Audio version of “Period Drama Wardrobes: Cosette in Les Misérables” is available here.
The sad fact is that I am not the Les Misérables nerd that I was four years ago. (I apologize. We all have our flaws, you know.) There is one Les Mis-ish date that I make a point of celebrating, however (and I plan on making a habit of celebrating it on my blog), and that is today, Barricade Day. (For the uninitiated, this refers to the day that the revolutionary students defended the barricade they built.) So today, I will kill two birds with one stone (FIGURATIVELY, peeps) and do a Les Mis-related post which also begins a series that I had mentioned starting some months ago. Yes, in case you couldn’t tell from the title of the post, this will be my first period drama wardrobe post, and it will feature Cosette.
(The 2012 movie version of the musical of Les Misérables is not my favorite version, by-the-by, but due to its having the prettiest dresses for Cosette, having far more outfits for her than the stage version, and being the most “official” filmed version of the musical, we are going with the 2012 version.)
I shall start with the first dress we see her in (after she’s grown up, that is), which is very similar to the traditional original costume for her in the stage play.
Those sleeves, though! Anne Shirley would be so jealous. (I must say, though, that I find it a bit vexing that her hair is never up. With Éponine it makes sense, but Cosette is a proper lady, and she’s also absolutely old enough to put her hair up. You could argue that it’s because Jean Valjean babies her, but the fact that she has such lovely clothes seems to imply that she wants to be fashionably dressed (which is true to the book) and that should include proper hairdressing.)
The next outfit we see her in is her nightgown and dressing-gown, both of which are quite pretty.
I like the floral pattern on the edge of her dressing-gown. It looks rather similar to this next dress of hers, actually:
Although this pattern looks more like a holly or berry pattern, doesn’t it? Pretty, but not quite a fitting pattern for June, Cosette! (On closer look, it is in fact a flower pattern. Sorry, Cosette. I apologize.) Here’s a closer look at the lacey cuff and trimmings:
Now her cute grey rosebud dress:
I would make the neckline a little less wide, but other than that it is very pretty, isn’t it? Perhaps one of her prettiest. Here’s a closer look at the detailing on the neckline.
Her only other main outfit (SPOILERS AHEAD; STOP READING/VIEWING THIS POST HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS) is, as you will have surmised if you know the story, her wedding dress.
I love all the detailing on the bodice. You’ll notice the dress is a pale pink, which I think is very pretty. I’m honestly not a huge fan of the sleeves, though…I like puffed sleeves (in moderation), but I think it looks a little strange to have sleeves which are nothing but puff, if you understand me. I think it’s better if there’s a fitted part of the sleeve in addition to the puffed part, like there is in Cosette’s other dresses. (But her hair is finally up! Hooray!)
Now all that’s left of Cosette’s wardrobe is some weird little odds and ends. For instance, this dress here:
Pretty, right? But I’m fairly sure that Cosette never wears it in the film. I’ve never seen it anywhere but in this picture. There’s another outfit of hers which is only seen in a promotional photo:
I love her matching gloves! If only her hair were up and that bonnet didn’t look about four times the size of her head, this’d be a lovely outfit. (I am curious as to why these two dresses weren’t in the film. I suppose there just wasn’t time for them…Cosette isn’t in very many scenes, considering her importance in the plot.)
Oh, and there’s one more outfit in the film – you only see it for a split second, and it’s not very interesting, but for completeness’s sake, here you are:
The hat is interesting, at least. And her hair is finally up, so yay!
What are your favorite period drama wardrobes? What are your favorites of Cosette’s dresses?
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Oh, I forgot today was Barricade Day! I should have listened to some Les Mis . . .
Yeah, I’m–not sure what I think of this movie. But her dresses are lovely, no doubt about it. Thanks for assembling them all here so I can sign over them 😛 I would so wear the white and purple flower one–that might be my favorite!
Truth be told…I don’t think I actually listened to any Les Mis on Barricade Day myself. (But Noddy and I sang an impromptu version of the “You at the barricade, listen to this!” bit ourselves, so maybe that counts?)
Aren’t her dresses so pretty? She gets very little in the way of nice clothing in the stage show, so that is one thing I like better in the movie! What are your thoughts on the movie? Are your issues with it more related to the live singing or the casting/characterization? (I have some issues with both, come to think of it :P)
Sounds like me and my sister ;P
Hmm . . . Well, not having read the book, I feel pretty hypocritical picking on characterization. And while I do think the live singing didn’t always work, my biggest issue is the cinematography. It’s so in-the-face and almost–frantic? It was hard for me to get emotionally invested because I was just trying to figure out what was going on. And it was not the first adaptation I saw; I was already familiar with the story.
Snooping in the other comments, I find it interesting that you don’t like Javert. I didn’t like his singing, but beyond that . . . (I ought to read the brick . . . one of these days . . . ’cause I feel like I’m missing something about his character :P) Does his portrayal in the musical in general or just this movie irk you?
