Third, my old gallery script was completely nuked in a PHP server update, so I’m converting all of my Emma media to a WordPress gallery as soon as I can. Be watching for it! 🙂
So the new Emma adaptation, based on Jane Austen’s wonderful novel, is coming very soon. It’s to be released in New York and Los Angeles on February 21, followed by limited North American release on February 28th and a nationwide US release on March 6.
Thanks to my friend Elizabeth, I now have a new Regency gown – a full day dress ensemble – that fits! She asked me to be her model for a Regency fashion lecture at Modesto’s Jane Austen-themed JaneCon, and I agreed! She kindly made me the entire ensemble for the cost of materials and washing/ironing labor, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a good thing she loves to sew, because I sure don’t! I do love paying my friends, or doing them favors, in exchange for beautiful clothes! The look and fit is just perfect.
Me in mushroom hat/beret, fichu and spencer jacket. Regency makeup is weird but surprisingly effective – you use burnt cloves to fill in your brows and liquid/pomade consistency lip and cheek products.I’m on the left, Elizabeth’s on the right. She made us look good.
The outfit consists of an 1805-ish gown made from a block-printed almost-sheer cotton muslin from Renaissance Fabrics. It’s the first front-opening Regency gown I’ve had, as my other, smaller gowns were all of the slightly later frock (back buttons) variety. Since this gown has a bib front that pins in place, it’s taken a bit of getting used to. I think eventually I’ll add period-incorrect snaps and ties to help keep it in place so I won’t stab myself or flash anybody by accident. Continue reading “A new Regency gown!”
The Guardian recently presented a list of UK filming locations that are open to visitors, including some of the spots featured in the upcoming adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Firle Estate in Lewes, South Downs National Park, is the Woodhouses’ Hartfield.
Kingston Bagpuize House in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was the location for Mrs. Goddard’s school.
Chavenage House in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, stands in for the Westons’ Randalls AND the Bates’ second-floor apartments.
Wilton House in Salisbury is Mr. Knightley’s Donwell Abbey. Wilton House crops up in a ton of period films and television shows. Portions of the 2005 Pride & Prejudice and 1995 Sense & Sensibility adaptations were filmed there (the ball scenes during which Marianne confronts Willoughby). The house’s famous Single and Double Cube rooms are well known as the secret planning locations for World War II’s famous D Day invasion. I’ve been here, and the house and grounds are well worth a visit.
Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire stands in for the Coles’ party location.
Leith Hill, Dorking, Surrey, stands in for Box Hill, the famous picnic scene location from the novel.
Lower Slaughter, a village in the Cotswolds, stands in for Highbury. I’ve been here, too. Seems like every Cotswolds village is picturesque and charming in its own way.
All Saint’s Church in St. Paul’s Walden Village, Hertfordshire, stands in for Highbury’s local church.
So The latest film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma is coming in early 2020 (ETA: It’s here now, and currently available online/remotely), set to release in the US and UK in February…
Clueless, the musical is coming to NYC in November, 2018! According to the press release: “Screenwriter and director for the film, Amy Heckerling is bringing Cher and the gang back to life with the help of The New Group, an off-Broadway theater company.” Original Clueless director Amy Heckerling says, “It’s a jukebox musical. IIt’s as if the ’90s was one year, and we’re taking songs from the ’90s and playing with the lyrics to make them tell the story. We just had a sing-through/read-through the other day, and it went really well. They’re just wonderful young actors. A lot of them are coming [to the retrospective].”
