#Kasia Walicka-Maimone

[fuckyeahcostumedramas]

Denée Benton as Peggy Scott in The Gilded Age (TV Series, 2022 - ).

[costumeloverz71]

Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) Maroon walking dress.. The Gilded Age (2022-).. Costume by Kasia Walicka-Maimone.

[flurryheaven]

25th Annual Costume Designers Guild Award Nominations - Excellence in Period Television 

Sophie Canale - Bridgerton: Season 2, Episode 6 “The Choice” 

Amy Roberts - The Crown: Season 5, Episode 6 “Ipatiev House” 

Kasia Walicka-Maimone - The Gilded Age: Season 1, Episode 9 “Let the Tournament Begin” 

Donna Zakowska - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 4, Episode 6 “Maisel vs. Lennon: The Cut Contest 

Kameron Lennox - Pam & Tommy: Episode 2 “I Love You, Tommy” 

[quicksiluers]

Costumes for The Pale Blue Eye 

Designed by Kasia Walicka-Maimone

[berthas-russells]

My favorite* costumes from THE GILDED AGE (2022- ) | 2x07 "Wonders Never Cease"

Costume Design: Kasia Walicka Maimone

*Note: some costumes are from season 1 and are being reworn

[fashionsfromhistory]

What do you think about the costumes on the gilded age?

I haven't started S2, but I was pretty impressed! There's so many gowns that are just straight up recreations of historical garments. Kasia Walicka-Maimone is very talented and I'm so happy she's getting a big budget show like this.

There was a couple clunkers on Carrie as Bertha Russell, but I can let that go seeing as 1) she was a last minute casting change, and 2) she was 8 months pregnant when filming on S1 wrapped! Seriously, kudos to the costume team because there was only one moment where I was like 'yeah she's pregnant'. The red gown makes up for everything though lol.

(Pictures taken from Carrie's Twitter)

Side note: If you're interested in seeing of the garments up close and some progress shots, Eric Winterling's instagram is the place to be! They also did tons of work on Mrs. Maisel.

[fairweathermyth]

PINK in Period Drama Costuming Appreciation

Belle (2013) costume design by Anushia Nieradzik My Country: The New Age (2019) costume design by Kim So-yeon Pain and Glory (2019) costume design by Paola Torres Black Sails (2014-2017) costume design by Marina Draghici Gentleman Jack (2019- ) costume design by Tom Pye Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) costume design by Lovleen Bains Moonrise Kingdom (2012) costume design by Kasia Walicka Maimone The Great (2020- ) costume design by Emma Fryer

[servants-hall]

‘The Gilded Age’ Season 2 Behind the Scenes: How Fashion Defines Each Character (PHOTOS)

by Kelli Boyle

Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey (2011-2016) [mod note: on PBS in the US], set that upstairs-downstairs series at a palatial British estate on the eve of World War I. He moved his newest costume drama Stateside to the streets of New York City. Set in the late 1800s, The Gilded Age, which has its second-season premiere on Sunday, October 29 on HBO (streaming on Max), pits the new money of railroad barons against the old money of New York society. The powerful fight for control of the city and use their wealth to measure social success. And dressing for success was its own full-time occupation.

When researching women’s fashion in 1800s New York, the show’s costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone saw one thing clearly: “Their life was a catwalk. There was this enormous excitement” when the ladies trekked the bustling, dusty streets of Manhattan. Her job was to recreate that excitement for contemporary viewers of The Gilded Age.

Fashion as a Sign of Status

Who’s doing all this promenading? Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) arrived in NYC with no money and was taken in by her aunts Ada (Cynthia Nixon) and Agnes (Christine Baranski), both living off an inheritance. Then the newly affluent Russells—headed by railroad baron George (Morgan Spector) and wife Bertha (Carrie Coon), who is determined to break into polite society—moved in across the street.

Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon) and Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) head to church on Easter morning in ‘The Gilded Age’ Season 2 premiere. Niece Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) follows close behind (Credit: Barbara Nitke/HBO)

The frill thrills continue in Season 2, especially in a pivotal garden party scene (pictured below) that TV Insider observed being filmed in September 2022 at New York’s lavish Old Westbury Gardens estate. (Westbury House was previously home to an heir of the Phipps family, real-life Gilded Age figures whose patriarch made his fortune alongside Andrew Carnegie at his steel company.) On set was Fellowes, whose smart black suit and tie were the only dark hues around.

Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga), George Russell (Morgan Spector), and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) step out for Easter mass in ‘The Gilded Age’ Season 2 premiere (Credit: Barbara Nitke/HBO)

Historically Accurate Costumes

It’s a testament to the wardrobe department that the stunning colors of the sprawling grounds nearly pale in comparison to the vibrancy of the women’s period garb. Despite the sepia-toned images in history books, Walicka-Maimone says, those bright tints are decidedly historically accurate. She has a library of more than 35,000 reference images to prove it.

“It’s shocking to our modern eye to see the explosion of color from that period,” she said. Production designer Bob Shaw (who won an Emmy for his work on Gilded Age) was present to share his creative process, which, just as Walicka-Maimone described of her own work, is “deeply steeped in history.”

Nicole Brydon Bloom joins the cast for Season 2, pictured here at the garden party with Blake Ritson’s Oscar van Rhijn (Credit: Barbara Nitke/HBO)

He does note that, when deciding between “what is correct and what feels correct,” the latter always wins. Creative liberties are taken to “build [character] histories into the costumes,” Walicka-Maimone added.

A Garden Party to Remember

Take Brit newcomers Dashiell Montgomery (David Furr) and his daughter, Frances (Matilda Lawler), for example. Nephew by marriage to Baranski’s Agnes, Dashiell requires more “toned-down” attire suitable for social outings, which contrasts with Season 1’s primarily business and formal menswear.

Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara) and husband Charles Fane (Ward Horton) attend the garden party in ‘The Gilded Age’ Season 2 (Credit: Barbara Nitke/HBO)

Dashiell must escort Frances through society in his late wife’s absence. One consideration for Walicka-Maimone: “This is a girl who doesn’t have a mother, so there’s probably extra care from all the other family members in [dressing her],” she said.

Meanwhile, Marian, who Jacobson said is “shining this season and sees herself in [younger] Frances,” will be more open to a strategic marriage. Marian’s “not necessarily cynical” after being jilted by Tom Raikes (Thomas Cocquerel) in last season’s finale, the actress continued, but the heartbreak gives her a “spice and edge.”

Don’t count out the possibility of a romance with Larry Russell (Harry Richardson), son of the railroad titan, which was teased last year. Jacobson shared: “They will definitely continue to deepen their friendship.” Old money and new money unite!

[droughtofapathy]

I've been a little glum about Aurora Fane's costuming this season just because I miss the motifs of always having her chest out for some reason, and being almost exclusively in shades of blue for the whole of last season. However, one outfit from this season is a standout on every level. But how did we get here. Come with me on this journey.

This is the dress Aurora wears whilst visiting the The Met Opera prior to its official opening. It's beautiful. It's blue, and floral, and she just looks so divine in it. See more about its creation below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eric Winterling (@ericcaseywinterling)

Now, here is Kelli O'Hara's costume in The Hours, an opera that premiered last fall at The Met, and will play an encore this coming spring.

Like... come the fuck on. I am obsessed. (Side note: this costume is even more incredible than at first glance because it does something really fun and innovative for the on-stage quick change. Do yourself a favor and see it live.)

The costume designer put Kelli O'Hara in a blue dress with pink roses for the scene where she stands upon the Met Opera stage* and I have been thinking about it for weeks. But here's the kicker. Season Two filming took place in summer of 2022. Kelli was learning the score to The Hours during this time. At this point, the costume design, creation, and fittings for The Gilded Age had almost certainly already happened, because y'know, they were actively filming and these things take time. The Hours costume design would not have had any chance to see Kelli's Gilded Age costume, nor would they have cared for the purposes of the character. The earliest promo shots of Kelli for The Hours are from October 2022, and she is in a completely different dress (green with blue roses). Someone explain to me how this happened, because it is too much for me to handle. I need to sit down with Kasia Walicka Maimone and Tom Pye right fucking now so they can explain themselves.

*yes, I know the Met depicted in the show is not the Met currently located at Lincoln Center, but let me have this.

[whartonists]

That thing about Netflix, the BBC, and ITV all considering banning corsets from period dramas is making me think again about an interview I read a while ago with Louisa Jacobson, which really struck me at the time: she mentions that she asked the costumers to tight-lace her at her first fitting, and then was stuck with that throughout much of the rest of the filming of season one. Apparently the corset was so tight it bruised her ribs.

I have two points to make about this, which are:

a) The costumers should have never let her do that. I do not know who was doing this fitting, but considering the fact that she plays a main character on the show I assume it was either Kasia Walicka-Maimone herself or a very high-up assistant, and the fact that they did not point out to her that lacing down to a rib-bruising extent would be uncomfortable and unsafe is completely ridiculous. Costume designers wear a variety of hats, but one of their roles is to create garments that will be functional on set and on screen, and I would consider this to be acute incompetence on the part of Walicka-Maimone and her team. (We know from behind the scenes photos that they also do not have her wear a chemise or even a tank top underneath her corset, which only furthers my opinion of their basic incompetence in clotheing actors comfortably and responsibly.)

b) Which leads directly into my other point, which is that the problem with the myths around corsetry--that corsets are, fundamentally, meant to be uncomfortable, and that their primary purpose is to decrease the waist measurement--are not only annoying historical inaccuracies but are causing active damage to actors. If actors--many of whom already have very little body fat to begin with--go into costume fittings expecting to decrease their waist measurement and costumers are too uninformed and incompetent to counteract this, then of course they are going to be uncomfortable. (I am specifically mentioning actors and costumers here, but there could certainly also be influences from directors and other people involved.)

I feel like this is a case where historical accuracy in costuming is not only a matter of aesthetics and authenticity (both of which I think are very important), but also of very basic and practical comfort and safety of actual people playing these roles. If costume designers don’t understand the form and function of historical clothing and undergarments--including not only corsets but also things like hip and bust padding that create shape and form (and tiny-looking waists) without tightlacing--then they will (and do, apparently) put actors in danger of not just discomfort but actual injury.

[sunbeamsandmoonrays]

Not me googling wedding gowns from the 1880s so I could maybe glean what Kasia Walicka Maimone has in store for Marian 😅😂

[fuckyeahcostumedramas]

Cynthia Nixon as Ada Brook & Christine Baranski as Agnes van Rhijn in The Gilded Age (TV Series, 2022 - ).

[costumeloverz71]

Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) Black & red dress.. The Gilded Age (2022-). Costume by Kasia Walicka-Maimone.

[sisistringer]

PERIOD DRAMA WEEK 2022

Day 3: Favorite costumes

The Gilded Age (HBO) designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone

[kristenswig]

Best Costume Design 2022

Winner

Corsage - Monika Buttinger

Nominees

After Yang - Arjhun Bhasin Babylon - Mary Zophres Blonde - Jennifer Johnson Bones and All - Giulia Piersanti The Pale Blue Eye - Kasia Walicka Maimone

[berthas-russells]

My favorite costumes from THE GILDED AGE (2022- ) | 2x08 "In Terms of Winning and Losing"

Costume Design: Kasia Walicka-Maimone