#civil war era
Historical Fashion Details in art.
Antebellum Fashion Detail.
Historical Accuracy of Costumes in Period Films
I thought it would be a fun idea to comment on different movies’ costumes as I have been watching a lot of movies in quarantine and love historical costuming so what better way to combine the two! I’ve started writing about one or the other movie already but soon realized that the most popular movies/shows out there have already been taken apart one too many times so it’s unnecessary to just repeat what others have already said (eg. Little Women, Outlander, and whatever the hell happened to Reign’s costume department). But today I was bored so I decided to watch a movie and found out about The Aeronauts. First and foremost, if you ever have a chance to watch the movie, please do, it’s incredible. It tells the story of a pilot and a meteorologist in the year 1862 who take on a hot air balloon trip to research weather changes and beat the world record of 23,000 ft of altitude. I am not going to include any spoilers so if you haven’t seen it and would like to, you can still read this post as I am just going to be talking about the costumes.
I have close to no knowledge about men’s wear (sadly, I would like to change that!) so I am just going to focus on Amelia Rennes’ clothes (also, during my search for images as Amazon Prime doesn’t let you take screenshots, she was only ever referred to as Amelia Wren. Weird, since in the movie it is written out as Rennes.) Anyways, the first time we see Amelia I was a little taken aback by her rather extravagant, if not even scandalous dress, if I may say so.
I’ve included the fashion plate to show you the general shape/style/silhouette of the actual early 1860s so you can see the similarities, especially to that blue dress in the first photo.
Seeing her sister Antonia and all the other people around her dressed in appropriate 1860’s gowns, I soon realized there had to be a reason for her wearing that short dress, and I was right. In the beginning, she comes off as a very eccentric personality, which absolutely fits in with her putting on a show in front of all those people and entertaining them.
Throughout the movie we see her wearing her normal, everyday clothing, like this one for example.
At first, I was unsure about the bolero as it does look more like a modern but altered blazer jacket but once I found out about Zouave Jackets, I could totally see this being worn in the 1860s. Here’s a contemporary example of a zouave jacket:
Usually, they would be matching the dress but as you can see in the contemporary photo, they could have different colors, and besides, it totally makes sense for her to be wearing a black jacket rather than a purple one.
Next up we have this beauty of a gown.
The entire ball scene was stunning, (albeit her makeup being very modern), you can see some other women standing in the background wearing gorgeous dresses. And I love how she’s the only one wearing black and it ties in with her backstory but nobody mentions it, a prime example of communication through costume design.
There was another scene that I unfortunately found no pictures from online, one where Amelia is lying on the ground in basically her underwear and you can see all the layers she’s wearing - a chemise, corset, corset cover, and the skirt! And while we’re on the topic of corsets, I may be wrong but I have not spotted one uncorseted person, which is a great win for period movies! Unfortunately, there are still way too many film makers and/or actors who simply don’t understand that corsets aren’t torture devices (I am…. obviously not talking about Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast…..) And also, there was a fair amount of bonnets!
Overall, I am very pleased with the costume department, all gowns I saw were very accurate, I also loved that in the beginning, when people are walking through London, the majority are wearing crinolines but you can spot some who are only wearing bum pads! We have to remember that not everyone wore crinolines and stayed 1000% strict to the latest fashion trends. It was especially less wealty looking women who didn’t wear crinolines which makes total sense as they would have had to work, usually in the field, and a super wide dress would just be in the way the whole time, and also some older people might just not feel the need to jump on this still rather new trend. It wasn’t all exactly like we see it on fashion plates or in photographs, and I think the movie depicted those differences very well, they were very subtle and someone who hasn’t spent years studying historical fashion might not notice, but it just helps set the scene. I am still very confused about Amelia’s show dress, I do not know if a dress like this would have been worn even just for the show, but it fits into the story so I’m not gonna complain!
This is a $10 bank note issued by the Bank of the State of Georgia dated March 2, 1860 out of Savannah. The paper is extremely thin, almost like tissue paper, and is only printed on one side. Prior to the National Banking Act of 1863, States would issue their own fiat currency. The National Banking Act was the first of many laws that came about to unify U.S. currency. The law was also created to help pay for the Civil War, and in turn it created “greenbacks” that were issued by chartered U.S. Federal Banks. The State issued notes became Federally taxed which, as expected, ended their existence.
As to how this came into my hands I really don’t know. All of my ancestors were immigrants to the North, so they didn’t get it by living down South. There is a rumor that a few uncles were in the Civil War, so maybe one picked this up down in Georgia, but I can’t find any evidence to support it. Or, which is most likely the case, one of my ancestors had a small collection of coins and this fell into their hands.
As for the note itself, well the Bank of Georgia took a beating in the Civil War, and as mentioned the Federal Government taxed these out of existence. So its value (as far as I can tell) is based more on historical interest than in any financial backing. It was printed by the American Bank Note Co. out of New York which was around until it filed for bankruptcy in 1999.
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2ND LT. George Dunham 58th Massachusetts Infantry.
He enlisted in November 1863 at the age of 18. His regiment did not leave the State of Massachusetts until April 1864. The unit was heavily engaged in the Virginia campaign and the Cold Harbor debacle. Dunham was wounded on pickett duty at Spotsylvania and commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant on March 15, 1865.
Unidentified soldier in Union uniform with feathered hat and sword, c. 1860’s.
