Emma. 2020 Costume analysis.
"Handsome, clever, rich" is Austen's first description of the now-beloved heroine, Emma, whom Austen thought nobody would much love but her! (Little did she know...). Emma comes to the silver screen once again in 2020 to re-delight viewers with a fresh new take on the tale.
This version immediately got notice from the costuming community with many proclaiming it the best costume adaption of Emma out of all adaptions so far.
Published in December 1815, the directors of the movie appear to have set it to begin somewhere between 1815-1817, so to clarify that is a bit later than most Austen adaptions so far with most being set between 1795-1813.
So naturally the style is also a little different seeing as the fashions were quite rapidly altering at the time with every 5-10 years having a different silhouette.
In this GIF collection, there are three different styles of gown: full daywear, an embroidered summer dress and a white summer dress with bright underdress and short-sleeved Spenser.
Look 1.
This look is actually based on an extant look of a Regency redingote, and the hat was almost directly copied.
Look 2.
This look was in the proposal scene and the green detailing shows her in harmony with the environment around her perhaps showing that things are coming into her place in the Nature of things (excuse the pun).
The dress appears to have an ombre ribbon which I am not sure is quite accurate but it ties in so well with the outfit that you don't notice so much.
The embroidered flowers are defiantly reminiscent of a Regency dress I have seen somewhere but I couldn't find it for this post.
Look 3.
This is a really weird look. It has a bright egg-yolk yellow petticoat with a white overdress and then a lavender colour short-sleeved spencer or bodice; I don't know what the official name is.
.........
This frilly over bodice chemisette is actually called a canezou and is found in Regency portraiture.
Other examples of chemisettes/canezous
the ruffles on the middle one looks most like Emma's in the scene where she is painting Harriet and the opening scene of the movie.
Look 4.
This look has a strange standalone ruff which may have been inspired by portraits like the one below which appears to have a standalone ruff but when you look closer you can see the painter has painted it so you can just about make out a sheer fabric over the neckline however it does make some excuse for the designer.
She also wears a blue stripe dress with a green over bodice/sleeveless Spenser.
Here is a portrait with a sleevless spencer-ette and the sleeves look similar to some of Emma's too.
An extant sleeveless spencer.
Look 5.
With this look it appears that Emma is wearing either a white dress with a yellow underlay or a really pale yellow/cream dress. Personally I think that it is the former as the costume designer has mentioned before that they did this with some of the gowns. Over that she wears a dark maroon/brown spencer which if you look closely you can see has a slim stripe to it. There is a buckle at the bottom. The lace appears to be on the spencer rather than the chemisette which stand up above the collar of the spenser.
Look 3.
This look is almost directly inspired by a portrait.
(pictured below)
Look 6.
This look is the Christmas one and has the silver embroidery that reminds me of a simplified version of process. Charlotte's silver and white court dress from 1814-1816 (the era of the film)
Look 7.
Reminds me of this blue dress dated 1818, a little late but good inspiration.
Look 8.
This look is the dark dress from look 8 of the 3 GIFs above these three. The dangly hair ornament is pretty and distracting perhaps meant to show how Emma always (subconsciously )wants to catch the eye!
Look 9.
covered above.
Look 10.
covered above
Look 11.
Another amazing pellise in gingham and bonnet for emma this one has an unusual front closure which I haven't come across before. Be sure to let me know down in the comments if you have seen this style before. Hmmm! Get your thinking caps on. She appears to be wearing underneath the white overdress she wears with a lot of other outfits.
Ahhh this look is sublime! As you can see the pellise comes directly from this fashion plate! How much more could you want in a costume! *Costumer dreaming going on!
And I love her fur edged hat! (I personally prefer it to the one in the fashion plate).
Now this dress here appears to be the same overdress that is used over different strongly coloured petticoats to create a slightly different outfit every time.
I think here it is worn over a simple white petticoat, and actually for the scene it is actually very apt, the fact that there is no colour underneath, reflects how the Emma stops having something under her meaning, she is admitting her wrongs and not hiding them, so there her intentions are not "coloured" so to say, this may have been an accidental design choice but it is a nice idea that fits in well.
Here the same dress as before is worn on the outing to Donwell, this time with a pink petticoat and see how in this photo the pink and white makes her look childish and doll-like compared to Jane Fairfax, maybe symbolyzing her need to mature.
This is another beautiful Regency replication, it is a copy of the pictured extant garment from the V&A museum in London.
I noticed however the change of the hem from this sort of beautiful slightly trained flare to a more straight and padded hem, probably because the dress was from 1810 and they wanted it to look more 1816ish.
Here Emma is wearing THAT white overdress again and I can't quite be sure but I think this may be worn with the green underdress pictured below.
As you can see this spencer of Emmas was inspired by the extant one on the right with only a few minor changes with costumes as good as these. Why oh why didn't Amanda Byrne win an Oscar?!!!
And this look is practically a fashion plate literally.
I now have no more words to say!
The tale is told.
The best costumes are extolled,
And now it's time for me to hit the hay!
(lyrics copyright of Rosemary Grey & co, etc)
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