Te Young https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uKX_9r3X1g

Te young Victoria is a period drama flm. It is based on the early life and reign of , and her marriage to Prince Albert. A child is born in a Palace, she is destined to be the queen. Caught between her two royal uncles, she is forced to relinquish her powers and sign a “regency order” by her steward Sir John. Te movie starts with her narrating about the childhood, how she was not allowed to go to school with others, someone would always taste her food before she could eat, she was forbidden to read popular books and always protected from everything. Her Uncle seeing her being impertinent, sends Prince Albert to visit her. He has been coached to win her hand.

She is crowned to be the queen of England. Lord Melbourne becomes her sole advisor, meanwhile Prince Albert returns to London to witness the coronation, and their friendship deepens. Queen is loved by her public, but due to Lord Melbourne's loss in elections and the misunderstandings caused by his rival, Victoria is outraged. Albert visits her again and now they decide to get married.

Te Royal Wedding is cheered by all. Eventually misunderstanding emerge between them between them regarding the political decisions. Later on Victoria becomes pregnant, but the arguments still continue about Albert taking the lead her affairs. Later they are riding through the streets when suddenly a crazed man tries to attack Victoria. Albert tries to protect her and gets wounded. He is cured and amazed by his strength of love, Victoria realises and they sort things between them. Eventually she gives birth to nine children and for the rest of their lives they rule together.

Te costumes in the movie are a combination of a modern touch with the costume style since the movie is a recent release. Sandy Powell has designed the costumes for the movie. She researched on it by looking at the archives of Queen Victoria’s own clothes, through paintings, art from that period, historical garments and other contemporary sources. Te costumes were made sumptuous and royal. Tey wore a variety of vibrant hues in the flm. Her gowns are made from luxurious silk and frills. Some costumes are incorporating wide shawl collar but always with the same puffed sleeves. Te reason for this relative similarity is because the real Queen Victoria generally had several dresses made from same pattern in different colours, expressing her blatant disinterest with the ritual of fashion.

Two pieces that stand out are worn for evening social events. First a scoop neck gold dress at the Windsor ball and the other one was a rich yellow gown with a garland of red fowers for her waltz with Albert. Victoria’s mourning dress, shows how costume, specially colour, showed Victoria’s triumphant skip that marked the beginning of the rest of her life. Her stockings, made from silk and cashmere. Te coronation dress is one of the most iconic ones. Te golden embroidered cloak that is placed on her was replicated with inexpensive gold lurex fabric painted to look like embroidery. Te members of the procession wore red cloaks made from velvet and ermine. Te queen designed her own wedding dress in real, setting the tradition of bride wearing white on her wedding. In the movie, Victoria wore a beautiful, trailing gown of cream satin and monition lace for her wedding. Victoria’s riding ensemble was a ludicrous combination of formality and supposed function, it is recognisable from costume plates of the era.

Albert’s clothes are cheerier than other males. Lord Melbourne wore long, ftted black frock coat, grey stock and slim trousers. Older gentlemen in the movie wore caped great coats. Te jewellery, buttons and the shawls were authentic. It took 3 months to make the costumes. Vintage fabric was used to create the costumes. Every costume of Victoria and other actors were built from scratch. Victoria wore over 50 costumes in the flm and Albert wore over 40. Tus the movie gave a feel of that era with its setting, its costumes and music.

The Young Victoria

Bibliography: http://clothesonflm.com/young-victoria-costume-designer-interview/7769/ http://tyrannyofstyle.com/designing-victoria-historic-resources http://www.costumersguide.com/cr_victoria.shtml https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Young_Victoria http://www.fashion-era.com/Costume_flms/flm-review-the-young-victoria.htm http://www.victorianweb.org/history/victoria/youngvictoria/yv2.html