The Duchess

I decided to look into period dramas to inspire me for the 18th century as they are a good form of visual reference and a look into the lives of the Georgian people.
I watched The Duchess which is a film about the life of Georgiana Cavendish, The Duchess of Devonshire. It tells the sad story of her life to whom to the public she was a popular fashionable society queen but behind closed doors she had a difficult life with her husband and the rules of matrimony.
It was inspiring to watch as the change of costumes were a great insight to a 18th Century aristocrat.

'The Empress of Fashion, herself The Duchess of Devonshire'

There were a few scenes in the film that particularly focused on her fashion and the fact she was leading it, as the quote above tells us.
I liked the opening scene where it followed the train of her skirt as she walked across grass, I think this was a great way of opening the scene as it showed a glimpse but not the whole figure. I think this is something I could apply to my film to show the detail of a skirt.
Another fashion scene that was a great insight to me was the undressing of the Duchess to her recent husband, that showed the amount of clothing the ladies of the ton were adorned in. It was here that you got the full extent of how many layers they had to wear. Also the fact that she had to be cut out of her dress. She was stripped right down to her stockings which were still elaborately adorned with ribbons despite having been hidden by layers of gowns.
As well as looking at The Duchess it was interesting in seeing how the people around her dressed. In the Dinner Party scene there was an extravagant man (fop) with wig and beauty spot.

The main things that stood out to me in the film was the elaborate wigs, hair accessories and hats. Adorned with feathers, flowers, lace, pearls, ribbons, fur, and frills.
One sad but amusing scene was when The Duchess's hair caught alight and her husband simply said.
'Please put out her Graces hair'