Yesterday’s post was somewhat somber but that’s only because of the compelling subject matter of the Roots, one of the productions whose costumes are being displayed at the 10th Annual Art of Television Costume Design at the FIDM Museum, With that said, today’s post will be on a somewhat lighter note so please stick around. 🙂

---

Today’s post is more of a hodge-podge of commentary in that not everything at the exhibition was equally compelling to us (that’s just a nice way of saying that there was a lot of costumes we simply didn’t find interesting 🙂 ). To begin, we have some costumes from Mercy Street, a medical drama set during the Civil War :

And just because, here’s the dress with concept sketch and fabric swatch:

This is an interesting design although the fabric does appear to be somewhat late for the 1860s- perhaps more late 1870s or beyond. We like the fabric but it just doesn’t read “1860s.” However, the trim on the front of the bodice simply doesn’t make a lot of sense from an aesthetic perspective and especially when compared to originals from the 1860s (we’ll leave it to you to chase down specific examples 🙂 ).

While the above dresses appear fine from a “fit” perspective, this one simply does not reads well. While it may be just the display, the fit on the bodice looks unshaped and ill-fitting, certainly not the standard found in ballgowns of the 1860s. It’s simply too flat and could definitely use some darts. Also, this bodice style was considered more of a young girl’s. Ultimately, the costumes from Mercy Street were interesting but there was nothing really compelling and some of the style choices appeared to be questionable for the 1860s.

And finally we switch to complete fantasy with a few costumes from Game of Thrones:

Here’s a group shot that we borrowed since the exhibit hall was beginning to get crowded and we couldn’t get a clear shot of the group:

We have to honestly say that the Game of Thrones costumes on display were disappointing, especially when you see pictures of some of the others that have appeared on the show. This was definitely not their “A” game here…

Overall, the exhibit at the FIDM Museum was well done and especially for the Outlander and Roots costumes. Some of the selections for the other shows gave us the feeling that we were seeing the “second string” and were merely selected as placeholders. However, in spite of this we feel it’s definitely worthwhile viewing and that everyone will take away something positive. We hope you’ve enjoyed our somewhat biased review of the Art of Television Costume Design exhibit and look out for more of these reviews in the future. 🙂

In contrast to the romanticism and adventure of Outlander are the costumes from a more sober production, Roots. First produced in 1977 and remade in 2016, Roots broke new ground with its story of an African  man sold into slavery and shipped to America. It’s a tragic story and depicts a dark aspect of American history that has been downplayed for many years. It’s definitely a story that needs to be told and while the specific elements of the plot may be fictional, the institution of slavery is factual and needed (and still needs) to be told. Costume and fashion are often viewed as frivolous things bearing no impact on the “real world” but here that’s not the case and in fact, provoke discussion and consideration. With that said, let’s proceed…

---

  

Today we continue with our visit to the “Art of Television Costume Design, 2015-2016” at the FIDM Museum last weekend and today we promise not to say anything more about Outlander. 🙂 In contrast to Outlander were costumes from the remake of the Roots miniseries. When it was first released in 1977, Roots was considered to be ground-breaking in that it dealt with slavery and its consequences.

Based on the book Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Hailey, the show starts in 1760s and follows the life of Kunta Kinte, a Mandinka from West Africa, who is captured by slavers, shipped across the Atlantic to Virginia, and sold to a plantation master (although the book was originally marketed as non-fiction, there were subsequent allegations of historical inaccuracy and plagiarism). The story is then continued down through several generations ending in 1865 (a subsequent miniseries called Roots: The Next Generations carries the story further into the 1960s). In 2016, a remake of the original 1977 series was released that fairly faithfully follows the story with some of the story elements updated and/or reworked. However, no matter what the provenance might be, Roots is a testament to a dark part of American history whose legacy still affects us today.

Turning to the costumes themselves, we first see Kunta Kinte’s Mandinka outfit:

In comparison with the original 1977 version, it seems that more concerted effort was made to capture the distinct ethnic clothing worn by the peoples of Gambia rather than simply putting them in breech-cloths. It was a little disconcerting looking at these costumes the way they were staged for display so here are a few pictures from the production to give it life:

One of the more fascinating costumes was the coat worn by the character Fiddler, who acts as a mentor/father figure to Kunta when he first arrives in Virginia:

 

No, that’s not the picture pixilating- the coat is constructed of a brocade or lampas that has been severely distressed, reflecting Fiddler’s decline in the plantation hierarchy. We had to open and close our eyes several times- it was hard to focus on the material. Here are some more views:

And the same coat in better days:

And here we see a variety of the costumes. Slave clothing was either hand-me-downs from the master and his family or manufactured expressly for the slaves from cheap cloth of various types, typically osnaburg, fustian, linsey-woolsey, and cheap cotton. The indigo blue color and fabric of Kunta’s coat is very striking, especially combined with the traditional turban.

And here are a few more of the costumes:

This one is interesting in that it’s clearly a hand-me-down from the master.

The distressing that was done on these dresses is amazing and is definitely a testament to the costumer’s art.

The costumes from the 2016 Roots were compelling and thought-provoking and we’re definitely going to view this show in the near future. Stay tuned for Part 3 of our trip to the FIDM Museum. 🙂