Ranking 2020 Costume Dramas on Historical Accuracy 

One of my favorite things about Bernadette is how she speaks like a private school headmistress but occasionally has contemporary slang and memeage sprinkled in her vernacular and does it seamlessly (pun intended).

Bernadette: "so this dress gives me a late 1800's feel." Me, who knows nothing about clothes: "ah, yes, i see🤔"

There was a scene in Bridgerton where Daphne is changing, and she is shown wearing a corset with no under garments. All I could think was "Bernadette would not approve..."

Love that (damning) statement: "Literally Victorian. As in: The costumes take place in all seven decades of it".

As a Chinese, I rank Mulan as Panda Express Level

"The women in this show are basically props." SHE SAID WHAT SHE SAID.

Enola Holmes should have been in it's own category, "They Didn't Even Try."

The only way I could tell the three older Bridgerton sons apart was by their side burns, lol

It was a cop out that they didn’t use a Chinese designer for Mulan. I was wardrobe supervisor in college and when we did a Chinese opera and about 5 teachers came from China to help with direction and costume design. I still remember a teacher explaining me to me in Manderin, which I do not speak, how to properly tie a sash. Anyway, if my University could do it, Disney could do it.

Bernadette: *thoroughly explaining what they did and didn't get right* Me: *nodding along pretending I already knew everything*

“Why is she wearing bronzer?” Killed me

I think The Great's outfits are a design choice which match its other anachronisms. Like how the title cards say 'an occasionally true story', or how the dialogue mixes Shakespearean parody with 'fuck' every five seconds.

In fairness, we aren't so much watching Enola Holmes for the historical accuracy as we are to just stare at Henry Cavill....

I was an extra on the Great, Russian Peasant #17. 😂 The ladies who dressed us were really conscious of the time and detail. I remember one of them was even particular about how this random woman’s boot was laced, even if there was 0.01% chance that it would be on screen.

Dear Bernadette, as a Chinese art historian I really appreciate that you acknowledged that there is a great deal of specialization inherent in studying the dress of different cultures and time periods. With Chinese dress, in particular, different types of dress tend to be associated with different dynasties. What people wore can be impacted by things we don't necessarily think about today. For example during the Tang Dynasty (7th-10th c.) women wore very thin, almost ethereal-looking, clothing. A famous type is the qixiong ruqun which would have been secured underneath the armpits. Whereas during the Ming Dynasty (14th-17th) women tended to wear long, pleated skirts and a long-sleeved blouse called aoqun that look much warmer. This is because the Tang Dynasty was one of the warmer dynasties and the Ming Dynasty was relatively colder. Even between the two dynasties that I tend to specialize in: the Ming and Qing there are quite a bit of difference in the clothing. The Ming dynasty was ruled by Han Chinese leaders and the Qing Dynasty was ruled by ethnically Manchurian leaders so you see the ways this translates into the clothing. The sleeves become more narrow rather than the wide Han-style sleeves because the Manchurians were nomadic people who rode horses and practiced archery. I think my issue with Mulan was less with the design of the clothing and more that it felt very surface level in its commitment to portraying "accurate" Chinese culture because it looked like a Chinese story but didn't feel like one. Not to mention the whole issue of shooting in Xinjiang while ignoring the Uighar concentration camps was a choice, Disney. Also bonus fact! The image of the calligraphy of the ballad of Mulan you showed was written by Mi Fu, a famous Song dynasty calligrapher, who was by all accounts a total eccentric weirdo who liked collecting and inscribing on rock faces.

I know it's older, but it would be good to hear your take on "Anne with an E". They talk quite a lot about what it's acceptable for different people (particularly women) to be wearing based on age and class. It would be interesting to know how accurate it is.

I feel like you needed a “...They didn’t even try” tier. Lol

The fact that the thumbnail for Little Women is just a close up of the uggs absolutely sends me

I watched Merlin and was internally dying at the sight of modern clothes and modern makeup. And I think Merlin would have really benefited from actual medieval clothes!

I don't think I realized just how well Bernadette knows clothes until I watched this video. Her being able to tell a difference of a couple of years by the shape of the sleeves is like--well, my specialty is 50s-70s American vehicles, and this is like me knowing the difference between a '65 and a '66 C10 by where the badge is. And this woman's knowledge covers far more than 30 years and extends much farther back in history. What a legend.

On the "does it matter" question: I actually think showing historically accurate hair and makeup can be really valuable because it shows how arbitrary and changeable socially constructed beauty standards are. When you watch all these period pieces with historical clothing but modern hair and makeup, it creates a sense that today's styles are just this timeless definition of what a beautiful person looks like. On the other hand, when you see a gorgeous star wearing something that seems strange to our modern eyes, it reminds us of all the myriad ways a person can be beautiful. A greater appreciation for the diversity of human appearance is sorely needed in our society, so I think accurate hair and makeup is actually important.

