Having just finished "The Tudors" (yes, I have about a two year or more lag on all the television I watch except "Mad Men"), I decided that I wanted to talk about one of the more fun aspects of a very serious show: the dresses!
Now, I profess to having a good amount of knowledge about historical fashion but only really going from the 1700s to today. My knowledge of fashion from the 1500s is minimal enough that most things on the show look fine to me from a historical angle. However, this is not how I intend to analyze the clothes. I will be analyzing them from the perspective of what they represent for the character as a means of character development because this is a show where such an analysis can be taken.
And it will be specifically about Henry VIII's wives (and Mary Tudor too) because the wives costumes are the most interesting and most strategically chosen. Most of the men other than Henry wear the same thing or virtually the same thing in every episode but the women's clothes are not often repeated and when they are, it clearly is done with purpose.
So let's start part one of our seven part series: Catherine of Aragon.
Catherine of Aragon overall doesn't have very many outfits (certainly only a fraction the amount of clothes that Anne Boelyn has) but this makes it a lot easier to see patterns in when she wears certain dresses.
There are a few distinct themes in the way she dresses:
1.) Queenly. Her outfits often are obviously meant to give the sense that she is not only the queen but that she is extremely comfortable in this role that she has held for over twenty years. Although she dresses much more modestly than most of Henry's other wives, she has a lot of clothes with gold detailing or large commanding sleeves.
2.) Foreign. Catherine is one of Henry's two foreign wives and as you will see with Anne of Cleves, there are times when her foreign origins are really put on display with her clothing. Often in "The Tudors" this is done with headdresses.
3.) Matronly. Although historically Catherine was only five years older than Henry, in the show the age difference looks much more severe. What is important however, is that the story seems to start around the point when everyone, especially Henry, has decided that she is no longer biologically capable of producing an heir, thereby making her "an old woman" by those standards and she is often adorned accordingly.
Click the images to enlarge them.
Season 1, Episode 1
A fair warning: some of my screenshots are not the best in the beginning but they get better towards the latter wives. Also, in the beginning it was MURDEROUS trying to get full body shots of anyone as the camera never seemed to go below the waist but that gets better also.
This is actually not the outfit she is introduced in. She is actually first shown in a pink velvet coat that will appear many times later. In the scene, she is denouncing Henry's plans to war with France and Woseley's ideas regarding this and then asks him to visit her bedchamber. There isn't much significance to this so I don't really lament the lack of a screenshot.
This outfit however, is a bit more interesting. In spite of the fact that she is at a joust, which should be a joyous occasion, she is dressed in a black coat and a black veil similar to one she wears in church. She's got other problems on her mind, at this point specifically, her marriage.
Note the headdress. This headdress screams, "I am not English" and in this scene, that fact is important. She is mad at Henry for promising their daughter, Mary, to the dauphin of France who she says is a "sworn enemy" of her family in Spain.
Also, this dress is an interesting choice because it later becomes associated with her attending mass. Catherine is a very devote Catholic and that comes across frequently in the show but in this scene she gets on her knees to praise her husband and not her God. It's almost as if she wanted to disagree with him in the most respectfully way possible by holding him next to God and her speech indicates just that.
Season 1, Episode 2
The scenes involving Catherine in this episode take place during the Christmas celebrations. Christmas dresses are a big thing on this show. Clearly the clothes here are utilizing Christmas colors: a green dress and a red coat.
However, while she is in these festive colors, her crown is very severe and unlike the soft headdresses that she wears throughout the show. The festivities likewise, change in mood halfway through with the birth of Henry's illegitimate son that he chooses to recognize. This is a huge blow to her as all she wanted to do was give him a son and here one of his skanks has succeeded. She raises a glass to him but she is not happy as her mind is literally surrounded by spikes.
Season 1, Episode 3
Here she meets with the envoys from Spain so obviously she is looking as queenly and Spanish as possible. These are her people and she means a lot to them and is comfortable both with them and the upcoming treaty after being so ill at ease with the treaty with France.
Here's a case where I feel like modern ideas are being used to get inside the viewer's head. In this scene Catherine tells Henry of a dream she had about him coming to her and loving her like he used to. Unfortunately, on his way out the door, he gives her only a chase kiss. This is really the scene where she starts to realize that this isn't just a phase but a permanent change in their relationship.
