#unfortunately I cannot find the reference for Elinor's hair again. it was from a Regency fashion plate. I promise it was EXACTLY the same.

[beautifulscreaminglady]

As promised, my thoughts on Sense and Sensibility (2024)

(Looking for what REAL people of color wore in the Regency era? Check out my Pinterest board!)

The clothes weren't as bad as I was expecting. The fabrics vary from garish prints, to heavy embroidery, to plain colors.

The main problem seems to be that they are ill fitting. The men's coats seem to add extra bulk to the actors.

The production itself has scenes that appear to be copied from both the 1995 production and the 2009 production.

Elinor's hair is styled in an ancient Greek inspired arrangement that enjoyed popularity during the Regency era. I think it is a beautiful style for Black hair. Most of the women's hairstyles are quite good.

Colonel Brandon's beard and mustache are not period accurate. He should be clean shaven. Compare to this portrait of Pierre Toussaint.

The main problem seems to be that they are ill fitting. The men's coats seem to add extra bulk to the actors.

On the other hand, the ladies bonnets appear to be too small. I thought Margaret's bonnet was weird as hell but apparently it's a real design from the late regency to early romantic period.

Marianne's boots are visible after she has her famous fall. They have a prominent heel. Regency boots for women were very flat without a heel or with a very low heel.

Margaret's shoes here are also very odd. They look almost like 16th century women's shoes.

I don't know what kind of shoes Marianne is wearing here but they look a bit clunky. This is a production where $15 plain, solid colored pleather flats from Amazon would not be out of place, if budget necessitated it.

The blue gloves are period accurate!

Costume Parisien, 1798

In an article about the movie, it was mentioned that the set dressers added real historical portraits of Black people. I noticed the famous Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit and a GIANT bust portrait of Dido Belle (cropped from the original). I also spotted some 16th or 17th century portraits of Black men that seemed vaguely familiar. Other artwork was unfortunately too hidden in shadow or out of focus for me to recognize.

There are also some other things that made this production more Black, such as the scene where Wentworth and Marianne bond over their shared interest in art and find that they both admire Phillis Wheatley's poetry.

There were some changes that raised my eyebrows. The child of Colonel Brandon's ward is his!

At the ball in London I am almost positive that Seal's Kiss From A Rose was being played by the violinists.

Final thoughts:

According to the costume designer, she had to make 68 costumes in 20 days. This is absolutely an insane demand. While some of the costumes were rented, the time crunch is quite obvious on the other costumes. People who work in film and television do not deserve to be treated like this. Hallmark has a ridiculous turnaround time for their productions, but at this point I feel like the Hallmark back catalog is big enough it can afford to make fewer but more high quality productions.

Or perhaps we can sacrifice complex, unnecessarily over the top costumes in favor of simple but pretty costumes such as the ones in Mr Malcolm's List (2022), which also notably starred people of color.

I think that people of color DESERVE beautiful costume dramas, but this is not what it could have been. The first (and currently only) Black Jane Austen adaptation in existence deserved more. I love Sense and Sensibility but this adaptation broke my heart because it lacked the richness and warmth of the 1995 and even the 2006 versions.

#unfortunately I cannot find the reference for Elinor's hair again. it was from a Regency fashion plate. I promise it was EXACTLY the same. #sense and sensibility (2024)