The fashion in Brideshead Revisted

A while ago I talked about the remake of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited; originally a mini-series starring Jeremy Irons, it has been turned into a movie which opens this weekend.

I got a hold of new stills from the movie that really showcase the beautiful clothing that the cast gets to wear. Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh, the film's costume designer spoke to the New York Times about why the costuming is so central to the movie.

"The period of dress here is a classic English look," said Ms. Mhaoldomhnaigh. "The tailoring of the men's suits are quite relevant to today. For a contemporary American audience, it's very similar to Ralph Lauren, who, I'm sure, has taken a lot of influence from English tailoring."


"The period of dress here is a classic English look," said Ms. Mhaoldomhnaigh. "The tailoring of the men's suits are quite relevant to today. For a contemporary American audience, it's very similar to Ralph Lauren, who, I'm sure, has taken a lot of influence from English tailoring."


"This scene is at Oxford. And it's one of the first times that Charles sees Sebastian (seated). So I wanted to portray a contrast to Charles's dark and dreary life at home with a complete release for him to do whatever he likes. Sebastian represents that freedom for him."


"Charles and Sebastian become friends and Sebastian has this beautiful sense of style. Here, you can see already that Charles is looking at Sebastian and, in a quite crude way, trying to copy what he's wearing. It doesn't look nearly as flamboyant or bohemian as Sebastian, but still, it's his attempt to become part of that whole set."


"I think that with Lady Marchmain, Emma Thompson's character, her religion was really important. But also, she was very fashionable. At that time, a lot of women went to Paris twice a year to pick out their wardrobe. So I wanted her clothes to be influenced by French fashions of the time."


"I wanted to use certain colors with her. Of course, not primary colors, but teal blues and purples. I felt like she could never look disheveled. She always had to look like 10 maids had dressed her in the morning."


"I just love this dress. And it was kind of a Eureka moment. Julia's costumes were made in Paris because her clothing also was influenced by French fashion. So I went to Paris to meet with the people were going to make the costumes. And I went to a flea market, where I found the Japanese embroidery that we put on this dress."