this extraordinary hubbub of dockworkers. A young middle class girl thrown into this very working class society. That scene triggers her whole look.’
Amy carefully built a palette for Jenny that reflected her restrained femininity, but also suited the actress’s porcelain skin. She describes this as, ‘Soft and delicate colours, with the occasional olive yellow and chocolate brown thrown in.’
For Cynthia – a quiet but sometimes whimsical young woman, with a hint of hidden depths – the hues tend to be deeper and more mysterious. ‘I like her in prune and charcoal, with touches of green,’ says Amy. ‘She is more quirky than Jenny, perhaps a little bit Prada.’
As for Trixie, the clothes, like the character, are sassy. ‘She is gregarious, blonde, feisty and bold enough to wear black. Her outfits have strong, blocked colours that wouldn’t look out of place in a jazz club.’
Chummy proved an interesting proposition costume-wise. She has a private income in addition to her nurse’s wage, and could purchase a wardrobe that all would envy. But practical Chummy prizes comfort above couture and chooses sensible materials like Crimplene, developed in the fifties as a crease-resistant wash-and-wear fabric. In awe of Amy’s expertise, I seldom reference clothing in the scripts, unless it is mentioned in dialogue, but in Series One I chucked in a Crimplene skirt suit without realising that at that time this material was not a by-word for frumpiness but, in fact, quite cutting edge. Amy alerted me to this and, after some discussion, we decided that Crimplene was actually a good social marker for this aristocratic renegade as it was then available only through the smartest establishments.
Chummy has a palette mainly comprised of browns and greys, offset with accents of orange, pink and teal.
These are colours conservative Chummy might have chosen and they work well with Miranda Hart’s lightly tanned complexion and deep hazel eyes. However, a surprise ‘gift’ of a length of fabric from Sister Monica Joan in Series One offered the chance to extend Chummy’s range. For this, Amy chose a glorious turquoise brocade, figured in gold. It had an Indian feel, which was a nice nod to Chummy’s childhood in the Raj, but it also seemed to hint that Chummy was setting sail for pastures new and that her life was opening out.
In the story, she makes herself a dress from the cloth to wear for her momentous meeting with PC Noakes’ parents. She then ruins it by becoming involved in the surprise delivery of a litter of piglets. Amy made two dresses in order to accommodate this storyline. One had to be pristine, the other smothered in Nutella – to represent lashings of pig manure.
It is not unusual for costumes to be created in duplicate, especially with frequently worn items such as uniforms. In Call the Midwife the nurses’ outfits and the nuns’ habits work exceptionally hard, and if a piece of clothing is torn or stained it needs to be replaced – often at a moment’s notice – with an identical item.
The nurses’ working clothes and the nuns’ habits were all created from scratch by Amy after she carefully balanced painstaking research with the needs of the television medium. The uniforms worn by the real-life midwives were predominantly grey, but this would have looked very drab on screen. Amy compromised, keeping the belted, grey gabardines and choosing a soft blue for the dresses, with a crisp white Peter Pan collar. There was debate about the headgear: as young midwives, Jennifer Worth and her colleagues sported grey felt boaters, but these would do no one any favours. Eventually the team settled on a brimless hat in cherry red with cardigan to match, the latter a nod to the chilly domestic conditions in which nurses often worked.
The hosiery proved interesting – it transpired that the sheer black stockings of popular memory were either a later arrival or the product of the collective male imagination. Stout tan nylons were the order of the day in Poplar in the fifties, worn with saddle-brown lace-up shoes.
Research for the nuns’ habits involved a trip to Birmingham. Here, Amy and director Philippa Lowthorpe met with the Sisters of the Order of St John the Divine – the inspiration for the Order of St Raymond Nonnatus in the series. Though the Sisters no longer wear the habit, they had an entire, carefully preserved ensemble tucked away. This comprised the basic dress or tunic, the scapula, which is a tabard-like outer garment, and the wimple and veil. Amy was able to turn the garments inside out and collate information about how they were structured and made. Then Philippa modelled the wimple and veil, so that all details about fastenings and so forth could be carefully recorded.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
