18th century blog

39 screencaps from the second part of Gustav III:s äktenskap after the cut. You can find screencaps from the first part in the previous entry.

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Gustav III:s äktenskap
This is a Swedish mini-series from 2001 in two parts, about Gustav III and his wife during the time when they had their children. The first part builds largely on a rumor that the royal couple needed actual hands-on help to consummate their marriage, so it’s not entirely based on cemented facts. The second part is a bit more slow, and much darker. It’s obviously in Swedish, but English subtitles are available on the DVD.

I thought it was really great, and very beautiful. When I first started watching the acting seemed a bit stiff, but the feeling soon went away. Even my boyfriend who doesn’t have an interest in 18th century fashion really liked it. I thought the actor playing Gustav, Jonas Karlsson, was such a great choice. He is a very good actor and really looked the part.

I found some of the outfits a bit costumey looking, but there were many great ones as well and the overall effect was gorgeous. It’s also really beautifully filmed. I definitely recommend it!

Tons and tons of beautiful screencaps (69 of them!) after the cut. Screencaps from part two will be in a separate entry.

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Lavinia Spencer by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Probably 1780s.

In keeping with the season here are some pictures of 18th century ladies dressed for winter.

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Jefferson in Paris
I’ve been wanting to see this movie forever because of the costumes and I finally got it on DVD! As a movie I found it kind of uninteresting but ok. Both of Jefferson’s romances seem completely unmotivated and unromantic, not very believable. The costumes make up for this a hundred times though, it’s an absolutely gorgeous movie. The costumes are unusually detailed and interesting, and though I saw a few bad wigs most of it looked wonderful.

The actress who played Marie Antoinette had a pretty good likeness. I think she looked most like the actual Antoinette than any other actress I’ve seen portraying her, although I think she looked quite a lot older and less classically beautiful than the real Marie Antoinette does in paintings from around this time. Then again Marie Antoinette is said to have aged quickly when the revolution came. The actor playing Louis XVI also looked much too old to me. In fact when I first saw him I thought he was supposed to be the old king and this confused me for a while.

I highly recommend watching it! More movie stills after the cut.

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Tidens Tøj

This an “Internet exhibition” of clothes ranging from the 1700s to the 1980s, and they have quite a lot of stuff in the 1700s section. The photos are great and there are even patterns for some of the clothes! The site is in Danish but I think you can figure out the navigation even if you don’t know the language. There are also long descriptions of every garment, but they’re in Danish too of course. You can see the clothes in real life at the Danish national museum.

Yesterday I went to “open house” at the royal opera in Stockholm. They had a tour showing the making of costumes, props and such, and there was also an exhibition of antique costumes, Detaljer, including some 18th century things.

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Marie Antoinette (2006)
This is one of my favourite movies. It guess it doesn’t really have much of a plot, but it’s extremely gorgeous to watch, and it’s one of those movies where the music fits so well with the pictures that the (already good) songs become even better than on their own. Kirsten Dunst plays Marie Antoinette, and while the way she is portrayed isn’t exactly like my own vision of Marie Antoinette, I think she’s amazing and so charming and beautiful. I also love Rose Byrne as Polignac.

While the 1938 Marie Antoinette movie focuses on the last part of her life, this one is almost all about her early days at the French court, which to me is more interesting. It doesn’t aim at perfect historical correctness but I think it’s still fairly correct.

The clothes and sets are absolutely gorgeous. It’s probably the most beautiful movie I’ve seen. The only thing that bothers me a little is that while many of the hairdos are great, some of them, particularly Marie Antoinette’s poufs, aren’t that great, and don’t look much like the actual poufs of the 1770s. In the documentary on the DVD someone says they wished they could have put more effort into the hair, but they put all of the effort and money into the clothes so they didn’t have time, or something like that. I would love to see what the movie would have looked like if they had been able to do more with the hair. Some of the hair you see on the extras is better though, strangely enough.

All in all I think this is an amazing movie and I watch it very often. You can see some more movie stills and promotional pictures behind the cut.

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Click the picture above to see photos from the event “Journée Grand Siècle” at Vaux le Vicomte, from the site Mes Menus Plaisirs by Lisette la Cousette. More photos from this event can be seen in an earlier blog entry.

My outfit from another day at he 18th century weeks at Skansen.

The opening of the 18th century weeks at Skansen was yesterday. Here are some photos of my outfit and Skogaholm manor at Skansen.

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Marie Antoinette (1938)
I really liked this movie. It focuses mostly on the revolution and the latter part of Marie Antoinette’s life, and everything before is kind of rushed by. The second half of the movie is also the best part. I would have really loved it if they put as much focus on the “happy” part of her life as well since that is my favourite part, but the sad part kind of makes up for it.

I loved Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette, she behaved very much like I imagine the real Antoinette. And I think she looked a bit like the original as well. She was really the best thing about the movie. I felt the portrayal of Louis XVI was a bit too comical in comparison to the rest of the movie, his acting didn’t fit in with the others.

The costumes are not that historically correct for the most part, but I don’t really care because they’re absolutely gorgeous. It’s a very beautiful movie. More pictures after the cut.

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The Madness of King George is a good movie, but fashion wise it’s not extremely interesting. There are only a few scenes with lavish court dress, and the rest is pretty much the king in his underwear. It’s still worth seeing for those few bits of court fashion though, lots of big hair! And Lady Pembroke is really gorgeous.

A few more pictures after the cut.

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Costume Antique
This German site has lists of links to existing clothes from the 18th century, for both men and women. Click “Kleidung der Dame” and “Kleidung des Mannes”, to go to the lists.

Edit: The website has been updated and has a new address.

Trosseau
Antique clothing for sale. Very expensive of course, but great for photos.