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The costumes from
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| Marianne/ | /Sylvia | Marianne/ | /Sylvia |
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| Note the shape and sleeve
flounces. |
Just look at the shaping of
both gowns here. |
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| Not the same color... but
look at the way the costumes are, well, arranged. |
Note how similar the pose in
both scenes towards Grégoire is, besides the fact that both wear a Francaise (quite rare in that
movie!)... |
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| ...and I don't think that I have to say much about *this* similarity, right...? | |||
And here are the differences:
Marianne, with almost every costume except two, can be seen from all sides and in full length
at least once. She wears a cloak just once. Her costumes are all bright or light and colorful
(except one) and black is used as an accent on colored garments. Her character is presented to the
spectator from all sides openly; her role is clear and her pureness revealed; she has nothing to
hide.
Sylvia on the other hand is never shown completely in a costume; with most costumes she is
wearing heavy cloaks. If she's shown nude or near nude, she's never shown completely. Most of her
costumes are black; colors are used as accents on black - the exact opposite to Marianne. Sylvia is
mostly portrayed in the shadows, hidden by veils, masks or shown through veils and mirrors. She's
mysterious, never can be estimated - she is hiding something, just like the character she's
portraying.
I think this way of portraying is a very good example of cineastic art which wouldn't have been
possible without a perfect cooperation between director, costume department, camera operators and
cutters.
The dress we first see Marianne with. Even if it's very beautiful it
doesn't have much screen time.
The dress seems to consist of bodice plus skirt. The sleeves are decorated with lace flounces. The
front of the bodice is decorated with golden lace and red flowers.
This seems to be the best known costume from the movie, though it's in
my opinion not the most beautiful one.
It consists of a satin or taffeta skirt, a red velvet jacket and a striped red and cream waistcoat.
Marianne is riding 'like a man', which is quite unusual; but this is emphasized by this riding habit
as it strongly resembles men's clothing of that time.
This seems to be a giant (fox?) fur coat. This costume was in a scene that was cut from the movie, but it's still shown in the DVD specials. It sometimes seems as if it was worn over a blue skirt, but that can't be safely said. Some scenes show Marianne wearing a matching fur cap with the coat and some don't.
Marianne's only dress that we never see completely. Seems to be a Francaise in some blue / cream patterned satiny fabric, but those are the only things that can be safely said.
Probably the gown with the most screen time!
Blue-black shot taffeta Francaise. The sleeve flounces are designed with fraying edges, which looks interesting.
The costume seems black in the scenes in which it is worn; but in two
shots in Marianne's room it's lying over a chair (last two pictures) and there, it's dark green.
the costume seems very much likely to the red riding habit, but on close inspection, it's not. The
collar / front lapels and cuffs are totally different, and the back is split.
It's most interesting that 'Fashion' - the book on the collection of the Kyoto Institute of
Costumes, which shouldn't be missing in any costumer's library - shows a male leather hunting jacket
which has exactly the same front lapels.
This dress is never shown from the front. It's the last dress Marianne is wearing in the movie. The skirt seems to be made of blue material and has some kind of half transparent white overlay (white batiste? Netting?). The bodice seems to be pale aqua blue.
The lavish usage of lace is not so historical for that period; nevertheless, we have a beautiful (un)dress here ;-)
The bodice is decorated with endless amounts of red pearls and black cut beads. She's wearing a black, transparent panier and some kind of red train with this outfit.
This is worn when Sylvia comes to dig Grégoire from his grave. It's - in
my opinion - one of the most beautiful costumes in this movie.
Hopefully I don't need to mention that the black sequins on her veil are not historic - neither in
shape nor in color.
Not much to say about this - it has too few screen time and not even the specials give out more about it.
This is actually a transparent Francaise!
Seems to be one of the most decorated and beautiful costumes in the
movie - but it's never shown completely from the front.
It's either dark blue or black; I think it's dark blue. The stomacher is decorated with
embroideries. The sleeves are decorated in the same way as Marianne's dinner dress - just with black
lace!
This is worn by Sylvia when she visits Gregoire in prison to poison him. The cloak has some beautiful silver embroideries and is completely lined with orange/golden shot taffeta. The gown shown below is dark green and decorated with silver buttons.
The collest thing is probably her fan, which has sharp points to slit
any enemie's throat (which it actually does in the movie - that's why the silver points are stained
red in some of the following screenshots).
Below the black (velvet?) cloak with paisley-like embroideries along the edges Sylvia is wearing a
black, silver-decorated dress.
Tidbit which has nothing to do with costumes: Did you know that Mark Dacascos grew up in Hamburg...? Born in Hawaii, he moved here to Germany at young age so that his parents could found martial art schools here, which still exist. This explains why he became European champion in Kung Fu when he was eighteen ;-)
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