little women 2019 costumes
Sony Pictures Entertainment

A Fashion Historian Fact-Checks The Little Women Costumes

Turns out Laurie was the most scandalous dresser of the bunch

There’s a lot to love about the costumes of the 2019 Little Women movie. As I watched the film at an advanced screening with my Kit colleagues (you can read our thoughts on the movie here), I kept thinking that if you froze any frame, you’d have a stunning painting. The swooshy hoop skirts, jaunty hats and knit shawls that make up the March sisters’ wardrobes were dreamed up by Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran. But the clothes were more than just eye candy—they helped drive the plot. Jo’s tomboyish ways and general non-conformism was signalled through menswear-inspired looks. Meg’s borrowed silk ballgown underscored the family’s lack of financial standing. To get more detail on the looks from the film, and to find out whether the costumes were historically accurate, I called Dr. Alison Matthews David, an author and associate professor of fashion at Ryerson University. Here’s what she had to say.

The 1860s were a transitional time for women’s fashion

“There’s a lot of innovation in women’s dress— the invention of cage crinolines, the use of more and more sewing machines, the introduction of synthetic dyes. There’s also a reaction against high fashion, and traditional fashion for women. Clothing was becoming more about freedom and emancipation and movement.

little women movie 2019
Sony Pictures Entertainment

In the film, Jo is often shown wearing menswear-inspired clothing. That wasn’t uncommon

“The things that Jo is wearing—the cravat and the fabrics, the almost proto-suit for women—reflect what’s happening in tailoring. Mass-produced clothing for men is becoming more popular, so a lot of tailors started making things for women and it become more fashionable for women to have almost a masculine style of dress.”

little women 2019 costumes
Sony Pictures Entertainment

The hoop skirt was everywhere

“Every woman would have owned two hoop skirts. Unless you were very bohemian, you would have been wearing one. Before that, women were wearing these really heavy layers of petticoats, so to have a steel structure that was light actually freed up women’s legs. Corsetry was becoming mass produced, everyone was wearing mostly front-fastening corsets. The word I would use is democratization—all the fashions are becoming more accessible and affordable.”

Still, clothes were very, very expensive

“A dress would have still been an investment. You would have thought very carefully about which fabrics you wanted. You wouldn’t be buying a lot of new dresses. You really had to think, ‘What would go with my complexion, what do I need for this occasion?’ Wedding dresses were re-worn, it was your best dress. It might not be white. What I liked from the visuals of the film was the use of humble everyday fabrics, the cottons and the wools. Victorians were very thrifty dressers, so you had the same skirt but you’d have a bodice for day and a bodice for night.”

A scene when Jo scorches her dress reflected a common fashion problem

“For scorched skirts, there are all these instructions for how to “turn your skirt” and  save the fabric. You’d have to make do. You’d take another cut of fabric and create a decoration to hide the stain or the burn. It was called turning a skirt.” 

little women 2019 costumes
Sony Pictures Entertainment

Things were still pretty modest—unless you were at a ball

“For day dress, out in public, it’s very covered up. You would not expose your arms or shoulders, you might be wearing a shawl—this is also for warmth because there was no central heating. But it was said that if a woman went out in the street wearing a ball gown, she would be stoned. It was impropriety, basically. The more upper class you were, in that space, the more you could uncover and show off the shoulders, neck and décolletage. But you would never wear that in the street.”

Little Women movie 2019
Sony Pictures Entertainment

For the benefit of the audience, Laurie’s costumes are not historically accurate

“It’s a bit of a Mr. Darcy fantasy. The shirt and waistcoat, that’s not what a man would have worn outdoors. They would have worn a jacket or blazer. I read it as, it just makes him sexier, more bohemian. You wouldn’t see the billowing white sleeves of a shirt like that, unless it’s an artist self-portrait, it’s a bit louche. An upstanding young man would not be dressed like that. Because of the rise of mass-production, in the 1860s the men’s look was actually quite boxy and unfitted.”

Little Women movie 2019
Sony Pictures Entertainment

Everyone was expected to dress for their age and social status 

“Older women [like Aunt March, played by Meryl Streep] would have worn more conservative, modest and maybe even verging on unfashionable kind of clothing. Wearing lace would be to show off your social status, that you could afford lace. Young girls had more freedom, they could wear their hair down, wear a slightly shorter skirt. By the time you were married you would be corseted and you’d have your hair up during the day. Wearing a long train would be something you would only wear if you could afford a carriage. Others would want a slightly higher hem length for practicality.” 

 

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