Ten years ago, Joanna Eatwell received an Emmy nomination for design of period-Costume for “Wolf Hall”, BBC/PBS adaptation of Hilary mantleAcclaimed novel from 2009 about The Rise of Thomas Cromwell in the Court of King Henry VIII. Eatwell returned to the sequel, “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light”, which covers the third and last book in Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy and picks up where the 2015 series ended: When executing Henry’s other of five wives, Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy).
“I think we all returned with an understanding and knowledge of characters and story, which was creatively liberating,” Eatwell said. “It was a pretty seamless transition between shows despite the decade between, partly, I think, for the majority of the crew and the role returned.”
It includes Damian Lewis as Uxosicidal Monarch and Mark Rylance as Cromwell, the humble son of a blacksmith that defied the 16th century England’s rigid social strata to become one of the most powerful men in the country. He was the king’s most reliable adviser and helped him establish the church in England so that he could divorce Catherine in Aragon and marry Boleyn, before Henry got him executed for treason and heresy in 1540.
Here we look at some of the other season’s costumes.
King’s (third) wedding day
The day after Boleyn’s beheading, Henry married his third wife, Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips). In the picture above he wears a gold overcoat over many, many other garments. “The focus of this outfit was to show the clothing process and all the layers required to present a king,” Eatwell said. Her team’s main reference source was portrait from the Tudor -eran (especially by Hans Holbeinthe judiciary), and they also looked at Sumptuary law, which dictated who could wear what fabrics and colors, depending on rank. Of course, the gold was the color of the king.
Eatwell’s crew created Henry’s marital garment from gold fabric or a silk woven with real gold wire. “We bought it from one of the very few companies that still manufacture it. Today it is mainly used in church jests,” she said. When it comes to Jane’s dress, they used a similar material with silver: “Jane and Henry so often complement each other in silver and gold. He is the sun to her moon.”
Cromwell in color
“The king was happy and in love, the whole court was optimistic, and this is reflected in the fabric and the colors used,” Eatwell said. Therefore the lush velvet green overcoat of the superb with a fur collar and gold -embroidered sleeves, worn as
He is waiting for the arrival of his new bride to court. By his side is Cromwell.
During both seasons, the king’s advisers are usually dressed in modest black, which is how he shows up in the most famous existing portrait by him by Holbein. To celebrate the king’s marriage (and promise of a male heir), Cromwell wears lavish red and burgundies in much more luxurious fabrics than usual. His bold choice was a violation of the Sumptuary Act, and in the show it deepens his possible downfall. But he is not a total fashion rebel: he tops his regalia with a finer version of his ubiquitous hat (also visible in the Holbein painting). “Hats were an essential part of the label of Tudor Times,” Eatwell said. “Cromwell respected tremendously the king and the gentlemen by the court. After all, he came from such a humble beginning.”
Queen Jane
Here cromwell escorts jane to her court debut as the new Queen of England. Like her companion, she has pulled out all the sartorial stops: she wears a dress of heavy silk whose gold body and overs are decorated with a tudor pattern in red, the color of power and authority. Covers the hair is a gable hood, an elaborate architectural headdress that is typical of the period. It is not by chance that
A prominent cross adorns her neck.
When Henry insisted on divorcing Catherine from Aragon (because the union did not produce a male heir) and declared himself head of the church in England, the Catholic Church was published him. To show the very symbol of Christianity sends a clear statement that Jane supports her husband. Unfortunately, she would be dead in a year from complications during childbirth and Henry would move on to wife No. 4, Anne of Cleves.
This story first ran in the drama issue of Thewraps Awards Magazine and came soon.
