Gone With the Wind was set during the 1860s and 1870s--this version of P&P was clearly set during the 1830s. The costumes had to have come from some other movie if MGM moved the setting up twenty years to reuse costumes from another movie.
http://edwardianpromenade.com
The story that this film reused GWTW's costumes is a complete lie and an urban legend that seems pushed by people obsessed with the later film versions of P&P.
1. GONE WITH THE WIND WAS NOT FILMED BY MGM!!! It was RELEASED by MGM but it was filmed at Selznick Studios. MGM would not have access to those costumes .
2. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE WAS A MAJOR RELEASE IN 1940 - there is NO WAY that MGM would have ever used costumes that had been on the screen before for this movie. The studio only recycled it's costumes for "B" movies.
The whole costume argument is a ruse pushed by Colin Firth fans for something to knock this film with. Sorry but you can NEVER convinced me Firth is superior to Laurence Oliver in this role - or that Greer Garson is inferior to what's her name from the TV movie.
Regardless of the source of the costumes, they are definitely of a time period different from the book. Whether that's important is a personal question. For me, there are so many other things wrong with this adaptation that the costumes are a mere footnote.
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...but what I think is real is that the producers or other powers that be decided to go with hoop skirts based upon the popularity of GWTW the prior year.
shareI agree that could be part of it. I've read that the costume designer, Adrien, didn't want to do empire gowns for the film. He wanted to do something more lavish, so he suggested adjusting the setting to a later period. (This information comes from Sue Parrill's book, Jane Austen on Film and Television.)
It sort of reminds me of William Makepiece Thackeray's illustrations for Vanity Fair. He didn't like the lines of empire fashions so his illustrations for VF depict the women in Victorian gowns with hoop skirts.
I have not the heart to disfigure my heroes and heroines by costumes so hideous; and have, on the contrary, engaged a model of rank dressed according to the present fashion.
~~ William Makepiece Thackeray (on his illustrations for Vanity Fair)
I've read that the costume designer, Adrien, didn't want to do empire gowns for the film. He wanted to do something more lavish, so he suggested adjusting the setting to a later period. (This information comes from Sue Parrill's book, Jane Austen on Film and Television.)
It sort of reminds me of William Makepiece Thackeray's illustrations for Vanity Fair. He didn't like the lines of empire fashions so his illustrations for VF depict the women in Victorian gowns with hoop skirts.
I have not the heart to disfigure my heroes and heroines by costumes so hideous; and have, on the contrary, engaged a model of rank dressed according to the present fashion.
~~ William Makepiece Thackeray (on his illustrations for Vanity Fair)
Interesting re Thackeray's comments. I wonder if there are "purists" out there who trash VF because the artwork is not historically accurate!!
There could be, but I'm just not aware of them. And today, most editions of Vanity Fair don't contain Thackeray's artwork that originally accompanied the story as first published (in serialization).
I have noted, however, that there have been a few criticisms on the IMDb message boards for the two most recent adaptations of VF complaining that nobody has seen fit to costume these productions in the later period fashions as per Thackeray's sketches.
For my part, I would think it extremely silly to find Rebecca and Emily dressed up in hoop skirts at the Duchess of Richmond's Ball the night before the Battle of Waterloo. Just wouldn't work, IMO!
Link to info on Thackeray's sketches, with the explanation of the gowns. Also includes link to an Album of All the Vanity Fair Drawings (at bottom of page)
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/thackeray/f ashion.html
...but what I think is real is that the producers or other powers that be decided to go with hoop skirts based upon the popularity of GWTW the prior year.
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and I think the "reused from GWTW" rumours started long before 1995....I disagree - I have been a fan of GWTW since the late 1970's and P&P since I first saw it in the late 1980's and have never read a word about this claim until IMDB and I've read scores of books and magazines on films of the golden era. share
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Not necessarily - movie studies didn't care all that much about authenticity.
For one of my favorites, just watch the 10 Commandments: in the scene where Bithia fishes Moses out of the Nile, you can see the zipper plain as day up the back of her dress!!
Those who study history are doomed to watch others repeat it.