Monday, May 02, 2011

Fashion In Film: South Riding (2011)

Director: Diarmuid Lawrence
Anna Maxwell Martin, David Morrissey
Costume Design: Stephanie Collie



After the sumptuousness of Upstairs and the practicality of the Downstairs costumes, BBC One and Masterpiece Theater Classics is now sharing with us a wardrobe somewhere in between; that of a school headmistress in fictional South Riding, Yorkshire in 1935. Which just happens to be my favorite period in clothing! I'll not only be watching it for the clothes but also because the drama, based on the novel South Riding by Winifred Holtby, has been adapted by the wonderful Andrew Davies (Sense & Sensibility, Little Dorrit, Bleak House.)

The costumes are by Stephanie Collie and include a lot of lovely details from the 1920-30s.

See this link for a video on the costumes.



I absolutely adore this delicate blouse (also seen later in teal) I love the barely-attached split sleeves and the diagonal tucks taken in the bodice front. I assume the top is closed by buttons in the back but I'll have to wait to see the film to be sure.



Check out the pieced fabric detail with chevron bars at the end of the lapels.



This dress could be in either a textured velvet or a silk faille, again, I'll have to see it in action to determine which. I love what looks like diamante clips at the shoulders.



Here's another view of that lovely blouse!



Here is the same blouse in a teal or aquamarine blue. You can see the details more clearly. I would love to have multiples of this blouse in my wardrobe. The blouse is technically a raglan cap-sleeve shell but the sleeves are not fully sewn and are only stitched halfway down, as split sleeves. The neckline is finished with self bias binding and a small self-faced rectangle is twisted and tacked to the center neck to form a faux-bow.

New York 2766

Amazingly, on the first page of results for Google search "1930s blouse" I found a vintage pattern, New York 2766 that would closely approximate this blouse. How you can find a copy is another thing, but the sketch does help to see what details you are looking for.

The series started May 1 and will run the next two Sundays, the 8th and 15th of May. Enjoy! First episode can be seen here!!

Images: BBC, screen caps from The Butterfly Balcony

6 comments:

the fabled needle (jen) said...

this post is all kinds of good! (you know i love the '30s as well.) this is the same gal from bleak house, i'm pretty sure--loved her in that.

i'm definitely going to check this out!

oo, that blouse!

Marie-Christine said...

Thanks for the recommendation, it looks like really good fashion porn indeed :-). Love the 30s, for clothes.
Why don't you try this http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/012011-short-sleeve-blouse or this http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/alexander-blouse ? Much easier to find :-) and just the right style.

SEWN said...

Gorgeous! I didn't know about this series. Thanks!

the fabled needle (jen) said...

i shared this on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thefabledneedle

:)

Kim Carney said...

I LOVED the costuming for that series!

Archimedes' Bubblebath said...

Gorgeous stuff! Do you have any idea where to find a pattern similar to the grey/pale blue coat in the top picture?