Feminist revisionism is surely having a moment with shows like Dickinson, Bridgerton, and The Wonderful. Why do you consider these narratives resonate with audiences suitable now?
I assume some thing distinctive about Dickinson is that it’s not just a period piece with a number of present day winks. It genuinely is a hybrid of a entirely modern day exhibit and a period of time clearly show. Sometimes, I will have a line that I really have to glance at and choose no matter if or not it’s a absolutely irreverent contemporary remark or a minor historic truth from the 1850s. And usually, it is the two. I believe that’s how it feels to be a younger person right now. We are reliving so a lot of our history with what’s heading on politically but also interpersonally. I imagine we are dwelling the consequences of dynamics that were being set up hundreds of many years ago, and so these tales really feel so appropriate to our life. What does that say about how little culture has moved ahead and how considerably we are repeating the exact challenges over and above again? That is not the most uplifting answer.
I imagine section of what makes Dickinson a spoonful of sugar in some ways is that Alena also performs with some of the seriously absurd factors that are very similar about the 1850s and now. Even minimal aspects maintain coming up. For illustration, I turned obsessed with this image of the real Lavinia Dickinson with a fox. She experienced a pet fox and was this kind of a cooky animal individual. And then on my TikTok algorithm, I began getting all of these videos of domesticated foxes! Which is just the tiniest factor, but it’s really Dickinson-ish due to the fact I feel there is one thing ludacris about the exhibit, in particular when it will come to the mix of the two time intervals.
I heard a rumor you grew to become so obsessed with the classic undergarments you wear on Dickinson that you sought out very similar types on Etsy. Can you notify me a minor about sourcing these parts and how you are incorporating them into your daily wardrobe?
The attire are manufactured for us on the show, but beneath them, a good deal of the undergarments we are donning are precise classic items from the time period. I became so obsessed with corset handles, which are these cropped white blouses. They appear so considerably like things getting worn a ton now but a tiny bit improved. They have minimal particulars, like a ton of them have the person’s initials embroidered in white so you can barely see it or seriously pretty lace. I began inquiring the costume division the place they had been getting them, and they sent me the vintage retailers on Etsy where they identified a good deal of them, and they are not expensive. Often, you can locate $30 types. They go with everything—jeans and skirts. I have been attempting to determine out how to costume extra sustainably and to assume about avoiding quickly trend, and this felt like this sort of a excellent option, and it in fact genuinely adjusted the way that I search for clothing. It designed me understand that a lot of the things I’m looking at in suppliers and that are popular now are re-creations of points that are presently out in the earth, and there are so quite a few possible methods to get your palms on them.
I often joke that my excellent aesthetic is like a Victorian little one likely to mattress. It is ethereal and very simple, but a large amount of [those pieces] are produced with actually durable and great good quality cotton. It jumped out at me due to the fact so a lot about the present is how we are reliving heritage, and it opened my eyes to how cyclical vogue is. I’ll see an individual on the streets wearing anything precisely like it, but it’s from H&M or ASOS. It is also enjoyment to really feel like you are donning something that has experienced a existence in advance of you and a little little bit of background.