Updates!

Hello everyone!

I've come up with a few updates around the page. Other than the couple of pictures that I have added at the sidebar, I have also added a Flickr page for the blog. There I will post one picture per project and have them all together in one place. For the link to the Flickr page, check the sidebar: here is also a link.

Also, feel free to join the Facebook Fan Page for Elegance of Fashion. I always post an update when I have posted on Elegance of Fashion. You can also find this at the sidebar.

Until next time!

The Patriot - Anne's Dress in More Detail

A week ago, I posted details for a dress from The Patriot, except I wish that the pictures had a clearer picture of some of the details. Luckily, with a camera, a Blu-Ray player, and a TV, I was able to get some pictures which, though not the best color, have nice close-ups of the details.

Side View

Closer Details on Stomacher: where the lines
meet, there seems to be a little rose at the
intersection

Sleeves: Looks like there are rows of lace
before the end lace.

Ruffles along neckline: pleated instead of
gathered?

Review: Cranford

Sorry everyone that the review for this week was late in coming. I was really busy with school this week (I know, right before Thanksgiving...). The next review will hopefully be posted on December 6th. Here is the review!

Cranford... It was something that I have seen on the Masterpiece Theater website or advertised on PBS, but didn't know what it was. I had never heard of it or the author, Elizabeth Gaskell. My mother bought the DVD collection (which included both Cranford and Return to Cranford). Once I watched it, I was glad that I did.

Box Art

Synopsis
Cranford combines three of Elizabeth Gaskell's books into one miniseries: Cranford, Mr. Harrison's Confessions, and My Lady Ludlow. Young Mary Smith returns to the small town of Cranford, her mother's home, and stays with two sisters: Deborah Jenkyns (Eileen Atkins) and Matilda "Matty" Jenkyns (Judi Dench). At the same time, a new doctor arrives in Cranford; Doctor Harrison, a man who has a good reputation, arrives to help the aging Doctor Morgan, and meanwhile gains the attentions of the ladies of Cranford. Meanwhile, Lady Ludlow (Francesca Annis) is waiting to hear from her son who is sick and abroad. Harry Gregson, a poor boy, is caught trespassing on her property and suspected of poaching and Mr. Carter, Lady Ludlow's land agent, takes him under his wing and educates him, much to the chagrin of Lady Ludlow. There are many subplots that take place within an episode: one involves lace, another about a man who has to go through surgery on his broken arm to name a few.

Characters
Some of the characters are very comical, others are much more serious. This is also reflected in the storylines of Cranford; there are two tones to the whole story: on the one hand, there are some very comical and lighthearted scenes, while others are much more serious and heavy.

There is a well known cast including Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins, but some of the cast you might easily recognize from other period dramas: Julia Sawalha (Pride and Prejudice, Lark Rise to Candleford) is Jessie Brown, Barbara Flynn (He Knew He Was Right) is Mrs. Jamieson, Claudie Blakley (Lark Rise to Candleford) is Martha, Greg Wise (Sense and Sensibility) is Sir Charles Maulver. There are other recognizable actors and actresses, but these are just a few. 

Left to Right: Mary Smith, Deborah Jenkyns, Matilda Jenkyns,
and Miss Pole

Characters like Miss Pole (Imelda Staunton) add comic relief to the story. As the town gossip, she hears many stories which contribute to some of the lighthearted subplots. Her presence on the screen gave Cranford a very light hearted tone to it. During those scenes, Cranford seemed to resemble a Jane Austen novel in that the happenings that were going on were very similar to something in real life (which is something that I have noticed with Jane Austen's novels). I really liked that.
The more serious characters include Lady Ludlow, Harry Gregson and his family, and Mr. Carter. You do come to love Mr. Carter, who at first seems very strict, but then turns out to be a caring father figure to Harry. This story line deals with a serious issue at the time: whether the poor should be educated or not. Harry's father, Job, thinks that education isn't for everyone, and Lady Ludlow does not want to see him educated. Mr. Carter feels that Harry should be educated in order to improve his life.