A lot of important events regarding her marriage happen to her when she is in nightgowns and the dress she wears in this scene emulates a nightgown even though it is not. The earrings she wears in this scene seem to play on the modern idea that large earrings are a style choice of older women as often in the series, younger women wear more delicate earrings.
This is the scene where Catherine greets her nephew Charles, the Holy Roman Emperor, and introduces him to her daughter, his bride. She's rocking some purple to show status and has this kind of Earth Mother hairstyle that shows her role in this scene as being a mother. However the dress calls back to the last scene she wore it where she was discussing Mary's marriage to the dauphin of France. While I did say this is often her church dress, when it is not paired with a black coat, it takes on other meanings. Here it is the "betrothals of my daughter dress" in a purely political sense like in the last scene she wore it.
It's also hard not to note the positioning of Anne Boelyn in the second shot. She's coming up right behind her in an even more elaborate dress.
After the introduction, we are taken outside to the party.
This is probably the happiest we have seen Catherine and appropriately, she is wearing light, spring colors and an elaborate, but not too foreign, gold headdress that looks like the sun is shining over her. She is on top of the world right now: Henry is making political moves she can support, she's seeing her nephew for the first time in a while, her daughter will become an empress, and her husband is showing more affection for her than he has in a while.
In the second scene, however, she confides in Charles that Henry's affection is being done for show and that she fears he will try to divorce her. Her attire is hiding her true fears while she tries to relish is what is good right now.
Season 1, Episode 4
She's back to feeling distressed and alienated in black and foreignness. Thomas More and Cardinal Woseley even talk about her during this scene, specifically about how she is popular with the people and as the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, is viewed as what a queen ought to be. The headdress has to do with how her heritage is being brought up. The black is her feelings. The gold and detail on the dress is how she fits into her role as queen. All the elements I mentioned before seem to be showing themselves here.
Another reason for distress here was that during this joust, Henry got severely injured (possibly the injury that would later turn into his festering leg wound?). Also, power dynamic phallus shot.
Season 1, Episode 5
Immediately after Henry's bastard son is given a royal title, we find Catherine sad and alone. Same elements as the dress from the joust but with a more "Englishy" headdress. Here she is speaking as the queen of England when she asks Woseley if the son is above Mary in the line of succession and speculates that Woseley put him up to this. She also finds out that Charles broke his word and will not be marrying Mary.
This is Catherine's "battling Woseley" outfit. In this scene he tells her that Mary is to be taken from her and given her own palace and she is sure that it is his doing to punish her. She also utters the memorable line, "You are my enemy!" and you know they will never be okay again.
Catherine wore this exact outfit to church in episode four and here she is doing God's work in it by giving to the poor. As I said, when this dress is paired with a black coat, it is a religious outfit.
This is really the main start of Catherine's "significant bedclothes."
This scene is also painful to watch. She was really starting to feel like hope in reviving their marriage was lost and for a second when he comes into her room, she thinks things may have changed like in her dream only to have him tell her that their marriage is over and that they were never truly married. Note the purple-red coat that is fighting against what Henry says by keeping her in regal colors even though she is too shocked to fight back with words at this point.
In the rest of this episode she is mostly shown in her green dress as she reflects on the loss of her daughter, calling back to the scene in episode three where she was losing her daughter in a different, more positive way.
Season 1, Episode 6
Meeting with the Spanish ambassador, Mendoza? She puts on her "meeting foreign ambassadors" dress. She tells him about her husband trying to divorce her and says that she wants Charles to know but that Woseley opens her letters and she needs help.
In the last scene with Catherine, she was in a nightgown confronting Anne about what she was doing so she is feeling like she holds the power now. Regal gold and purple-red coat, green dress that shows that she is in a good mood, and a gold headdress to show her pride. Meanwhile, in this scene, Anne is in a plain brown dress, hiding in the corner, legitimately scared.
