The Costume Issue: Elizabeth The Golden Age

    I happen to be a huge costume  nerd, so these kinds of posts will pop up periodically. My main area of interest is costume design in movies, as the colors and cut of the clothing the characters wear in a given movie is never accidental. It is a secret weapon of the costume crew. It gives you a subliminal insight into the character's mood, setting, state of mind, level of sanity(or lack thereof), a desire to project an image, and so on.
    Seeing as I am also a huge Tudor history nerd, this is right up my alley. Queen Elizabeth the I was the epitome of the importance of public image. As one of the few female English monarchs(other notable ones being Boadicea, and Elizabeth's own sister, "Bloody" Mary Tudor), she had a lot to live up to. In fact, the bloody legacy left behind from Mary put even more pressure on Elizabeth to at least appear to be better and more powerful.
     Projecting power through clothing and costume was no new thing at this point, the men of the Tudor period wore bombast and codpieces for god's sake. Elizabeth really played it smart, however, using her "virginity" as a political and religious tool. This image of purity and virginity was heavily translated into her gowns and accessories.
    Let us examine the film scene by scene. One of the most prominent aspects of this movie is that it is directed by a Bollywood director, which mean that somewhere, somehow the Indian influence will leak into the fabric of the film, so to speak. And oh, it does. Instead of the usual progression of colors form light and colorful to dark and serious, as the character matures or deteriorates,  here we have a festival of color, unwavering in its intensity. You can almost imagine these as Sarees in a Bollywood film.
    So, the colors. Historically, Elizabeth I wore quite a bit of white, and why not? Redheads look amazing in white, and white symbolizes purity and in her case, virginity. White also symbolizes new beginnings and in some cultures, mourning. And, of course, to the modern eye, white is the color of a wedding dress(in Elizabeth's time the bride wore green, the symbol of fertility and spring, or simply the best dress she had, regardless of color).
     In the beginning chapel scene, Elizabeth appears in a stunning white gown, veils flowing, flowers, white powdered face, pearls, the whole shebang. She looks angelic, and very alien, which I suppose she was going for, with the whole "godly, otherworldly, sacred monarch" thing they had back then anyway when it came to persons of state. You can see this in this wonderful screen cap:

Elizabeth's lady in waiting, consequently also named Elizabeth (Beth Throckmorton) is in matching white, though the costume department cleverly gave her a more feminine, down to earth costume. Her collar does not come up to her throat like Elizabeth's does, thus she does not appear quite as artificial and robotic. She even gets that famous Tudor cleavage! The contrast between the two Elizabeths goes on and on in this film, which is to further emphasize the lack of freedom and level of enslavement that Elizabeth had to her image as Queen of England. So in this instance we can say that Elizabeth wears her white as a Virgin Queen, angelic and pure in her chapel at prayer, while Beth wears it with a difference.

Another amazing scene(and I do mean amazing!) in which she wears white is the attempted assassination scene also at prayer, where her would be assassin shouts "Elizabeth! Whore!" before pointing a musket straight at her.

The fact that she turns, calm as a statue, and spreads her arms at her attacker, is severely badass. No one since Joan of Arc has done anything close. It is such a scary and brave scene, and the lighting on her all white clothing and face makes it feel as though God is about to take her away, as though she is already an angel. And then the shot is heard, cracking in the silent chapel... We think for a second that she is dead, we even see her fall to the floor. We of course later learn that the shooter misfired and she fell unconscious from fright(who wouldn't?), but the effect is tremendous. The use of white in this scene is incredibly powerful and used almost as a weapon.

Lastly, she wears white again at the very end of the film, where she tells the viewer in a voice-over that she is "married to her people". This of course is reinforced to the modern viewer by her white garments, making her look like a bride. At the same time, and especially considering that white in India is worn as a sign of mourning (the director being Indian), she is in mourning. She holds in her arms the baby of her favorite lady in waiting, Beth Throckmorton, and Sir Walter Raleigh, who was perhaps the only man she ever (secretly) loved. It is such a painful moment that we can relate to this sense of loss and "funeral" that must be going on inside of her, as she once again sees that she can never be a lover, wife or mother. Considering that this is the 1570s or 1580s, she must be in her 40s, so even more so, she is definitely giving up on those things forever. At the same time, white is a color of new beginnings, so as she "dies" as a woman, she is reborn as a ruler and symbol of a golden age of prosperity and rebirth in Tudor era England.