Scenery

One of the subplots: Caroline Tomkinson feeling faint
while Doctor Harrison tries to relieve her.

Some very nice scenery in Cranford. Some scenes, however, that are more serious have a much more subdued tone to them. Other scenes have more color to them. Cranford is a small town in the 1840s, and it looks like something that came out of a Jane Austen novel; it looked very nice and country-like. Lady Ludlow's home was spacious and fancy and the grounds were very large. On her grounds, there was a railroad being built, so also shown was the construction area (an interesting touch, to be sure), but there are other shots of the grounds that you see, not just the railway. The other homes in Cranford were not as big or fancy, but they were cozy and nicely laid out.

Costumes
BBC succeeds in giving its actors and actresses very nice costumes. There aren't many extravagant costumes as Cranford is a country town; the exception being Lady Ludlow's dresses, who, though her dresses were cut in an old fashion, still used fine fabrics.

Miss Pole holding her bonnet in place as she and Mrs. Forrester
(Julia McKenzie) run to tell a bit of news.

Miss Pole's bonnet represents her completely! Her usual bonnet, a straw bonnet with a single protruding feather sticking straight up in its quirky way, exemplifies her character. I absolutely love how it describes her. When you see that single feather move across the screen, it's almost like Jaws (in a good way); she moves to one of her friends in her humorous way until BAM! she tells a piece of gossip! I love it!

The contrasts between Deborah and Miss Matty is also shown between their clothes. Deborah is dressed in very dark colors to match her personality which is strict about decorum. Miss Matty, being much less strict than Deborah, has lighter colors for her dresses. I thought this was done very well.

Music
I love the theme song! It has a very easy melody that, while low during the beginning, has a lighthearted tone to it. It's very flowing and nice. It describes the lighthearted overtones that are present in the plot, though there are more serious moments.

There is a little bit of singing in Cranford. If you ever wanted to hear Julia Sawalha sing, here is your chance. She sings twice during the whole show. Her voice is probably not the best singing voice, but it wasn't absolutely terrible. Also sung was "The Parting Class" by the character Jack Marshland (Joe McFadden).

There is a soundtrack for Cranford that is available at Amazon. It has 30 tracks on the CD.

Overall: 4/5
I would recommend Cranford to anyone. There are a couple of intense scenes (a couple of surgeries and accidents that required surgery), and sometimes the plot can be really serious at times, but there was a lightheartedness to Cranford. There are some very nice costumes, and the acting is well done (which I should expect from BBC). It is also very nice to look at.

Cranford is available on DVD; it is made up five one hour episodes. You can purchase it on it's own or in a collection that includes Return to Cranford.

Edit (11/26/10): I had a couple of inaccuracies in my review. What I have fixed is now underlined. I would like to thank Miss Laurie for pointing them out to me. Thank you so much Miss Laurie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hoping that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sense and Sensibility Comic Book

Today, I went to Borders with my grandmother and father to browse the books. Suddenly a thought popped into my head and I walked over to the graphic novel section, and to my delight my thought was justified.

Source

This was what I bought this evening. I remembered reading about Sense and Sensibility the comic book a couple of months ago. For Christmas last year, my brother gave me Pride and Prejudice the comic book which I enjoyed, so when I heard they were going to make a comic book for Sense and Sensibility, I was very excited. I've only started, but I will say that it is very good; as much as I loved the 1995 movie, they left out some scenes that I would have liked to see. Those scenes seem to be included in here so far, so I am pretty happy! :-D

I might possibly review this at a later time.

The Patriot - Anne's Dress

This dress from the movie The Patriot particularly strikes me. It was worn by the character Anne Howard in one scene, and I like how it looks.

Bodice View

Side View

Closer View of Bodice

Petticoat View

Closer View of Ruffles along neckline.