Season 1, Episode 7
Meeting with Mendoza in a new "ambassador" dress. It's black and gold like the other one but this one is more like the powersuit version of the other. The big sleeves and the English headdress show that she is gaining an advantage when she hears that her nephew supports her. Also while wearing this dress she finds out that Henry and Anne aren't sleeping together and Henry spins their marriage in a way that makes it sound like he is trying to protect her with a divorce. She gets a few good jabs at him even though she is clearly pleased with the information he gave her.
Season 1, Episode 8
Time to battle with Woseley again! Woseley asks her to join a convent and make things easier for Henry. She pretty much tells him, "You've got a mistress and talk to me about chastity? Ha! Go away."
She's wearing the "power over Anne" coat again but this time she is buttoned up and serious instead of flaunting her success.
In spite of the fact that she is being told bad news, she is standing firm on her opinions and putting down every case brought against her by her lawyers.
Catherine's trial dress here is the only time we see her in this dress because it is that significant. The rest of the episode is full of repeat outfits with meanings of power over those who oppose her. Here she is in her finest jewels and a somber but more feminine dress than a lot of her more masculine suits that show her strength. This is when her defense breaks and she is reduced only to begging Henry to show mercy on her and bringing God's will into it before just booking. The defense is in line with the feminine nature of her attire and to some degree it also seems to be a crowd-pleasing dress. This is what the public wants to see their queen in.
Season 1, Episode 9
After her exit from the trial, she goes to pray in her church clothes. She encounters Woseley on the way out of the chapel but here she doesn't even care what he has to say. She has given up on fighting with him. She's essentially saying, "It's in God's hands now. Leave me alone."
In an awkward dinner with Henry, she is in her queenly jewels but her "meeting foreign ambassadors" dress. Henry is a stranger to her now even though she retains her title.
Catherine says goodbye to Senor Mendoza in another new dress. I don't think there's necessarily any significance to the color unless you are thinking of the Spanish flag of red and gold. More so I think it is important how she seems to fade into her surroundings. The last person she feels like she can trust is leaving her. She feels insignificant and her hopes of winning this battle are dwindling severely.
Catherine meets the new ambassador in the same color palette as when she said goodbye to Mendoza. She tells him what his mission is now but she does so without much hope.
Season 1, Episode 10
Significant nightclothes. The ambassador asks if she is losing hope and she essentially admits that she has. She is in mourning for her marriage.
More bedclothes. Henry comes in to ask how Mary is doing which quickly turns into Catherine threatening him and saying that she could find so many more scholars to vote in her favor. All hope of romance on her end is completely gone and now it is just a battle over who is right.
The ambassador tells Catherine he has to leave the court because he cannot stand the hatred and ill will there. She understands completely. She tells him about the great love she has for England and says that although there is so much hate there, her nephew must not attack them because it would be a sin. English headdress, church dress. Enough said.
Season 2
Catherine is defeated but her Princess Leia buns know that she will always be queen even though she will spend the rest of her time on the show sitting by fireplaces or in bed, slowly wasting away without the company of her daughter or the respect of her husband.
When she leaves the palace, she does so looking like a fancy nun. Although she does not enter a convent, the nun-like clothes do signify her chastity; she will not remarry because she is already married in her mind. They also show her piety which the common people respect her greatly for even if they will soon be forced to adopt Henry's new religion.
Like the scene two pictures above, she is still maintaining her regal outfits even as she is confined to live practically alone and away from her family.
At the end of her life, Catherine is in an angelic white coat for the first and last time.
Season 4
In the last episode a dying Henry has hallucinations of his first three wives as they all essentially berate him for his treatment of their children. Since they are the images of his mind, how they appear seems to show how he views them in his own mind.
Catherine therefore is shown in dark colors, a common element to her clothes throughout the show as her mental state towards the end of their marriage was often dark. She is dressed without much adornment and has an almost nun-like veil on showing her piety, calling back to the last outfit he saw her in when she was leaving the palace. These elements are also reflected in Mary's outfit as they are traits that she also possesses: a sense of darkness that Henry has caused and religious devotion. The fact that Henry views her in such a religious light seems to show that although they were tangled in a fight over beliefs and technicalities, he does not seem to think her opinions were somehow less in line with God.
Next time, I will be doing either Mary or Anne Boelyn. I haven't decided yet but I do think Anne may need to be split into two posts because she has five times the amount of outfits as the other wives do and a much more eclectic style.
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