Costuming My Bliss

    I chose this series for two reasons.  The first being I love this period in history.  The intrigue that  swirled in the court of Henry VIII is fascinating.  You could tell who belonged to what faction by the cloths they wore.  The second reason for choosing this series is that I was curious to see how the costumer would translate the Tudor style for the modern eye.  Frankly, I was disappointed.  For me, it was like watching “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” of costume.

    The costume designer for the show  is Joan Bergin.  She has said that she didn’t want to do “another costume drama.”  That she wanted her designs to be “sexy” and that she did “cheat quite a bit re-interpreting the Tudors.”  This being said, I think she could have striven for a little more historical accuracy.   Many of the fabrics are quite obviously synthetics.  And unless I missed something, I’m certain polyester was not around in the 16th century!   We also see a lot of free flowing hair on the women.  In period, no self respecting lady would be seen outside the bedchamber without a head covering of some sort.  So lets get to the actual analysis part of  this project, we’ll start with the “Good.”

    The good in “The Tudors”, came mostly with the supporting cast.  In fig. 1 we see a woman wearing a black gown and an English gabled hood.  The shape of the hood, as well as the drape of the veils is fairly accurate to the period, though it is worn too far back.  The hood should sit right at front of the head, covering the hair.  From what I can see of the bodice, the neck line looks to be the right shape as does the waist line.  It is cut straight at the natural waist, as it would have been in period.  The one part of this costume that is not in keeping with Tudor fashion is the sleeve.   It is missing the characteristic wide, turned back cuff  and fore sleeve that you would expect to see a lady of rank wearing. (see fig 2. Portrait of Katherine of Aragon by  Lucas Horenbout.)

    When it comes to the men, the “Good” lies mostly in the sleeves and the robes.  The robes in fig.3 are actually quite well done.  They both have the wide fur lined lapel you would expect to see, as well as the full “puffy” sleeve, with the doublet sleeve showing as the “lower” sleeve.  Unfortunately, I’d say the “Good” on this one ends there.  The doublets are more Elizabethan in style, and the bases are missing all together.  And I believe I’ve seen that diamond patterned fabric they are using for Henry’s trunk hose in the home decorating section at Joann’s! (see fig. 4 for the quintessential portrait of Henry by Hans Ewroth.)  Notice the similarity of the sleeves and lapel. 

    Now we come to the “Bad“.  In fig. 5, we see Anne Boleyn  and another lady.  These costumes aren’t terrible, but neither are they terribly accurate.  The necklines of both gowns are pretty well done, with Anne’s being the better of the two.  But the waist lines are more characteristic of the Elizabethan period, with the long pointed stomacher.  And again we see the lack of those “Tudor” sleeves. 

    When we turn our eyes to the men, we have no dearth of “Bad”,  but for the purpose of this paper, we’ll only focus on one.  In fig. 6, we see the Earl of  Buckingham.  Notice that he is dressed completely in black.  Even his body linens are black.  There is no historical evidence that body linens were any color but white.  I imagine this was a choice by the costumer to highlight the adversarial nature of the relationship between him and the King.  So, because of the black linens and the poorly fitting doublet, I have to put Buckingham in with the “Bad”.

    When it comes to the “Ugly”, there are so many that I truly don’t know where to begin.  For this reason, I’ll focus on three of Henry’s costumes.  Fig.7 is Henry’s “rock star” doublet.  Mrs. Bergin stated that she wanted the audience to view Henry as a Tudor era rock star.  I think this is where this particular doublet comes in.  But when I look at it, all I can see is the too shiny fabric, the too long waistline, and the skimpy sleeves.  The fabric chosen for the costume in fig.8 is unfortunate, but what makes it truly awful is the padded roll around his waist.  The king of England has no business wearing a bumroll. If it weren’t for that, the costume wouldn’t be so bad, if more Elizabethan than Tudor.  Last, but certainly not least, we come to figs. 9 and 10.  All I can think when I see this one, is Cruella De Ville.  There are three different fabrics that make up this doublet, and none of them good.  Look at the collar.  It looks like something you’d see on a modern dress shirt.  And once again, we see that ridiculous bumroll thing.  The fit also leaves much to be desired.

    All in all, I’d put the costumes in this series into the “Bad” category.  In an interview, Mrs. Bergin said she had “banned” all codpieces from the show.  For the life of me, I can’t figure out why.  They were such an important part of the Tudor man’s costume.  The only bases I saw, were worn by the guards, and those were done badly.  The women’s gowns, while sometimes pretty, bore little or no resemblance to Tudor style.  They bared way too much shoulder, and I didn’t see one good example of a Tudor sleeve.  For the most part, those costumes that did have some basis in history,  had a more Elizabethan feel.  They were lacking the wide shouldered look that we so associate with Henry VIII.  I understand that the costumer was going for a more modern, sexy look, but I think she could have achieved her goal, while still retaining a more Tudor look.  Perhaps if she had used fabrics that were not so obviously synthetic, and raised the shoulders a bit on some of the women, it would have made the costumes a little more “real” looking.

Now that you've taken the time to read this totally snarky essay, let me just say I'm not usually a garb snark.  I think everyone has a right to make what they like, using whatever materials catch their fancy.   But something about this show brought out my inner snark!  I think it may have to do with the fact that even though this is a show meant to entertain, I believe they should have made some small effort to inform.