The criss-cross on the stomacher is absolutely lovely! The draping on the skirt is also particularly interesting. The color contrast is also very nice between the white and light blue. Hmmm... This just may be an up and coming project for me... :-D

Dress for Wedding

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was making a dress to wear to a "formal event." Well, here it is!
 

And the formal event? It was my cousin's wedding. This dress lasted me the whole wedding and the whole evening and it was still comfortable to wear!

The dress was made out of light blue charmeuse. It is asymetrical and full length. It was also made with Simplicity 2692.

Here are some close-ups of the bodice. The bodice is gathered in the front and is connected to an ungathered "midsection", which is also connected to the gathered skirt. For the wedding ceremony, since it was in church, I wore a shawl since the dress had no sleeves. It worked out pretty well!

Review: He Knew He Was Right

Lastly in The Anthony Trollope Collection, my mother and I watched He Knew He Was Right. There are a couple of funny subplots, but one serious main plot. Here are some of my thoughts.

Synopsis

Box Art

After a year of being happily married, Louis and Emily Trevelyan (Oliver Dimesdale and Laura Fraser) have a son and a nice home in London. Troubles befall their marriage when Louis suspects Emily of cheating on him with Colonel Osborne (Bill Nighy), her godfather. Though Emily is not cheating on Louis, she still refuses to submit to Louis's wishes that she not see him.

The story has many subplots. One involves Emily's sister, Nora Rowley (Christina Cole), and Louis's friend, Hugh Stanbury, and how they fall in love. Another involves Hugh's sister, Dorothy, visiting her Aunt Stanbury, an old maid with money; Aunt Stanbury would like to see her married to the vicar, Mr. Gibson (David Tennant), however Dorothy likes someone else. Another involves sisters, Camilla and Arabella French (Claudie Blakley and Fenella Woolgar), fighting over Mr. Gibson. As you can see, there are many subplots, however they can be viewed on their own, as some don't involve the main plot.

Characters

The acting was alright. It was interesting how the characters would face the camera and tell the "audience" what they were thinking. I don't always like it when movies do that, but it didn't really bother me here.



Mr. Gibson (David Tennant) with Camilla (Claudie Blakley)
to the right and Arabella French (Fenella Woolgar) to the
left.

 I honestly preferred the subplot characters to the main characters. The subplot with Mr. Gibson was probably the best part of the story; all the characters were so hilarious! Camilla French became physchotic and irrational about Mr. Gibson, while Mr. Gibson was absolutely afraid of her (at one point, he was actually cowering under a plant!)! This subplot was probably the best subplot in He Knew He Was Right. It was just so hilarious!

In He Knew He Was Right, there are two American sisters, the misses Spaldings. I didn't mind their characters, but I did have a slight problem with them: whatever accent they were speaking was not an American accent. As an American, I never have heard anyone speak they way they did. Though the one Miss Spalding, Caroline (Anna-Louise Plowman), was born in New Zealand, so maybe that had something to do with it. But either way, the accents that the American characters were speaking did not sound American.

Wow, was it odd to see Christina Cole in a completely different role! Her previous role were (to name a few) Mrs. Elton from Emma and Clarissa Payne from What a Girl Wants: both roles were catty women who want to control everything. Here as Nora she was pleasant and sweet, and she was able to pull it off well! I thought that the only roles that she could get were of catty women, but here she proves that she is much more versatile, as Nora was such a sweet character.

The main characters... I felt sorry for Emily because she really didn't do anything wrong. Colonel Osborne seemed to like causing trouble: he knew that something was going wrong everytime him an Emily met, and he should have either stopped coming to see Emily or simply talk to Louis. Louis himself became more and more crazy as the story went on. Again, I really perferred the subplot to the main plot (which is probably not a good thing) probably because the subplots were more entertaining. Spoiler The main plot just seemed to be a downward spiral in which it wasn't getting better for the characters. I tend to like happy endings to sad endings. End of Spoiler

Scenery
The country scenery was very nice, but some of the scenes in London had dark overtones to illustrate the seriousness of the story.  Some of the scenes take place at balls where the buildings look very nice and towards the beginning, the Trevelyans had a very nice house, but the other indoor scenes took place in either simpler cottages or completely run down homes. Some of the scenes also seemed to take place on either cloudy or "about to rain" days, so there were some dark overtones. This was appropriate due to the seriousness of the main plot.