Just a fun fact about Marie Skłodowska Curie - she had one dress for years - as written in her biography by her daughter Eve: 'This dress, which she kept for years and years, to be transformed from time to time by a little dressmaker (...) Marie knew nothing of fashions and had no taste. But the discretion and reserve which were the very mark of her character saved her being conspicuous and created a sort of style in her dress' (Eve Curie - 'Madame Curie, a Biography' page 230)

I think with Catherine the great specifically the hair down was a choice. She has her hair down initially to show her innocence and youth. After she realizes that Peter is not what she hoped for her hair goes up.

About Ammonite, I read an interview with Francis Lee (the director) where he said that when he arrived on location at the house they filmed in he immediately noticed that the door handles were inaccurate for the era and he tried to get them changed but they couldn’t delay filming on such a tight budget - I guess it’s a shame that they technically don’t get a 100% score for accuracy because of them, but I just love that he cared so much, and did so much research that his white whale was DOOR HANDLES

I’m a costumer in film and television so I can add a little bit to your comment on The Great! From my experience the pilot/first episode is shot with a completely different team and sometimes a year in advance to the first season. Once a show is confirmed to be picked up then they hire the team for that coming season, sometimes it’s the same designer but usually it’s someone different. I’ve worked on shows where the pilot continuity was so bad we’ve had to go back and reshoot a lot! Also editing to add, the amount of times I’ve worked with a designer who spends massive amount of times arguing with the head of Hair and Makeup because they haven’t done proper research on the era we’re shooting is RIDICULOUS!! Not just for historical shows but for 50’s-80’s, it takes away from all the research and work we in the Wardrobe department do trying to recreate decades properly 😭😭

Time for Bernadette to do a full costume review of "Bridgerton", now that the show is out on Netflix!

she is literally how my mom expected me to speak-eloquent, educational, knowledgeable, and not just mumbling and mash words togethers to make new word

Can you do this every year? I really liked this format. Highly entertaining and I added a couple new films and shows to my watch list.

gentleman jack: chef’s kiss costuming ammonite: chef’s kiss costuming me: ah, i see the sapphics have done it again

Watching Bernadette as her battery is about to die while my battery is about to die is not the shared experience I imagined when I joined the patreon group. I must say, I give the live chats a much higher approval rating.

Now I need to see you tear into the Second Enola Holmes…since that PINPOINTS the timeline

As a history student and just-for-fun historian, I’m so impressed with your range of knowledge on historical dress. I can generally get the gist of trends but not the specifics so it’s so cool seeing your explanations.

if you watch bridgerton, get ready to get mad because not only do they not wear undergarments under their corsets, there are TWO scenes in the first ep alone that use tight lacing AND even show bruising from the corset

Bottom tier: "Did you use Spirit Halloween for wardrobe?!"

They definitely should have brought in a Chinese designer for Mulan. As one who has researched Song Dynasty clothing, finding resources in English is incredibly hard. The best resources are all in Chinese and haven't been translated.

Weren’t the Ugg’s in little women a picture from behind the scenes when they were taking a break? Lol

“Happy floof noises” make me so happy, because a happy guinea pig is a vocal guinea pig 🥰

I would honestly appreciate a rant about historically accurate makeup and hair in movies that sounds very interesting

I RAGED when I saw stilettos being worn in Bridgerton. In the beginning of the show, it literally said it was the year 1812. 😤

i literally rewatched emma like 3 times because i couldnt pull my eyes off of the costumes

I'm sorry. But the whole time I was too distracted by the guniepigs in dresses in the the background

Fun collabs for next year (if your year isn't completely planned out already) could be teaming up with RU-vidrs of color who might know more about the costumes of films like Mulan, K-dramas set in the Joseon dynasty, or Bollywood movies. I'm slight Bollywood trash and I suspect that period films from there are like films/shows of the West: some good, some not so good.

I remember reading the enola homes books in 6th grade and I always assumed that it was very accurate clothing-wise because her clothing was such a big part of her investigating and detective work she'd use it to disguise herself or to hide things because of the multiple layers. The book starts off with her mother making off of the family fortune by hiding it in the padding of her dress

You were very right. Bridgerton was very much a design choice, feeling very fantastical and story book throughout the show.

"I'm trash for anything set in history" is a phrase that just hits SO hard as a history major

other images in the template: * movie/show posters * Little Women: *u g g s*

"We don't understand that these people were more like us then we think they were", now THAT'S a quote!

