Costumes, Period Dramas and Their Audiences

This book considers the notion of “historical escapism” through both costume and fashion design, illustrating how one informs the other to produce different consumable representations of the past, to quell contemporary anxieties and to confront generational traumas.

Many audiences rely on historically themed theatre, film and television to provide a glimpse of what life was like and, crucially, what clothes were worn at various points in history. But most often, they look to this version of the past to escape contemporary anxieties. To what extent do the interpolations and artistic license taken by designers affect our enjoyment and our sense of what a production “should” portray? How far does accuracy matter, and by what yardstick are we measuring it? This book pursues historical accuracy, merging the “real and the romantic”, resulting in highly atmospheric yet highly contemporary design choices. This book presents the theory that, in essence, not much has changed in the way audiences perceive and consume historical dress, and that the cyclical relationship between history and fashion should add theatre, film and TV representation into the mix. This makes it necessary to consider the social and cultural factors (especially post-pandemic) that have resulted in markedly similar design solutions being made well over a century later.

This book can be used by students across a wide range of courses, including fashion history, theatre history, costume design, art history, film studies and memory studies. It applies a multidisciplinary approach to examine the ways in which history is consumed and understood through period dramas.