Costumes

Nora (Christina Cole) with Emily (Laura Fraser) as
they leave London. 

Some of the costumes were quite nice. Emily was always well dressed and always looked nice. She had very nice dresses (white seemed to work very well for her) and her hair was also very nicely arranged. Nora was also nicely dressed; I think her clothes tended to have more bolder colors than Emily's.

The French sisters had similar clothes on the whole movie. They wore lightly colored dresses with a print. This was probably to illustrate how similar they were (at least at the beginning). Their clothes didn't really differ in style; as a poorer family, their mother probably couldn't afford a big wardrobe.

Something that my mother and I noticed: Dorothy seemed to wear the same dress throughout the whole miniseries. She seemed to be wearing the same plaid, high necked dress throughout her whole stay with Aunt Stanbury. I suppose that since her family was poor, she didn't have a wide variety of dresses, but it was still something that we noticed.

Aunt Stanbury also wore the same dress throughout the entire movie: the same black dress with the same black and white lace veil. I suppose that because she is older and unmarried, she has a little excuse.

Music
The music didn't really stand out for me as much. Most of the songs are very serious due to the serious nature of the main story. The songs did not really strike me as they do for other period dramas. There is no soundtrack available that I know of.

Overall: 3.5/5
I enjoyed He Knew He Was Right, but I would probably reccomend the subplots to the main plot. The subplots themselves could have been their own movie: they were that separate from the main plot. To me, a miniseries shouldn't have that happen. I didn't hate the main plot, but I much more enjoyed the subplots because the main plot was really serious. However, a lot of the costumes were very pretty and the country scenes were very nice. The acting was well done, and I would not be sorry to watch it again.

He Knew He Was Right is a part of The Anthony Trollope Collection, though you can also buy it separately. It runs for 235 minutes with four one hour long episodes. It is available on DVD.

Review: The Barchester Chronicles

Next in the Anthony Trollope Collection, my mother and I watched The Barchester Chronicles. At first I didn't think that it was going to amount to much, but was I wrong! I really enjoyed it. Here are some of my thoughts.

Synopsis
The Barchester Chronicles is taken from two books in The Chronicles of Barsetshire by Anthony Trollope. Episodes 1 and 2 are taken from The Warden. John Bold, a doctor, takes legal action against Mr. Septimus Harding (Donald Pleasence), a clergyman and warden of Hirams Hospital. While John Bold is good friends with Mr. Harding and in love with his daughter, Eleanor, he still believes that Mr. Harding is making too much money and is in violation of a will.

Episodes 3 through 7 are taken from Barchester Towers. When the bishop of Barchester dies, a new bishop is appointed. Bishop Proudie (Clive Swift) is a weak man controlled by his wife and chaplain, Mr. Slope (Alan Rickman). The plot's of episodes 3 through 7 revolve around the clergymen of Barchester and their relation to Bishop Proudie and Mr. Slope.

Characters

There are some very recognizable actors and actresses in The Barchester Chronicles: Donald Pleasance as Mr. Harding, Alan Rickman (Sense and Sensibility) as Mr. Slope, Clive Swift (Keeping Up Appearances) as Bishop Proudie.

Mr. Harding was such a lovable character! He was such a sweet old man that I couldn't believe that John Bold was making trouble about him. It wasn't like he was a greedy, mean man: he was a nice, old man who liked music and he would spend his time training the choir for church. He was one of my favorite characters throught this whole miniseries.

Mr. Slope seemed to just ooze his way onto the screen, and it worked for him. You really got the impression that this man is a scheming, controlling man who is out to better his position. He would call on the women of Barchester, even Eleanor and Mary Bold, her friend, however they did not like him calling on them and would laugh at how he was so full of himself. He was almost comical on how "odious" he was.

