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Costumer Terry Dresbach (Outlander) on Costume Design for Historical Dramas


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Costumer Terry Dresbach (Outlander) talks about the issues with costume design for historical dramas:

https://www.terrydresbach.com/modern-history/

"There is an ongoing discussion about historically accurate Costume Design onscreen and what audience taste is for history. It is VERY interesting to reflect on having just finished doing the French Court for television after creating 18th century Scotland for Season One.
There is a reason that until just very recently there were not a lot of period pieces on television, with the exceptions of very small and contained BBC Dramas. It is an enormous endeavour and something that American studios and networks had no real experience with.
Hollywood is a town driven by fear. Fear of risk, ultimately. And doing giant period pieces is most definitely a risk."

"...So you end up making history look modern. Everyone is in leather, or the latest runway fashion is tweaked into an interpretation of history. Eventually it becomes the norm, and then becomes a source of creative pride for directors and producers, who put out brave statements to the press about how incredibly creative and innovatively they are choosing to interpret history."

I'm often rubbed the wrong way by the amount of license taken by film/TV designers when creating clothes that are supposed to be period accurate. They mostly end up looking like they've been reinterpreted to appeal to modern audiences. Which doesn't have much to do with historical accuracy. And it's amazing how all the characters manage to keep their clothing immaculately clean, day after day.  😉 

Dresbach's online archive is full of great photos of her many costumes:
https://www.terrydresbach.com/category/outlander/costume-design/

 

Outlander_Book2_LouisedeRohanClaireSermo

Edited by pherank
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Oh, bingo with this!

"And it's amazing how all the characters manage to keep their clothing immaculately clean, day after day."

I love Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and so I've managed to see many of the film/televisions programs made from the book, and most of them get this so very wrong.  I'm not a big fan of the Joe Wright film (starring Keira Knightley) -- I think they take too many liberties with the text -- but they did get the dirt right. 

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