These two are adorable, but the portraits in #QueenCharlotte are KILLING me. NONE of those people were even *born* in 1761!
That is QUEEN VICTORIA. Specifically, her coronation portrait by Sir George Hayter. Her coronation was in 1838, 20 years after Charlotte DIED.
And that’s her husband, Prince Albert, painted in the robes of the Order of the Garter by Frank Xaver Winterhalter in 1843.
This is Victoria’s predecessor Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV, Charlotte’s third son. They married a few months before Charlotte’s death but this wasn’t painted until 1836, by Sir Martin Archer. I *hate* portraits from the future.
This? Is a straight up photograph. It doesn’t look especially Georgian-it reminds me of a modern photo of the royal family as much as a Georgian portrait.
These are a bit more reminiscent of the portraits George III commissioned of his steadily growing family.
And this is a composite of Allan Ramsay’s coronation portraits of George and Charlotte, though they have been aged dramatically. George has white hair rather than a powdered wig, and Charlotte has giant late 1770s hair (which, in the Bridgerton multiverse, she keeps for decades).
Here’s some real, period-appropriate art: the massive Van Dyck at Wilton House and the King’s Staircase at Hampton Court, both used as locations in Bridgerton, as well.
This outfit baffled me at first. It has a jeweled stomached (Charlotte owned a diamond stomacher) and it’s described as being lacy and fragile—but it looks like a Brunswick or a riding habit, a casual, comfortable jacket and skirt popular for traveling, often worn with a tricorn.
This outfit sums up so many of the problems with #QueenCharlotte and historical costuming in general. Beyond the corset discourse, it's a mashup of things we know the queen wore: the purple jacket or overgown (likely with a hood rather than a shawl collar) AND a blingy stomacher.
But she’d never wear them TOGETHER. It’s as if Rihanna threw on her yellow Guo Pei Met Gala cape over Fenty track pants. Both are distinctly, iconically Rihanna, but they belong to completely different contexts.
Bridgerton/Queen Charlotte is not documentary, or even costume drama. It’s historical alternative universe, and that’s really interesting! But an AU will be MORE interesting and convincing if it’s anchored in real history and follows an internal logic, thematically and visually.
As I’ve said before, though, costuming and history are different beasts, and that’s OK! I’m sad that tired corset myths and misinformation are being perpetuated here, but nitpicking individual costumes is not very useful or interesting to non-academics. Fake portraits, however…
For all of you calling me a racist and a Karen, let me apologize for not making clear up front that I’m *huge* fan of both Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte and their crazy hot and talented multiracial casts (see my pinned Tweet). I am definitely side-eyeing Netflix here though….
There was SO much love and attention showered on the art direction and custom artwork for 2 whole seasons of Bridgerton—centered on a white family—that just isn’t being repeated here. I don’t know if it’s deliberate or malicious, but it’s disappointing. Charlotte deserves better!
I'm tempted to delete this whole thread, because I don't want to yuck anyone's yum--and because it's a lot more fun to talk about why good fake portraits are good than why bad ones are bad. But now I'm invested in the reasons why George is acting so sketchy, so on to episode 2!
Now this is more like it! Obviously, I *love* a getting-dressed montage or three, and there’s some nice French art in Charlotte’s boudoir: Fragonard’s Woman with a Dog (c. 1769, but nice foreshadowing) and Nattier’s Mme. Marsollier and her Daughter, both in the Met Museum.
The Nattier is a toilette (getting-dressed) portrait, and there’s a famous 1764 toilette portrait of Charlotte herself by Zoffany which is visually quoted in this scene. Check out her silver gilt toilette set and lace table cover, bought in 1762 for 1,079 pounds and 14 shillings.
Lucky Charlotte dines amid the trompe l’oeil baroque splendor of the Saloon at Blenheim Palace, the walls painted by Louis Laguerre around 1720. Blenheim was later the birthplace of William Churchill and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Y’all. I really do want this show to be good, but this is literally the family photo of Charlotte, George, and all their GROWN CHILDREN from episode 1. She is looking at a portrait from her OWN future!