I'm a male writing a science fiction novel about a young 21st century woman who is magically transported back to 1861. Being a serious history buff, I've tried being as historically accurate as possible within the context of the story. After watching a couple of your and Karolina's videos, I had to completely rewrite the section where she gets her first corset because she (and I) had totally bought the modern view of corsets and Civil War era clothing. It's actually been kind of fun having my expectations subverted by reality. 😁

My mum is a fashion historian with a PhD in it and watching shows like this with her is a nightmare ahaha. She can’t focus on the show because she’s so annoyed about the clothes! She just made a costume course for designing clothing for TV! First one in England :)

It's always so nice when they specifically pick an actress who would fit the aesthetics of the time period instead of whatever Hollywood actress is most popular.

The woman in the Bridgertons who was out of period dress was supposed to be Queen Charlotte who used to wear 18c and liked the formality .. however, she wasn't even alive when the books are set 1840s.

I rewatched a bit of The Greatest Showman after this because your blasphemous category is what made me realise why I'm not fully enamoured with it. The hair, makeup, and even some of the women's dresses just pull me right out of the time period and I was wondering if you might ever include it in a video like this

A movie that suprised me with mostly historically accurate costumes was "A Muppets Chrstmas Carol". It's the Muppets, they didn't need to be that accurate and yet they did anyway! If the Muppets can do it, so can other movies.

Come for the hot historical tea, stay for the devastatingly adorable floof-burbling in the sponsor segment.

I think it’s really good how Bernadette handles areas she has less knowledge. She acknowledges her lack of expertise, but still does her best to represent it as well as she can and looks to others with more knowledge and cultural understanding. So much respect!

Ugh yes!! I watched "Emma." twice in two days because it was a tasteful, beautifully done adaptation. 🤍

I shudder to think what "historically accurate" dress will be for something set in the 2000s when I'm 95 years old in a nursing home yelling at my grandkids about Laguna Beach, The Hills, and Jersey Shore

As someone who is chinese i can say a lot of chinese designers take a lot of uh... cReAtIvE LiBeRtY when it comes to designing costumes for their own historical period dramas. As a chinese youtuber once said, most of chinese historical literature is is just fan fiction. But if future videos do feature other cultures and historical clothing can i just nominate Five thousand Years and ShiYin as tribute?

I really love that in the 2021 version of this you brought in other experts in different cultural periods to fill in the gaps in your own knowledge. I hope you keep doing that in future versions of this. :)

Have you watched "Versailles"? I loved the show and I heard it's costumes are quite accurate but have no Idea wether that's true.

Alternative title: 30 minutes of Bernadette Banner trying not to scream at hair and makeup.

Brigerton is definitely a design choice. Even their music during their line dances were modern. 😄 This episode is very informative. Thanks.

I really liked Enola Holmes but even I could tell that it was historically inaccurate and I know nothing about historical fashion - it was just so darn inconsistent

I really wanted you to make a "Anne with an E" one

Unable to distinguish one white man from another white man is possibly the most relatable thing. Ever.

Hi! I’m actually a costume design student in Los Angeles and the hair and makeup is a huge issue. There’s a big push in the union right now to get hair and makeup to fall under costume because in most cases currently it doesn’t. And then you get major issues like you mentioned. As designers it can be super frustrating.

I’ve always wanted to see her talk about Anne with an E it’s my favorite show but I sadly do not know enough to criticize it. But from the untrained eye it looks quite good.

I'm so glad Emma got top rating! When I watched the movie I was so happy of the accuracy! Those weird ass hair styles were there and didn't try to make it modern!!! It was something that really got on my nerves when doing research for fashion history watching movies get hair and makeup wrong when it's so complimentary to the dressing fashion of the moment

Don't forget the wonderful corset on skin scenes in the Alienist ~*screams like a banshee into the stays and corset slander abyss*~

"... Which takes place in 1897 **not that you would know it**" SO MUCH SHADE

I enjoyed the critical perspective here, after following some of your sewing videos. Since we're on the quest for accuracy, 'modern' doesn't mean 'now'. It's a term used in different ways by historians ('modern' can be used for periods going back to Restoration), but the belle epoch, in which many of these are set, is pretty much the defining era for 'modern.'

Bernadette "mens clothing..doesnt change a whole lot..." Zack Pinsent "hold my cocktail!"

TBH I feel like screaming whenever the infamous Little Women Uggs debacle comes out - the photo was a behind the scenes long shot of the actresses in modern, foot preserving shoes for waist-up shots. In the film itself, NO Uggs are seen and in the long shot that makes it to the final cut, they are all, in fact, wearing historically accurate shoes.