Next is the use of blue. The color blue symbolizes youth, spirituality and trust. There is a scene in which Elizabeth is about to have a private audience with Walter Raleigh, and she specifically says "blue" to her handmaidens as she is getting dressed. They uncharacteristically show her without her regalia, dressed in a simple corset and underskirt, her meager hair bound in a wrapping. She is totally vulnerable here, and we as a viewer see that even her hair is a public image thing, she has to wear an elaborate wig to hide her real hair.

And, of course, as she hears Raleigh tell his seafaring tales, she is wearing a most bewitching blue gown.

It is interesting that she also wore blue for her audience with a young German nobleman who was supposed to marry her, as blue also represents conservatism and frigidity. Little surprise that the match did not work out.

Of course, her lady in waiting Beth is wearing blue with anything but frigidity, her ample bosom framed by the white collar of her gown.
Later in the film, in the scene where Elizabeth makes Raleigh dance with Beth, it is almost twisted and voyeuristic. The cut and colors of both their gowns is almost identical, down to the square neckline and lace modesty piece. Albeit Elizabeth's is interwoven with gold(but of course!). The scene not so subtly shows the viewer that Elizabeth wants to dance with Raleigh, want to be close to him, but is not free to do so. Beth is free, and thus Elizabeth lives vicariously through her, seeing herself in this other Elizabeth in a dress almost identical to her own.

Now for the brighter colors. It is as though they are the bright colors on a poisonous insect or reptile, signifying a threat or a hidden power. She wears her brightest colors in times of greatest duress. The color yellow, which symbolizes wisdom, wealth, optimism, but also impatience, cowardice, and criticism, she wears at two very stressful times of her reign. Once, when she is in the golden throne room, having her potential suitors read out to her from a list. Considering that she was never going to get married, and was knowingly toying with the numerous ambassadors right to their face, the color was rightly chosen.

   Handmaiden Beth wears a softer, less "poisonous" version of the color, once again with that famous Tudor cleavage.
Second, and more dramatic occasion on which Elizabeth wears yellow is the Spanish armada threat scene. Here she really uses the color for all its poisonous potential, threatening the smug ambassadors to their faces, shouting "I too can command the wind sir!" She appears to be a fierce sunlight to their all black ensembles, and rightfully so, as she ends up defeating them with the help of terrible weather and jagged rocks on the seas.

The beautiful red gown she wears in one of the first scenes is meant to be "romantic" as she discusses marriage and the perfect man with her lady in waiting Elizabeth Throckmorton. The dress is ironically anything but romantic, covering up as much skin as possible(only the face is exposed). And yet it does the trick, framing her lovely features in a pink hued collar. Notice how her necklace is a knight, seen in the third image below. This is rather tongue in cheek, as in " I can have any man I want at my beck and call".

 Beth Throckmorton, uncharacteristically, does not wear a matching outfit, but rather wears a plain white dress, as if not to outshine the Queen. The white here makes her look as though she is beyond love and sex, not to be even considered an object of such. And yet, in her own right, she appears young and desirable with her open neckline, making Elizabeth look old and stuffy and overdressed.
The scene in which Elizabeth is about to sign the death warrant for Mary Queen of Scots, she wears green, which is ironically the color symbolizing life and well being. It is also the color of truth, and in this case, the truth really sucks. She has to pretty much kill her near cousin to remove her as a threat. No matter which century you're from, thats rough.

Lastly, the color purple. It is the color of imagination, which she wears when asking Raleigh for a forbidden, unmentionable kiss.

It is also the color of impracticality, which she again wears when she finds out that killing off Mary Queen of Scots has led to war.

Finally, it is the color of immaturity, which fits her meltdown scene when she finds out that Beth has , married Raleigh and is pregnant with his child. Even her adviser begs her for "mercy, dignity". Paired with the extremely artificial looking wig she wears in that scene, her character seems to be living more and more in a fantasy of youth and beauty, the falsehood of which is apparent to everyone but her.

Well, that's that! Hope that wasn't too tedious, though if your are reading this and are a nerd like myself, I know it probably was not close to enough. I know there are other characters in the film who wear symbolic colors,(Mary's red execution gown, being the color of sexuality and martyrdom, being her last appearance at court I suppose she killed two birds with one stone) but those were not the choice of the directors, being rather historical facts. I thought on the whole this was an interesting tableau of color and costume, telling the story within a story, as any good costuming should.

*Desclaimer; I do not own any rights to the film or anything affiliated with it. I am simply a nerd who admired costume and fashion. The images are my own, obtained as either screen caps from the Netflix Movie, or elsewhere online. I do not own rights to the images or anything of the sort. This is not for any monetary gain, simply for interest.