No Review this Week & Tournament

There will be no review this week since I will be starting the tournament tomorrow, but there will be a review next week.

Meanwhile, only one more day until the tournament! Would anyone like to venture any guesses on the contestants?

The King's Speech Wins!

Congrats to The King's Speech for winning four Oscars!

The King's Speech won four Oscars, including Best Actor (Colin Firth) and Best Motion Picture of the Year. Congrats!

Elizabeth Bennet's Dark Brown Bonnet

This bonnet is seen throughout Pride and Prejudice and is paired with different spencers and one pelisse.

Front View: The fabric on the brim is very tightly gathered. You can also see that there is a line where the fabric was gathered towards the end of the brim.

Side View: There are more lines where the fabric was gathered along the side (By looking at this picture, there are three on the outside of the brim. The crown seems to be gathered more tightly at the top than at the bottom.

Back View: Under the crown on the brim there is a bow where the bonnet ribbons are attached to the bonnet.

Back/Side View: You can see a little more details with the bow here.

This bonnet is worn with various outerwear. Above, there were pictures with the travelling pelisse and one with the brown spencer.

Here's the front view with the brown spencer.

 

In one scene, we see Elizabeth wearing this bonnet with the black spencer.

Georgiana Darcy's Blue Spencer

Here is the spencer that Georgiana wears when she and Elizabeth first meet.

Front View: The pattern of the fabric appears to be gold dots(?) on a light blue background. The collar doesn't fully bend down, as it is left up a little bit. The top of the sleeves appear to be very tightly gathered.

Back View: The classic Regency back is present in this spencer. The collar seems to be a separate piece that is sewn onto the front and back.

Full Front View: The front is secured with a gold button(?) or bow(?).

Georgiana Darcy's Pemberly Gown

This is the dress that Georgiana wears when Elizabeth, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner visit Pemberly for an evening.

Close Front View: The gown is fastened in the front, which suggests that the back is one piece with no buttons. There are six buttons that are visible in the picture (maybe 1-3 got cut off?)

Front/Side View: You can see more of the front of the dress here.

Partial Back View: This was the best picture I could get of the back. You do get to see more of the shawl here, though!

Side View: In this picture, you can see that there is a transparent overlay to Georgiana's gown.

Elizabeth Bennet's Pemberly Gown

This white gown was first seen on Elizabeth at the Assembly Room ball, then at Netherfield, and then at Pemberly.

Full Front View: There seems to be an overlay to this gown (which would be the white part). The underskirt looks like a light tan color.

Front View Close-up: You can see more how the bodice is constructed. There are two side fronts and a front. The side fronts are decorated with intricate embroidery, which also appears on the sleeves.

Closer View of Front: You can see a little more of the embroidery work here.

Emma the Comic Book Coming Soon

I just happened upon this article:

Source

Emma Woodhouse, a young privileged woman living in nineteenth century England, has delved into the world of match making! Join New York Times best-selling writer Nancy Butler (SENSE & SENSIBILITY) and artist Janet K. Lee (Return of the Dapper Men) this March as they bring to life one of Jane Austen’s most regarded stories like you’ve never seen before with EMMA #1! Despite her best intentions, Emma may think too much of her own matchmaking abilities but it won’t stop her from sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.

Source


I'm getting this when it comes out! The way that the drew Emma looks like the recent adaptation with Romola Garai. Can't Wait! :-D

Sneak Preview of Tournament!

Hey everyone!

I know you all are just as excited as I am for this tournament. I'm not going to release what characters are involved until the day the tournament starts, but I'll give you a little hint (which for some characters might be a give-a-way). I am releasing today the authors whose characters are involved in this tournament.

Jane Austen

Charles Dickens

Elizabeth Gaskell

George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans)

Anthony Trollope

Flora Thompson

Two of the three Bronte Sisters

I've already put together the matches. They were randomly selected, and I must say some of them are quite interesting! There might be a couple of really difficult choices! I can't wait for the tournament to start!

100th post!

This is my 100th post! Thank you everyone for reading my blog! Here are some period drama pictures!

Ah, yes... Lizzy visits Pemberly and Mr. Darcy shows up... I love this miniseries! (Review)



Gotta love this Sense and Sensibility! (Review)



Love this promotional picture from Emma. This is my favorite version of Emma. (Review)

Interesting miniseries. I reviewed it awhile back here.

If anyone is interested, if you remember Julia Sawalha from Pride and Prejudice or Cranford, you might be interested in Lark Rise to Candleford. She is one of the stars of this great show. I reccommend it! It's a really good show and is very easy to watch. If you haven't seen Series 1 but want to know more, here is my review (this was actually my first review back when Elegance of Fashion was in it's beginning months).

I love this dress/jumper from Wives and Daughters! (Review)



Thanks, everyone, for reading my blog! I truly appreciate all your support. Here's to many more blog posts!