Back in the Bridgerton timeline, this little muffin is wearing a nice skeleton suit, a fitted jacket and trousers that buttoned together at the waist with an open collar. Worn by boys in the late 1700s and early 1800s, it was an early form of casual playwear made just for kids.
Sigh. Beginning to think the Queen Victoria portrait was not, in fact, a clever in-joke about the succession crisis.
Lady Danbury continues to be THE BEST.
Ok, that’s the end of episode 2 and the end of this 🧵, because I’m getting threatening DMs. I’m going to enjoy the rest of #QueenCharlotte offline. Sorry for being a big nerd! I’ll leave you with George III’s coronation robes and my favorite portrait of Charlotte and her dog:
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It’s time for #Bridgerton S3, Part 1! Sure, the frocks are a lot of fun, but there are also paintings! Let's take a look. (Spoilers ahead, obviously.) 🧵
Once again, the Bridgertons are getting dressed up for court. By this time (1815, tho the book is set in 1824) knee-length breeches were out of style. After the French Revolution, working-class trousers replaced aristocratic "culottes" in fashion; hence the term “sans-culottes.”
But formal dress changed slowly, then as now, and black tailcoats and breeches continued to be worn at the British court into the 20th century; they're still seen today on some ceremonial occasions (but NEVER with boots, Colin!) The court suit in LACMA’s collection is from 1858.
The #BridgertonS3 trailer has arrived! Colin has clearly been taking fashion inspo from the Duke of Hastings and I am HERE for it. But let's look at the paintings!
Once again, Queen Charlotte's throne room is played by the Double Cube Room at Wilton House, with Anthony van Dyck's 1635 portrait of the 4th Earl of Pembroke and his family, his biggest canvas. The Tate has a fascinating look at the work's messy dynamics: tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue…
Cressida and Eloise look like they just stepped out of a Regency fashion plate:
I’m looking forward to this—I *love* a sweeping historical epic and I don’t know/care very much about Napoleon, so hopefully I won’t be distracted by the inevitable historical inaccuracies. Costume is not and should not be history, but few things jumped out of me, good and bad:🧵
A lot of Napoleon’s clothes and uniforms survive, including this tricolor sash he wore in Egypt, likely brought there by an Indian trader. It has the boteh or pinecone motif, originally Persian but known in the West as paisley, because imitations were woven in Paisley, Scotland.
French soldiers took these shawls home as souvenirs, launching a trend. Josephine wasn’t a fan at first, but eventually amassed hundreds, even making them into gowns. “Kashmir” shawls mimicked classical drapery, lending warmth and visual interest to high-waisted white sheaths.
Another field trip to see “Guo Pei: Art of Couture” at the Bowers Museum. I saw their 2019 show “Guo Pei: Couture Beyond” and this was completely different! But also worth seeing for the shoes alone:
Pei is the only designer whose clothes I can look at and have NO idea what I’m looking at:
New costume rotation at the @AcademyMuseum! I made a special trip to see Elizabeth Taylor’s velvet-violet-trimmed Edith Head debutante gown from “A Place in the Sun” (1951), which launched a million prom dresses. I wrote about it in my @StMartinsPress book Skirts. But look …. 👀
HELLO, JARETH.
Also fun: Mary Pickford’s “Little Lord Fauntleroy” suit (she played both Cedric AND his mother!), Halle Berry’s Elie Saab Oscar win gown (also in Skirts!), a bunch of Godfather costumes, and Leo’s “Man in the Iron Mask” Louis XIV suit, complete with the weirdly slicked-back hair.
I'm not watching #MarieAntoinettePBS and I wasn't going to nitpick the costumes; I don't think that's very interesting or useful. Historical films are not (nor should they be) documentaries, and I don’t want to come across as a cranky pedant or yuck someone else’s yum. HOWEVER….
A few people have sent me this lewk and I'm going to do a 🧵, because it's something I've researched and written about extensively and because it shows how even well-intentioned, well-budgeted historical costuming can go off the rails when you don't HIRE👏FASHION👏HISTORIANS👏.
"Whhyyyy is Marie-Antoinette wearing a cold-shoulder dress?" is not the question you should be asking. This is meant to represent a real gown called a grand habit. It was worn at court and only at court on formal and ceremonial occasions. At right is a Swedish royal wedding gown.