It is pretty disappointing to be really getting into any film or TV dramatization and then be jolted by a costuming faux pas. However, it is fun as well and things like corsets or stays worn without a chemise or shift are kind of a giveaway to the aesthetics of the time the film/TV show was made.
And of course, you have the director's vision of how things should look, especially to the 99%+ of the audience that doesn't know or care about historical accuracy. During the time of the Hays Code in Hollywood, costume designers doing medieval-Rennaisance set films had to eliminate codpieces and put the poor male actors in tights. Costumes for both men and women set in any era had to sacrifice cut and fit, to not only the then current fashionable aesthetic, but to the making sure that ladies necklines didn't plunge below a certain Hays' approved point. Many poor male actors had to have their chests shaved as smooth as a baby's bottom. And forget being accurate about the male attire at the court of Richard II if you were doing that Shakespeare play. Well, maybe those long, pointed-toed shoes...but no too-short to be decent jerkins or houppelands! Historically-set films during the time of the Hays' Code are a hoot to watch. Factor in costume designers having to work with budgets that are a small fraction of a total film's cost, actors that are more worried about their image than being historically accurate,(Bette Davis when doing Elizabeth I a second time being the rare exception) and having to use fabrics and/or rented costumes that are available and it is a wonder anything halfway historically accurate ended up on screen. Cindy Abel _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