Poor Bishop Proudie... I recognized Clive Swift from Keeping Up Appearances, and it seems that he's stuck in a similar role. In Keeping Up Appearances, he played the quiet, pushover (it's sounds so cruel, but it's true) husband of Hyacinth Bucket. Here he had practically the same role, except here he was more of a puppet.

Scenery

Mr. Slope (Alan Rickman) talking to Mrs. Bold (Janet Maw).

The scenery was not the best compared to more recent BBC productions. Though The Barchester Chronicles is a BBC production, it was made in the early 80's; the cameras were not as good then as they are today and most of the scenes were usually filmed on a set.. Some of the scenes did, as I have read in other reviews, look more like a play than a miniseries. The outside scenes did not appear to take place on a set, though.

Costumes

The costumes were nice, but there was a concern that I had. In episodes 3 through 7, it looked like Eleanor was wearing the same *Spoiler* mourning dress. *End of Spoiler* For episodes 1 and 2, she had some varying dresses, which were nice, but in episodes 3 through 7, her clothes barely changed at all. She might have had another mourning dress on once or twice, but for the most part, she had the same dress on for most of the miniseries. It could have been that there wasn't that big of a costume budget.

Signora Neroni (Susan Hampshire) did have some nice dresses. They were very elaborate and pretty, although there was one that was a little low cut. I also loved some of the hair decorations that she had. Though I did not really like her character, she did look pretty.

Music
There really isn't too much music to speak of for The Barchester Chronicles. The music that is there is made up of very nice choir music. There was not much music during the episodes excepting the choir scenes and maybe the party scenes, maybe. In short, if you were expecting a full soundtrack, you won't find one here.

Overall: 4/5

Signora Neroni (Susan Hampshire) sitting with guests,some
of which are Mr. Slope and Dr. Arabin (Derek New).

This was very interesting to watch. The first two episodes were a little boring, though: they spent too much time on the legal affairs, so there was a lot of dialogue about law. Once you get past the first two episodes, the rest was humorous and entertaining! There weren't any questionable scenes throughout the whole miniseries, and wouldn't be inappropriate to show in a class. It does come across as more of a play than a movie possibly due to the cameras (this was made in the 80s). Other than that, it is a good quality film that could be watched together as a family.

The Barchester Chronicles is available on DVD and is one of three miniseries in The Anthony Trollope Collection, though you can buy it separately from the collection. It is 385 minutes long, made up of seven 55 minute episodes on two disks.

New Poll!

Hello again!

I just put up a new poll. This time, the question is "Where do you usually watch your favorite period dramas?" You can start voting now. The poll closes on December 20th at 12:00 AM.

~Admin

Poll Closed and Update

Hello,

I hope all is well with you all. I'm combining this post as an update and an announcement about the poll.

First on the agenda, the poll. The poll at the side is now closed. To the question "Which is your favorite historical fashion period?":

50% of voters said the Regency Era

30% said the Victorian Era

Tied with 10% was the Gregorian Era and Modern Era

No one voted for the Renaissance or earlier or the early 1900s. Thank you everyone for voting! I'll put up a new poll very soon. If you wish to see the graph, I will also leave that up for a little while.

Now for the update. I'm still continuing to work on reviews each week. They'll mostly be posted on Monday or Tuesday (though I will try for Monday most of the time). I have quite a bit of period dramas to review, but I'm also continuing to watch new ones (which I will eventually review).

I am also working on a new sewing project: a dress to wear to a formal event. Hopefully all will go well with it with the least amount of mistakes possible.

Also, remember to suggest your friends or anyone that might be interested in my blog. I would really appreciate it.

Until next time!
~Admin

Review: Emma (2009)

I was excited to hear that there was going to be another screen adaptation of one of Jane Austen's novels. When I found out that it was to air on Masterpiece Theatre, I was looking forward to it. I told my mom about it, and we sat down each Sunday that it aired to watch it. We very much enjoyed it; here is my review.

