With the popularity of classic novel-to-film adaptations like Frankenstein and fun, modern projects like My Lady Jane, audiences clearly love to see their favorite actors in elaborate gowns and suits. In a period piece, every director has their own vision for how accurately their film will portray history through setting, language, and costume design.
For some viewers, historical accuracy is the least of their concerns if the characters are lovable and the plot is engaging. However, many others see historical inaccuracy as misconceptions about the past, especially when the main character is sporting a 2016 cut crease with full lashes.
Whether or not a film should put the time, effort, and research into historical accuracy has been debated for decades, but with the newest season of Bridgerton premiering this year, as well as Wuthering Heights coming out on Valentine’s Day, the topic is having another resurgence.
What Makes a Film Historically Accurate?
Typically, costumes in a historically accurate film are based on extant garments, paintings, sculptures, and other kinds of artifacts from the period that the film is attempting to emulate. The fabrics, patterns, and techniques used to create clothing are what make a garment historically accurate to a period.
Of course, a film produced in an era that’s not its own can never be completely accurate, because the tools and methods used to create clothing over 100 years ago are not the same as those available for a film in only a few years.
It’s extremely expensive to make historically accurate clothing for an entire cast, and in many cases, the costume department isn’t something that the majority of a film’s budget will go towards.
Instead, modern techniques are used to create clothes that are as close as possible to the production team’s vision and can be done in a timely fashion. However, that vision isn’t always about historical accuracy, and the final costumes will reflect this.
Creativity Over Accuracy
Since the beginning of film and TV, costumes based on historical periods also included modern tastes to appeal to their audiences. Think of Snow White with a bob or every outfit on every character in Reign.
Sometimes this is just for the sake of looking more attractive to a modern audience, but an inaccurate costume can also show specific storytelling or match the setting. For example, Bridgerton is set in a fictionalized version of the 1810s, so the inaccurate neon colors, glitter, and appliqué flowers match the inaccurate history that’s already been created.
A similar approach is taken in My Lady Jane, where the setting is a fantasy world full of characters who can shapeshift into animals (oh, and English royalty is also there). The costumes are based on history, but with a modern and fantastical interpretation that also matches the 21st-century dialogue.
Issues with Inaccuracy
Film is a form of art, so expecting it to stick to history entirely can be a discredit to the team’s creativity. However, after a while, the media’s interpretation of history can bleed into what audiences assume really happened years ago.
A common trope in costuming is for the independent woman to have her hair down or not wear a corset to show that she is enlightened and free from the burdens of society’s expectations. While it’s true that corsets were sometimes tight-laced for the sake of beauty standards, the average woman was wearing one that fit her body and was used as support, rather than to drastically alter her appearance.
However, films will often portray women struggling to breathe in a corset or making a handmaiden tighten the laces to extremes. After seeing years of the same tropes, audiences start to believe that tightlacing was the standard, which is far from true.
It’s on the audience to fact-check and not get their information from films and TV, but filmmakers should also be aware of the tropes they’re playing into when dealing with a historical period. Instead of relying on the same costume design choices, being more creative and finding new ways to build character through costumes can be beneficial to a film.
Ultimately, it’s up to the themes and setting of the film to determine the importance of historical accuracy. A well-researched biography might require equally intricate costumes to fully immerse the audience in the period, but no one would be surprised to see the main character of a medieval rom-com with spaghetti straps.
Historical accuracy is subjective, but if the costumes add to the film’s themes and direction, then the accuracy becomes significantly less important.
As directors are becoming more creative with their costume choices, I’m excited to see the future of costuming for period pieces. Even if I think Wuthering Heights still looks questionable, I’ll be making an appearance in theaters to form my own opinion.
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