Places to Make It as a Costume Designer

You could watch PBS's upcoming Masterpiece production Victoria for the history. After all, the eight-part series, landing this January in the coveted Downton Abbey time slot, tackles the titular character's epic rise from rebellious teenager to revered Royal.

Or you could tune in for the romance: Her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert—and all the twists and turns that entails—are duly covered. But we wouldn't fault you one bit if you were at least equally motivated by Victoria's lush settings and lavish costumes. Here costume designer Rosalind Ebbut gives Town & Country a first look at the series' beautifully crafted wardrobe and talks about how she created those period-perfect looks.

What was your guiding vision for the show? Did you have to painstakingly research the time period?

I've done dramas set at roughly the same time as Victoria, so I was relatively at ease with the overall look and feel of clothes from the late 1830s and on as depicted in our episodes. However, there was quite a lot of specific Royal research and ceremonial costume research to do. There is plenty of reference for all of this in the Royal Archives, from contemporary paintings and in diaries and letters, so I was reasonably secure.

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Tell us a bit about your creative process.

Working with Daisy Goodwin [the best-selling novelist of The American Heiress and creator/writer of the Masterpiece production], I aimed to remain true and historically accurate, while not losing the narrative sweep of her storytelling. Her characters range from Victoria, played by Jenna Coleman, and her main relatives and courtiers, and of course Albert, played by Tom Hughes, to various politicians and other contemporary notables. There is plenty of reference for them, but also one wants to make them believable as people, and for the actor to be happy in the costume, and feel right as the character.

There was also a whole group of "downstairs" characters: the footmen, servants and those they interrelate with, who also needed to be a believable part of Victoria's world. During the course of the series, scenes happen in a whole variety of settings. There's riding and driving in carriages, and characters are seen at dinners, balls, and in the court—all of which require their own clothing and etiquette.

How did you create and source the wardrobe?

We sourced some original pieces, such as shawls, embroidery and lace, and found a wide range of fabrics and reproduction trimmings for decoration. There are plenty of original dresses available, to be found in museums, in books and online, and also in the collections of the costume houses. It is great to be able to see in detail at how a coat or a dress was really cut, and it's so exciting when a cutter puts a costume on an actor at their first fitting and those pictures and ideas become a three-dimensional reality.

Take a closer look at Ebbutt's lavish costumes.

Courtesy of Masterpiece

"Of the many other characters around Victoria, her mother, the Duchess of Kent [played by Catherine Fleming] is particularly important," says Ebbutt. "This black evening dress is slightly backdated, with a wistful glamour, simple jewelry and black lace gloves. It helps to sum up her tricky role in Victoria's court."

Courtesy of Masterpiece

"We tried to reflect in Victoria's clothes the emergence of the young queen from an inexperienced teenager, and onward to betrothal and marriage. The changing fashion of the time also helped reflect this, as the wide puffed sleeves of the late 1830s gave way to tighter sleeves, lower waistlines, and more bell-shaped skirts," says Ebbutt. The wardrobe designer notes that the colors of Victoria's dresses became darker and more sophisticated as the episodes progressed and that certain dresses were inspired by paintings, both of the queen, and others within the drama's timeframe.

"The blue dress she is seen wearing at a dinner became very special," says Ebbutt , "as it is also the one she wore to dance with Prince Albert for the first time. It became an iconic image." As such, it was painstakingly created. Says Ebbut, "The dress is made of blue shot silk, with a specially dyed layer of misty blue-grey silk net over it, giving the whole costume a diaphanous quality that worked well when lit on camera."

Courtesy of Masterpiece

"We had to cover a wide range of events with our clothes…balls, great ceremonies, and the everyday," notes Ebbutt. "Jenna was very keen that as well as evening dresses, or specifics such as riding habits, the queen should have some 'working' clothes, even if of lovely silks, for when she was with her advisers, or signing papers, like the gray dress she wears here with Lord Melbourne (Rufus Sewell)."

Courtesy of Masterpiece

Fancy dress balls were very popular in 19th century England, and expectedly have a presence in the series. "The clothes were an early Victorian version of period costume," explains Ebbutt. "In our ball, Victoria wore an outfit based on a painting of the young queen Elizabeth the First, and Lord Melbourne was dressed as her favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. "

Courtesy of Masterpiece

The high-necked shirts and black cravats fashionable at the time helped transform Albert into an English civilian, exemplified by the black tailcoat and dark red paisley waistcoat shown here, notes Ebbutt.

Courtesy of Masterpiece

"Albert's clothes have to show the journey he made from German to English prince. When he first appears, he is wearing a hussar uniform. There is a painting of Prince Albert in this uniform, but we streamlined the look a little."

Victoria premieres on January 15, only on Masterpiece on PBS.

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Places to Make It as a Costume Designer

Source: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/news/a8864/victoria-costume-designer-interview/

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