Victoria costume designer Rosalind Ebbutt has revealed she finds it easy to make star Jenna Coleman look like the monarch in the ITV drama, which continues on Sunday night
Victoria costume designer Rosalind Ebbutt has revealed she finds it easy to make star Jenna Coleman look like the monarch in the ITV drama, which continues on Sunday night.
Sunday's episode of Victoria sees the Queen head to a lavish medieval celebration and Rosalind told TV Times that Jenna is 'really interested' in the dresses she wears in the hit drama.
"Jenna is brilliant - really interested in the period and costumes, and we talk and have fun. Jenna is petite, like Victoria was, and so it's not difficult to make her look like the queen. She takes it all in her stride."
Talking about the lavish ball scene in Sunday's episode, Rosalind said: "They [Victoria and Albert] dressed as King Edward III [ruled 1327-77] and his consort, Queen Philippa. I didn’t recreate the costumes precisely – we’re not making a documentary – but the impression is the same. It’s a medieval costume of crimson and creams and golds, and it looks like luxurious silk. Underneath, however, Victoria would have worn a Victorian under-dress to create that famous bell shape, and so the shape is a mix of Victorian and medieval."
And Rosalind added that it was one of the biggest scenes of the series. "My team and I had to dress about 70 people for it. There were dancers , musicians, singers and page boys, plus the lead cast and supporting artists. I wanted it to look rich and a bit theatrical.
"I went to the costume houses for the dresses and men’s outfits, and for the women’s hair we did fantasy headdresses with gold hair nets that we sewed little pearls onto to create a kind of medieval snood. We did all sorts of improvising to make it look right. It was filmed on our Buckingham Palace set and the overall effect was quite spectacular. I tried to get things that looked as near as possible but with an artistic take on them, and I wasn’t buying £100-a-metre silk brocade!"
