennett is gosh, a
gossip, money focused, way too indulgent of her
ridiculous younger daughters and shows a lack of Georgian
manners and propriety. So it would actually make
sense for Mrs. B to try and dress up too trendy. To make a spectacle of herself in public as if she is trying to pretend she's as young as her daughters instead of just dressing
20 years out of fashion. That concept of making a
spectacle of oneself in dress and older women trying to dress younger than they are, were both
common satirical themes during the 18th and 19th centuries. And so I honestly think that they missed out on a really good opportunity
here to help tell the story and show character via the costumes by relying on a really tired movie trope. It's a bummer, to be honest. Now with all that being
said, I do want to stress that the gowns that Mrs.
Bennett wears are gorgeous. The cut and fit of them are lovely and she looks banging in her stays. So while I don't agree
with the design decisions, I do love the fit of the gowns. And I love how they look on her. Brenda Blethyn, the actress
who played Mrs. Bennett wears all of her costumes so well. Rosamund the way she moved in the pieces, they were styled. They did actually look like clothes and not just rigid awkward costumes. There was a softness and a worn out quality to
them that I identified with. And I found to be particularly beautiful. Also, I want to give a special shout out to that quilted waist coat
she wears in the bedroom scene after Lydia runs off with
the delicious Mr. Wickham. What a fricking fantastic
detail that shows off how much research Jacqueline Durran actually did for this movie. Seriously, that detail
alone was Oscar worthy. Though I do take issue with
people thinking that these things were worn over stays while also being worn at home and undressed because that actually makes no sense whatsoever. And just to be clear this is not a critique of the designer. She was just working with the information she
had available at the time. I'm just saying that I don't agree with the information that
has been put out there on the subject because it doesn't make any sense. However, that is a different
subject for different video and a different rabbit
hole for a different day. And yes, one day I will
probably go into it because I can't help myself. - Somebody comes to
the ball tomorrow papa. - I believe so. (crowd cheers) - I don't have too much to
say about Lydia and Kitty. While their costumes were fine and lovely, since they weren't really
the main characters I never really felt like I got enough time with the costumes to become
super familiar with them and develop any sort of
strong opinion other than yeah, okay, cool, that checks. I guess the biggest thing about Kitty and Lydia that I did like
was how they seemed to have like raided their mother's wardrobe and they took out all
these cute little jackets and short gowns from the late 1780's and early 90's and they wore them in this
lovely (indistinct) sort of way. And the cotton style, the gowns do kind of play nicely with that, they're teenagers and not really children, but they're not really full
adults either sort of way. And I also really liked the
colors that they used for that. I will also feel like a total asshole if I leave out Mary,
who while drab actually had really lovely gowns that were styled a little bit more fashion forward, a little bit more like
1800's, 1805, 1810's. So, I see you Mary, well done you. (tense music) I want to talk about one more thing. The corsets and stays that were
actually worn in this movie. (claps slowly) So good. You don't see much in the ways of unders being worn in this movie but when you do get to see them I was actually quite giddy to
see two very awesome details. First, the stays are spiral laced guys. Do you hear that everyone else
in Hollywood? Spiral laced. Look, we don't ask for much in this nerdy little subculture of ours and spiral lacing is just
one of those things that just brings our nerdy little
hearts so much damn glee. It is a ridiculous. I may or may not have
actually texted people about the spiral lacing in the stays. And I am, not ashamed at all. Additionally, in the ball prep
scene between Jane and Lizzy, you can see that the stays
that they're wearing, how they're actually a
little shorter waisted and in that kind of transitional
phase from the traditional 18th century conical
shape to the 19th century locked and loaded style. The only critique I have and it's not really that
even fair of a critique. It's just a thing that I
noticed is that they obviously seemed to have been more heavily boned than actually what the originals were and what the silhouette calls for. So if they had just
actually boned them less there would have been more bust curve and thrustiness which
is better for the 1790s because they were all
about boobies back then. However, I think it's
a natural assumption to want to put boning in these garments because in the early aughts, that's what would have actually made sense with the resort available at that time. There's no judgment there. It's just like, this
actually could have been a little bit better here but it's still fantastic. So, about this whole
stays in corsetry thing, and we know how actresses just love to talk about corsets and how uncomfortable they are. And how terrible they are. And how did women breathe. How did we live? How did we function I do not know. It is a mystery hidden
through the depths of history. And we'll never be able
to uncover these mysteries because somehow women were able
to survive hundreds of years with these boned torture contraptions around their bodies. And actresses today who are definitely not
the vainest of creatures, completely focused on what
their bodies look like because they're told to always lose weight because the camera adds 10
pounds as does quarantine. How do they function in them corsets? That we will never know. But actually, Keira Knightley
did an interview where she talked about the, obviously the corsets, in this video. And she actually talked about
how comfortable they were and how she enjoyed wearing them and how they were super pleasant to wear because you know, they were shorter. So they weren't over her stomach where you know you can't breathe. 'Cause apparently actresses also use their intestines to breathe. And that'd be, confusion aside. She did talk about how
comfortable the corsetry was for this movie. And I found that to be very pleasant and just like, thank you Keira. Thank you for standing up there even though, pirates. - I can't breathe. - Yes, I'm a bit nervous myself. - And that everyone is
basically my analysis of the 2005, "Pride and Prejudice", their costumes, the design decisions, what I liked and what I didn't like. And like I said, overall, I actually found the costumes to be quite lovely, great for character development. And you can see a lot of research and care was taken in the
conceptualization of these costumes as well as their construction. So Jacqueline Durran,
(claps) well done you. Seriously, well done. And I apologize on behalf
of my 20 year old self or 19 year old self who
was a little too sassy to her friends on AOL instant messenger
about your costumes, I apologize. - Mrs. Darcy. Mrs. Darcy. - And with that my fellow nerdlings, I hope that you have enjoyed this video on the costumes of the
2005 "Pride and Prejudice". If you haven't seen this version
of "Pride and Prejudice", I actually highly recommend it just for the cinematography alone because it's literally one
of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, it's stunning. (soothing piano music) And the soundtrack is just so good. And the hand flex. Anyways, with that my lovelies, I hope that you all have a marvelous week and I will see you all back here next week with another video. And don't forget to subscribe
if you haven't already. And with that, I'll see
you all next time, bye. (slow upbeat music) (sings) That's the wrong song. Mrs. Batman knows. Jacqueline Durran, Jacqueline Durran, that's all lady I know her
name is, Jacqueline Durran. Oh, Jacqueline. What's up Gravy? How you doing? Ears cleaned and her butt fur trimmed up because it was a disaster. Less shit guys, let's do it. "Pride and Prejudice", a discussion. I think we're good, oh my baby. Oh the baby. Never felt pork was let at last. (Abby here: LOLwtf?) (slow upbeat music)