I'd honestly be super interested in seeing Bernadette talk about historical fashion in animated movies... Particularly Anastasia and Atlantis. I have a really sore spot for Atlantis and Helga because how are you gonna take one of the coolest eras of fashion and make it so HORRIBLY inaccurate like

Great video! I'm just wondering why you reserve the "design choice" category exclusively for fantasy films? A designer might choose to knowingly veer away from historical accuracy for a whole range of artistic reasons, not only because there's a fantasy element. I'm thinking specifically of Coppola's Marie Antoinette which used intentionally anachronistic details (and music, etc.) to establish a clear connection between the French royal court and modern-day celebrity culture, but that's just one example. Even if a film is about real people or events, the costumes still also serve a larger narrative and there are plenty of potential instances where an artistic decision might trump historical accuracy without veering all the way into fantasy or sci-fi.

4:11 Welp. I just discovered I need an epic crossover with Bernadette Banner and Xiran Jay Zhao. I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE!!!!

As a Chinese person I can say Mulan was a hot mess in terms of historical accuracy (especially the makeup), they didn’t even hire a Chinese designer lmao. But I doubt it will be better if they did cause I also haven’t seen a remotely historically accurate Chinese period drama in a long time :o I wish information on Chinese historical dress would be easier to find so costumers can actually recreate periods instead of relying on stereotypical silhouettes which are so boring

As an ethical Chinese (I'm Taiwanese), I'll put Mulan in "they...not even tried" (with costumes from Turandot), but I do appreciate your effort and your opinion;) Because they put Mulan herself with the wrong race in wrong country and fight the wrong enemy, she supposed to be dressed like a Mongolian soldier, or Mongolian women.

Your channel is my favorite because I love deep diving into the past and watching movies/tv shows and catching the inaccuracies of said movies/tv shows.

Ok but your silhouette in the window is *chef’s kiss*

It seems like a lot of costume dramas prioritize having actresses looking attractive to contemporary audiences over historical accuracy (e.g. having visible makeup when not historically appropriate or having hair worn down).

Me: *usually skips through sponsor spiels.* Bernadette: *holds Cesario through entire sponsor discussion* Me: *mesmerized* "You clever, clever fiend."

My friend knows one of the costumers for Bridgerton, she said that most of the people hired for the hair and makeup were very new to the industry,and were mostly just out of school,

OMG what you say at the end of the video is so beautiful! That's what i look for when watching/reading anything historical: learning something about different eras/cultures, yes, but even more, feeling connected to those human beings who lived before us.

Oh my god I didn’t even notice the Ugg’s in Little Women 😂

Just before this video dropped I was having a discussion with my mum about fabrics used in historical dress and why they weren't all the stiff, tight, scratchy nightmares that people think they were, and then you appeared in my notifications and it was like I'd just called for backup!

The background of this video is so soothing, i love the view from the window and the decor in your room and the way your blouse matches it all so well :D

Thanks for filming these kinds of roast rants. Your rage is disconcertingly enjoyable.

I'd love to have this become an annual thing - a wrap-up of all period drama-ish movies and series released throughout the year 🙈✨ I am also, once again, extremely jealous of your red blouse and I hope we'll see the promised project of making a set of aesthetic blouses at some point in the new year 😊

May I just say, I love how calm your "full of rage" state is.

Your so inspirational! I love how you share your passions. You make “being yourself” so cool!!!! Your so confident ❤️

I don't know if it was a thing in the US but can you react to the costumes of Horrible Histories? It's a comedy/education British sketch show that's basically part of the culture over here.

His lordship´s portraits behind Bernadette were the most epic thing in the video.

One of my sister’s closest friends from college was actually an assistant hairstylist on The Great. From what she told my sister (they watched the show together) having Catherine’s hair down in the first episode was to show not only innocence and youth (it can be hard to tell she’s supposed to be six years younger than Peter) but also that she wasn’t in touch with fashion or court and had sort of just lived in the country and was a little flower childish. Not saying that was accurate for the time (I know it wasn’t) but I think it’s worth noting that there was more behind it.

This is the only video I have watched of yours and thing that popped out at me the most (besides how knowledgeable you are) was the amazing artwork of the guinea pigs in historically accurate gowns. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM!!!

I think I remember reading in Marie Curie's biography (written by her daughter) that she really didn't care very much about fashion, so maybe it would make sense that the sleeves didn't change much throughout the film.

"the floof of your choice" "now he's fallen asleep... and I can't get up" "I'm trapped!" Only Bernadette can make me laugh so much when talking about a sponsor XD

"... and also... she was wearing bronzer." Me: *dies*

I know this is almost 2 years late, but I just found your channel recently and have been binging....that ad plug at the end....that is how it should be done! I watched the full plug, I have never done that before. Well DONE!

As russian, I rank “the great” as “vodka bear balalaika” level because it was awful: the silhouettes of the costumes, the colors (pink dress?!) they definitely did not even try Therefore I do not understand why such a high rate was given