Special thanks to Charity U at Photographer at Heart and Austenitis, Miss Laurie at Old Fashioned Charm, Sunny at Peering out My Window, and Melody at Regency Delight ~Jane Austen, etc. Check out their blogs!



Some Layout Changes

I had to play with the layout a little bit in order to accomodate the polls for the tournament. The polls will be at the left side bar. I put up a new side bar so that the polls would be closer to the top and easier to find. I also put up a test poll. It is a working poll, so if you wanted to vote in it, you could; that poll closes February 28th. Once the tournament is over, I plan on putting the layout back to the way it was (or close enough).

Period Drama Heroine Tournament!

We've seen their stories... We've seen their struggles... We've come to respect their characters and cheer for them at their happy endings (or cry at their sad endings)... But what happens if they were in a tournament against each other?

This is "The Period Drama Heroine Tournament"! Where our favorite heroines and other female main characters from various period dramas compete for the coveted gold metal and title of "Favorite Heroine".

How it Works: Readers of Elegance of Fashion will vote in polls: the choices are two or three heroines from different period dramas. The polls will last one week, and once they're over, the winners will go onto the next round. The first round starts out with 30 heroines with 15 polls to vote in. Second round - 15 heroines and 5 polls. Third - 1 poll in which the top four heroines moving on. Fourth - 2 polls and 4 heroines. Lastly, the final round will decide who wins "The Period Drama Heroine Tournament"!

PERIOD DRAMA HEROINE TOURNAMENT

Round 1 (Results)

Round 2 (Results)

Round 3 (Results)

Round 4 (Results)

Final Round (Results)

Winner!

Miss Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice!

Here were the tournament buttons.



Period Drama Heroine Tournament Coming Soon!

I thought I would try something new. We've all see tournaments in sports: teams are randomly selected to play against each other and whoever wins goes to the next round until there is only one winner. So, I thought "Why not do this for period dramas?" Instead of the heroines competing in a sport, I'll put up polls for everyone to vote. In each poll, you can vote for one out of a selected number of random heroines (or main female characters, sometimes not always the heroine). Each round/poll will last for one week. The whole thing will last for about a month (give or take). The tournament will start on March 1st, a week from today.

In the meanwhile, if you would like to put some buttons up at your blog to spread the word about the tournament, here they are!

<center><a href="http://elegance-of-fashion.blogspot.com/2011/02/period-drama-heroine-tournament.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhO5JMOBK6sFGnEMDU5N0xaEQxS32StrmtGcTU1rTWNDKxyaV47WM1UvbQ5FRfS4hcgKrxik0kmpveUkpJEUDhfjPJCRhD-8dHUJzUS1wVgQ4OoIzYUzbsKzobhAz7cpXeVoYeCsrETkBg/s320/variety_button.jpg" /></a></center><br />

<center><a href="http://elegance-of-fashion.blogspot.com/2011/02/period-drama-heroine-tournament.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJZZZrmYFynTuvBtmkmSgoPz34pL3fIHgz9kbqA7I5mqHWnc5egRae65XqFQKF8KMr9MtYtJDfY3GYldnhQc17N1DuVIh88ZOwX52Sc9wxGSPeM1JsUi1viNc50X87ANC5Y2WxG5ZLTC6/s320/austen_button.jpg" /></a></center><br />

<center><a href="http://elegance-of-fashion.blogspot.com/2011/02/period-drama-heroine-tournament.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEign26iADpylAlsBiBFID_zX4XeKTgzYcTh0s5vL9eeacw8mzEp1ongOHjDgfylLndn0cqBUYUAj1MQH18Uco9fmH5HJN57gmKWTYw7MHjgLVBhbtJPyAmlHZcBIjWnkbklj5sIwA6xRQ9z/s320/gaskell_button.jpg" /></a></center><br />


 

Review: The Buccaneers

My mom and I went to Borders one evening. We searched among the DVDs for some bargains, but couldn't find any until I saw a wall with a bunch of bargains. We looked at them and saw The Buccaneers, which we both heard about, but didn't know anything about, but for $15, we decided to try it.

Synopsis

Four "new money" American girls, Virginia St. George, Nan St. George (Carla Gugino), Conchita Closson, and Lizzy Elmsworth, cannot get into upper New York society until Nan's governess, Laura Testvalley, suggests that they try a season in England. The girls go over to England and find themselves husbands, however marriage to rich Englishmen is not what they expected. Nan makes the best marriage materially, but she becomes very unhappy and finds that she loves Guy Thwait (Greg Wise).

Characters

I really only recognized two of the cast. I recognized Carla Gugino (Nan) from Night at the Museum and Greg Wise (Guy Thwait) from both Sense and Sensibility and Cranford. The rest of the cast seemed to be new to me (although I thought the actor that played Lord Richard, who marries Conchita early in the miniseries, was Alan Rickman, but he just looked a lot like him).