Synopsis
"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich" is a woman living in the English town of Highbury with her father. After making a match that lead to the marriage of her governness, Miss Taylor (Johdi May), and Mr. Weston, Emma (Ramola Garai) had fancied herself to have a knack for matchmaking. She is determined to make a match between Mr. Elton, the local vicar, and Harriet Smith, much to the chagrin of her father (Michael Gambon) and her brother-in-law, Mr. Knightly (Johnny Lee Miller).

Characters
The acting was well done, but I did have a couple of concerns. Concerning Emma, I thought that they should have casted a younger actress to play her, but I grew to like Ramola Garai in that role. Towards the beginning, I thought that her acting was a little annoying, but that's the way that Emma is supposed to be. The same thing happened when I read the book: I thought Emma's behavior was a little irritating because she involved herself too much. Overall, I did like Ramola Garai's performance as Emma.

Johnny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightly

Johnny Lee Miller was a great Mr. Knightly. I thought that he was accurate to the novel. He acted as a guiding influence on Emma should act: trying to correct her wrongs, trying to tell her that her plans might not work out.. He also delivered some sarcastic lines really well. There were also times where he was absolutely frustrated with Emma, and he conveyed his frustration quite well.
Christina Cole, I thought, was a little too young to play Mrs. Elton; I imagined Mrs. Elton to be a little bit older, maybe closer to thirty, but here she looked like she was about twenty five tops. I also thought that she could have been a little bit louder to illustrate Mrs. Elton's boastful nature. It is interesting to find Christina Cole in the role of Mrs. Elton: she seems to play similar roles in the movies that she acts in. I remember her in What a Girl Wants as the "catty" Clarissa Payne, and here she plays an equally "catty" Mrs. Elton.

Scenery

BBC does another great job again with scenery. The country side is lush and green. The colors are absolutely vibrant! Scenes mostly take place in the country, whether inside the manor houses, cottages, or outside, but some scenes also occur in London, where Emma's sister, Isabella, lives with her husband and children. While there were no scenes in the novel that took place in London, London is still talked about, but we can't always rely on words to visualize what something looks like. The scenes in London allow the viewer to see what was going on outside of Highbury.

Costumes

Louise Dylan as Harriet Smith and Romola Garai as Emma

There are some very nice costumes in this production of Emma. I liked how Harriet Smith's dresses were very similar to Emma's. It shows how much of an influence Emma has on Harriet. While Jane Austen doesn't make any remarks on Harriet wearing the same clothes as Emma, it is not unbelievable that Harriet would do something like that. She would take Emma's advice on everything, even possibly clothes.

Emma's clothes were very nice. Some of them might not be my favorite, but I did like them. I haven't seen the dresses that she has with the white, long sleeve dress under a "jumper" (for lack of a better term) before in a period drama, but they were an interesting addition.  Her ball gown did not really strike me very much as some of her other outfits, but overall her clothes were nice.

Music
The soundtrack for Emma has some bouncy songs and some more serious songs. Included in the CD is my favorite dance number, The Ships Cook. Also included is the Last Dance song (where Emma and Mr. Knightly dance), but the first dance number is sadly not included. The theme song is absolutely wonderful! It really expresses the overall theme of Emma: a lighthearted story. There are some more serious tones to some of the songs for appropriate moments, but most of the songs I would say have an up-lifting tone to them.

Overall: 4/5 4.5/5

I would recommend this to anyone of any age. It's very family friendly and fun to watch. Some of the body language and dialogue were modernized a little, and though usually when writers do this to classics, the movie is not as good as it could be, this did not really affect the quality of Emma. Readers of Emma might be sorry that some scenes that were in the book were not included in this adaptation, but overall it's a very good version. Because of the length, the story has a chance to be told more fully than previous versions.

Emma is available on DVD and runs for about 4 hours. It has four episodes on two disks.