...while [Gerwig and producer Amy Pascal] wanted it to be accurate to the period, they didn't want something that felt too strictly Victorian in a way that meant you couldn't identify with the characters. - — Jacqueline Durran, costume designer, in interview with Ananda Pellerin, CNN Greta Gerwig's new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic…
My name is Alden O'Brien, and I've been a curator of costume for nearly thirty years at the DAR Museum in Washington, DC (USA). I've been curator of the quilts since about 2003, and of the needlework since about 2017. My undergraduate degree was in Art History, but I took a lot of English and…
Autumn deWilde's production of Emma (2020) is as delightful as its trailer promised--without the clumsy humor that one of the trailers unfortunately suggested. (I mention the latter only because some people I talked to before the movie's release said they doubted they'd go based on the apparent pandering to modern humor. Never fear. DeWilde has…
A needlework sampler survives with the maker's name Jane Austen stitched within it: is this THE Jane Austen? Austen experts already have their doubts, and an alternative possible attribution, but I dare to venture into the debate because I bring two relevant skill sets to the question which have not been employed in the discussion…
Spencer first worn by Jennifer Ehle as Lizzie Bennet in P&P (1995) It's not widely known that productions will often reuse costumes from earlier productions. With all the Austen adaptations since 1995, plus other movies set in that era such as Vanity Fair, Becoming Jane, Miss Austen Regrets, and more, you're bound to see some…
Are you watching Sanditon? I am...sort of. It's not capturing my whole attention, so I can't seem to make myself watch it without a lot of fast forwarding to get screenshots for this post. The costumes are quite decent (of course I could nitpick, but I'm assuming most readers don't care to have every tiny…
Costume images in my paper about the Gothic movement's influence in America Last fall (2019), I gave a lecture at the Jane Austen Society of North America's Annual General Meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia. The theme of the year was Northanger Abbey, Austen's parody of the Gothic novel. I talked about how the Gothic revival, and…
No Rant, but some details for the serious geek or the curious. I've decided not to post about my gripes about the anachronisms in LW. If you read the first two posts, you know I went on about the hair and lack of headwear (and I didn't even get into the side parts, the bangs,…
Disclaimer: I'm limited to what I can capture in youtube trailer screenshots, and publicity photos in various articles. I'll try to go back and add more when the movie starts streaming. Also, I can't seem to insert French accents here at home where I'm writing; I managed it on my work computer so I'll go…
A new adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma has been released and is, as I edit this post (originally published just before its release), is about to be released for streaming. I have access now only to images from the trailers--but even having seen only those tiny previews of this production, I decided I am HERE…
A reminder: "the bookshelf" won't feature long reviews, but will just call people's attention to various books that may be of interest. Some will be reference books for one or another topic; some will be eye candy with or without well-researched text; some will be more social history. Some will be of interest to a…
Eye on Elegance: Early Quilts of Maryland and Virginia (2014) was my largest quilt exhibition to date, with I believe about 34 quilts on view at any given time--three quilts went off exhibit halfway through and were replaced by very similar quilts by the same quilters, and several more which couldn't fit in the exhibition…
The Curator's Curio 