The Buccaneers: Conchita, Lizzy,
Nan, and Virginia

For the first part of the movie, the girls act... well, like little girls. It seemed that all they do is run around outside and tumble down hills. If they wanted to show them having fun, they should have done so that was more becoming of adults, not three year olds. I suppose if they wanted to show them running around outside maybe once in a while, but it seemed like for the first half of the miniseries that was all they did. It was kind of hard to take them seriously.

It seemed like at the end, either no one got what they wanted, no one was happy, or someone was happy, but got this happiness through scandalous behavior. None of these characters were good role models, which, for me at least, makes it extremely difficult to relate to any of the characters and hence I have a hard time liking the movie. Even Miss Testvalley, who I liked at first because she seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders, started to make bad judgments and became less likable towards the end.

Scenery

As usual, BBC does a great job with picking great scenery. The story shifts between America and England. Both places have great houses, more so in England where all the aristocrats live. There is a brief outdoor scene by a house near the sea. The houses are very big and nicely furnished. The only problem I had was in one house, there was a room full of immodest paintings. I understand that a lot of paintings had that style, and it would be one thing if they were in the room and not focused on for too long, but there were multiple scenes where the pictures are viewed (and zoomed in upon and examined). I didn't particularly care for that at all. Excepting that one part, there is very lovely scenery in this miniseries.

Nan and Miss Testvalley

Costumes

Hit and miss. Sometimes, they did look nice, but there were other times that they did not look that great. This story takes place during the bustle era of the Victorian era (early 1870's). Some of the clothes that they picked for Nan did not flatter her at all; other times, she looked alright, but there were just some of those times where she was not flattered by her clothes. Whatever they were doing before when she looked alright, they should have done that throughout the miniseries.

Overall: 0.5/5
I will come out and say this bluntly: this movie is definately not for children. There are many adult topics discussed and there were some very mature scenes. From what I read, these added scenes were not in the original novel, which leads me to this question: "Why did they add them in the first place?" Those additional scenes, from what I have read, were why this film was controversial; I can see why. While some costumes were alright and the scenery did afford some nice color (hence why it didn't get a flat 0), they were not enough to save this film. The characters become increasingly dislikable as the series went on. I wouldn't really recommend this film.

The Buccaneers is available on DVD. It runs for 212 minutes.

Pictures from here.

New Garments added to Pride and Prejudice Wardrobe

Just added a couple more garments to the "Pride and Prejudice Wardrobe".

Elizabeth's Brown Spencer
Elizabeth's Grey Spencer

Georgiana's Blue Pelisse

New to the "Pride and Prejudice Wardrobe"? Check out the main link here!

Georgiana Darcy's Blue Pelisse

We see this pelisse in a flash back of Mr. Darcy's as he is writing his letter. This was the pelisse that Georgiana wore at Ramsgate.

Front View: There are six buttons/fasteners at the bottom of the bodice of this pelisse. The collar also folds down to reveal some sort of white, lacy fabric.

Side View: You can get some hint of what the back looks like from the side view. The back appears to be pleated. There are two parts of the sleeve: the top sleeve and the under, full sleeve. I would assume that the back of the pelisse is the standard Regency back of pelisses.

Elizabeth Bennet's Grey Spencer

This spencer only appears for one scene in the entire miniseries: when Mr. Darcy gives Elizabeth the letter he wrote.

 Front View: Similar to the brown spencer, this spencer has three buttons and a drawstring tie at the bottom. From the looks of it, it seems that the collar and bodice pieces are connected. In other words: both sides and the collar are one piece that joins in the front with buttons.

Partial Front/Side View: Here you can see a little more clearly than the first picture that the sleeve is made up of two parts: an over sleeve and an under, full sleeve.

Side View: Here you get more of a sense of what the top sleeve is like. I'm not quite sure how the top sleeve was made.

Back View: It's a little hard to see, but there does appear to be seam lines that show that the back is a standard Regency spencer back. You also can see evidence that the collar is one piece with the front, since there is no seam in the middle of it.

Elizabeth Bennet's Brown Spencer

Possibly most remembered as the spencer that she wears to Pemberly, this spencer of Elizabeth is paired with either a dark brown bonnet or a light brown bonnet.

Front View: Here you can see that not only are there three buttons in the front, but also a drawstring tied in a bow.

Front View: I also included this picture since it is clearer than the first picture, but you can't see all the details due to the bonnet ribbons.

Side View: You can see that there is a dart in the middle of one side of the front piece. You can also see that there is a seam where the collar meets the spencer.

Back View: The back of the spencer comes up enough to see the back of the empire waist. The collar is a completely separate piece. The standard Regency spencer back is featured here.