I absolutely agree! I don’t know if they thought it would add to the “grittiness” and emotion to constantly have close-ups and shaky-cams, but I think it was very distracting…and really just not good film-making.
Well, I think Javert’s portrayal in the musical in general is a little too simplistic, but I especially have issues with his portrayal in this movie. Javert is supposed to be completely devoted to the law – to have this overwhelming drive and desire to bring all into order and to eradicate anything which is outside the pale of the law. I really didn’t feel that fiery passion at all from Russell Crowe’s Javert. I feel it almost comes across more like he’s a run-of-the-mill policeman in most ways who just happens to have a personal vendetta against Valjean, which is not the case at all.
I do think they were trying to make him somewhat sympathetic in the movie, but not in ways that make sense given his personality. For instance, that bit where he pins his medal on Gavroche’s coat – I do NOT think Javert would do that (certainly not at that point in the story, anyway); the revolutionaries were in direct opposition to all he believed in and held most dear and he would consider it wrong, not right, to reward that. But as further demonstration that the film-makers didn’t “get” him, they then make him unnecessarily harsh when he meets Valjean coming out of the sewers – Javert never threatened him physically at that bit in the book, and in fact he helped Valjean bring Marius to his grandfather’s house.
Wow, that was a lot…Javert is one of my favorite Les Mis characters, so I have a lot of opinions (in case you couldn’t tell, heh). (If you want even more rambling on my thoughts on this topic, I wrote about Javert in more detail a while ago in a blog post: https://starlightandsaucepans.org/defending-javert/ ) But yes, reading the Brick sounds like a good plan 😉
The shame! I’ve never actually seen the film version of Les Mis… although I have seen it performed live! It’s a great story (although the Waterloo bit was rather unnecessary) and I do love the costumes!
Cosette’s dresses are so pretty! Thanks for this lovely layout 🙂 (I mean except for the hats, but we can ignore those.) My favourite’s that yellow one with the lace collar, the one in the promotional photo—depends on the comfort level, but I would definitely wear that one.
What’s your opinion on the Les Mis movie? Should I watch it? 🙂
You’ve seen it live?? Ah, that must have been amazing! (Heh, the Waterloo bit was very much unnecessary. And that bit about Progress and revolution and all that which seemed to last forever.)
That one is lovely, isn’t it? (And I realize now, by the way, that I was wrong about that heavy blue dress and enormous bonnet – she does wear that it in the film, in the One Day More scene. You just can’t see it very well since it’s dark.)
I think it’s worth watching! There are things I like about it and things I don’t. There are some characterizations that I think they really didn’t get (Javert is the most notable) and some that I really liked (like Cosette, actually). And while I understand what they were trying to do with the live singing, I don’t think I like it on the whole – the whole point of a musical is that the emotion is expressed through the music, and this way I think that the emotion was often expressed at the expense of the music. (That being said, the I Dreamed a Dream scene was absolutely stunning and probably one of the best pieces of acting I’ve ever seen.)
Also, Lovely Ladies and Master of the House are…erm….even more skippable than the stage show versions. (At least, so I’ve heard. Haven’t watched ’em myself, because I’m Not Here for That.)
So the short version: I would watch it, but be warned that it’s not perfect. Have you seen the Tenth Anniversary Concert? I love that version to pieces <3
Yes! It was indeed Most Amazing. (Agreed. Victor Hugo turned a lovely story into a college essay!)
Oh, really? That’s quite a… large hat, there. You couldn’t persuade me to don that thing for any less than a million dollars. And then I might consider it.
That makes sense! I shall certainly check it out, but Very Judiciously, because I’m Not Here For That m’self.
Thanks for the tips! I’ll let you know once I see it 😛
(I don’t believe I’ve seen that version either? We’ll have to see.)
Hehehe…truth be told, I would don it for much less than that. I might even temporarily don it with no mercenary motives, just for the Experience. 😛 (I like her other bonnets, actually – they’re not quite so humungous, and they also are actually, y’know, the shape a bonnet’s supposed to be, not weirdly and completely flat. But that one…is just too much.)
You should give it a go! It’s not really a stage performance; it’s in concert format, so some singing between major songs is cut for time, there’s not much in the way of props, and the performers are just standing in front of microphones. But it has a phenomenal cast, phenomenal performances, and just feels very Les Mis-ish. 🙂 (It’s on Youtube, by-the-by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BpsTZ4UZk8 )
I think my favorites are the yellow one at the bottom that you said you never see in the movie, and the blue one with the little flowers around the neckline! I’ve yet to see this movie, but a couple of our friends have planned a day to watch it together so I’ll get to check it off the list! 🙂 Happy Belated Barricade Day!
I think those are two of the very prettiest! Ooh, I hope you enjoy it…have you listened to any Les Mis before, or will this be your first introduction to it?
Happy even more belated Barricade Day to you! 😉