Little Women 2019 vs 1994 vs book: Jo

 

Jo: Jo is the hardest of all little women characters to correctly analyse what is right or wrong in her dress code, because she is such an individual. You can't really pin it down and say, "oh she would not have worn that in the 1860's" or "her hair is so inaccurate" because she doesn't want to fit in with society. There is an interesting part in the book where Laurie gives Jo a leghorn hat which was waaaaay out of fashion because she said she wished wider hats were in fashion to shield her face from the sun so he sends her this hat and she wears it to the picnic he arranges with the Vaugn family. The last appearance of the leghorn hat after its popularity in the 1850s was a single appearance in godey's ladies book in 1861 so by roughly 1863-64 it was completely out of fashion. However, as the book specifically states that it was a wide brimmed old fashioned variant, he could have sent her a Georgian leghorn hat wich had a slightly less round crown.

                                                

                                                   Leghorn hat: Godey's Ladies book 1861

In this image I quite like the red colour for Jo. I have no idea what's going on with the patterned gloves and knitted shopping bag but I don't know as much about accessories as I do clothing... The straight sleeves aren't really that 1860s ish and it looks too much like a modern cardigan. but the skirt is almost passable if they had given her a few more petticoats but then again this is Jo we're on about. I actually found a similar extent cap from the 1860s which is a women's cap so I'll give it a pass.

I really like her beret but not sure about the accuracy of it. The first beret to be factory produced was in 1810 though so maybe she would have had access to one.

The plaid blouse she wears here is nice though if it was to be fashionable it would have looser wider sleeves. 

In the book it says she went to the Christmas ball in a maroon poplin with a stiff white linen collar so this isn't bad but I'm not sure where the gentlemanly stiff white linen collar has gone.

Not sure about the historical accuracy of the cardigan. the blouse looks like the same as I talked about above I'm not quite sure she should always be having her hair down as in the book it said her hair was bundled up into a hairnet. But then when meg says how she should act like a lady now she was wearing her hair up, she retorts with, "If wearing my hair up makes me a lady, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty." So from this we know she did wear her hair up but she rebelliously pulled off her hairnet sometimes. but even if she wanted to be rebellious she said she would wear her hair in two tails which is probably braided; not loose.

                            

  The straight sleeves here again - unfashionable. 

The book tells us that the girls wore dove coloured summer suits (or dress outfits) for Meg's wedding.  This dress from the 1994 version appears to have done that; not sure though whether the colour has been affected by the camera.

Straight sleeves here are unfashionable. However they do have two of the shoulder cap oversleeves that give the 1860s slightly low shoulder look.

This is a very gentlemanly outfit. However the book implies that in Jo's later years she learns to be more feminine for when their father comes home at Christmas time, it is one of the things he comments upon. No ordinary 1860s girl would wear this outfit but Jo is not ordinary, as we know. However as this is in New York when Jo is consulting publishers, there is one quote in the book which implies a very different view on Jo's attire. "She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners. So she dressed herself in her best." It also says when the editor is taking note of her that she had a "bow in her bonnet" and "Buttons on her boots." It also mentions her "stitching pinafores" ... not quite the same as the 2019 adaption would have us think, is it?      

Ladies could wear bowler hats in the victorian era however they were mainly worn with riding habits. But when she goes to the publishing/editing offices in the book, she wears a bonnet with a bow.

 As I said before, Jo is a rule unto her own. But the look of this outfit is less well-tailored than most Victorian garments, homemade or not. If you look at pictures of Laura Ingalls from the 1880s, her books tell us they sewed their own clothes yet you can see the tailoring is beautiful. And it also says in the book that Jo is the mantua maker of the family and took pride in making the family's clothing. So it is unlikely her clothes would be so ill fitting.   

 

Here you can see her lace drawers peaking out: those are indeed a historical garment, not quite sure about the funny patterned stockings.

All in all Jo is the hardest person to analyse, simply because the normal fashion rules sometimes do not apply. So fortunately for costume directors, they are allowed a little artistic licence for Jo's character.