Monday 20 June 2011

Robin Hood BBC: The Costumes of Lady Marian Series 1 Part 4 (LAST)

We have now reached the last episode (and costume) of Series One. So therefore this the final post on Marian's costumes from this season.
This post contains only one costume 'Marian's Wedding dress'. As this outfit is my personal favourite I have gone a little overboard with the length and the pictures :) because I just couldn't chose between them so I have included them all. Enjoy :)

Episode Thirteen- A Clue: No

Costume # 16- "Marian's Wedding Dress"

I just adore this costume, it has such a medieval theme to it, without being over the top. The style is very fitting with the times. 
The dress itself is quite simliar in style to many of Marian's previous dresses, especially with the long sleeves and the belt which hangs around her waist.  However the ruffles at the back of the dress, the intricate detailing all over the dress and the beading on the belt show, along with the make up, jewelery and veil, that this dress is much more special than the others. Although it is very hard to see, and I could not put up a better picture without giving more of the story away, I am absolutely in love with the shoes Marian wears with this costume. They are white lace up boots which have detailing very similar to that on her dress, they are gorgeous.

I think the colour of the dress is beautiful too, it gives Marian (Lucy's) skin a beautiful glow and sets off her hair colour beautifully. I am so glad that they did not use the traditional 'white' wedding dress because it just would not have suited the medieval era and I loved seeing something different.

Now the veil! The veil is my favourite part of this costume, it is so beautiful. Due to the fact that this show is set in rather medieval times I did not expect to see Marian wearing a veil, I guess I would picture Lady Marian to wear a wreath of flowers but I love what the costume designers have done here. You can also see that the colour of the veil is also the same colour as the flower details on her dress.

The veil is made out of lace, it is rather long at the back (in the picture above Marian is holding the bottom of it in her hand, as you can see it falls much below her waist line) but is quite short at the front which is really flattering. Across her head, is a crown of flowers, it is almost like a headband it gives the veil a touch of medieval style and also a little bit of royalty to it.



This costume is quite similar in many ways to the costumes that Marian has worn previously (apart from the addition of the veil) so what is it about this costume that I love so much? To be perfectly honest, my love of this outfit does not simply lie with the design or even the costume in general.
It all really comes down to memory, because as I stated in my Robin Hood Series One review I first came across this TV series after watching a YouTube video which included a scene from Series One. The scene, without giving too much away, had Marian in her wedding dresses running to meet someone :) So whenever I see this dress I am reminded of the first time I fell in love with this series.

Another reason I love this costume is, for me it represents so much, the episode (again trying not to give away too much information) details the inner struggle of Marian. We are presented with two versions of the character; the veiled Marian  and unveiled Marian.
The veiled Marian is very much hiding behind her veil. She is scared and this veil is like a barrier of safety which she has put this up, it masks her true feelings from those around her and serves as a form of protection. This Marian is strong and independant but has lost the fight, she can see no way out of the mess she has gotten into and frankly can't be bothered trying to dig herself out. She has resigned herself to the facts and in the end this metaphorical veil may protect her but it also makes her lose sight of the things that are most important to her, especially the value of truth, honesty and love.


When Marian rips off her veil, the audience get a sense of Marian departing from that person. She becomes the unveiled Marian, she is no longer going to hide her true feelings or hide behind her fears. This Marian, trusts her instincts and will not compromise or be forced into an action she may later regret.

Marian in this episode is extremely inspirational, and because this costume plays such a key role in the episode, it is no wonder that it is my favourite.


For those of you that have enjoyed this post series I will be looking at Marian's costumes from Series Two a little later in the year once I have finished a few other features (character profiles etc.) that I have planned which relate to Series One. 

Love,
Mel xx

Image credits: BBC

7 comments:

Jujube said...

That's such a lovely wedding gown! Interesting how a costume can play a key role...just as you said it does in that certain episode.

Anonymous said...

I love, love, love that show! Indeed her costumes, were so much fun, and always make me want to dress up. :)

www.radiant-joy.blogspot.com

Elizabeth said...

This is one of my favorite dresses too. I have never really thought about the symbolism in the dress. I really like how you went into that!

Mel said...

Jemimah, it really is so interesting, it makes me want to look at the costumes in other films/tv shows to see their significance :)

Sarah Michelle, I love Robin Hood too, as you can see :) Her costumes make me want to dress up too!

Elizabeth, Thank you! I am glad that you liked the symbolism part.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I like your blog :)
I just thought I should tell you, you put a T in Wesley's name....

Mel said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog! :)

By Westley I assume you are speaking of the character from The Princess Bride (let me know if you're not) in the picture on the righthand sidebar of my blog? Thanks for letting me know, I checked the credits on the film and I found it is Westley (with a T). But thank you so much for leaving a comment.

Mel :)

Mal said...

Haha I bet it's sooo hard not to give stuff away in your Robin Hood posts! When I was watching Season 2, I went to the actors' wikipedia pages, and I saw two VERY important/surprising events there that spoiled it for me :( You can probably guess which ones - they're the two biggest surprises :)
-mal