Ten years ago, Joanna Eatwell received an Emmy nomination for period-costume design for “Wolf Hall,” the BBC/PBS adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s acclaimed 2009 novel about the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of King Henry VIII. Eatwell returned for the sequel, “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light,” which covers the third and final book in Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy and picks up right where the 2015 series left off: at the May 1536 execution of Henry’s second of five wives, Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy).
“I think we all returned with an understanding and familiarity with the characters and story, which was creatively liberating,” Eatwell said. “It was a fairly seamless transition between shows despite the decade between, in part, I think, because the majority of crew and cast returned.”
That includes Damian Lewis as the uxoricidal monarch and Mark Rylance as Cromwell, the humble son of a blacksmith who defied 16th-century England’s rigid social strata to become one of the most powerful men in the country. He was the king’s most trusted advisor, helping him establish the Church of England so that he could divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Boleyn, before Henry had him executed for treason and heresy in 1540.
Here, we look at some of the second season’s costumes.
THE KING’S (THIRD) WEDDING DAY
The day after Boleyn’s beheading, Henry married his third wife, Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips). In the photo above he wears a gold overcoat over many, many other garments. “The focus of this outfit was to show the dressing process and all the layers it takes to present a king,” Eatwell said. Her team’s main reference source was portraiture from the Tudor era (particularly by Hans Holbein, the court painter), and they also looked to sumptuary law, which dictated who could wear which fabric and colors, depending on rank. Naturally, gold was the color of the king.
Eatwell’s crew created Henry’s marital garb from cloth of gold, or a silk interwoven with real gold thread. “We bought it from one of the very few companies that still manufacture it. Today, it is mainly used in church vestments,” she said. As for Jane’s gown, they used a similar material made with silver: “Jane and Henry so often complement each other in silver and gold. He is the sun to her moon.”
CROMWELL IN COLOR
“The king was happy and in love, the whole court was optimistic, and this is reflected in the fabric and colors used,” Eatwell said. Hence the sovereign’s lush velvet green overcoat with a fur collar and gold-embroidered sleeves, worn as
he awaits the arrival of his new bride to court. At his side is Cromwell.
Throughout both seasons, the king’s advisor is typically dressed in unassuming black, which is how he appears in the most famous existing portrait of him by Holbein. To celebrate the king’s marriage (and promise of a male heir), here Cromwell wears sumptuous reds and burgundies in much more luxurious fabrics than usual. His bold choice was a violation of sumptuary law, and in the show it foreshadows his eventual downfall. But he isn’t a total fashion rebel: He tops off his regalia with a finer version of his ubiquitous hat (also visible in the Holbein painting). “Hats were an essential part of the etiquette of Tudor times,” Eatwell said. “Cromwell was hugely respectful of the king and lords at court. After all, he came from such humble beginnings.”
QUEEN JANE
Here Cromwell escorts Jane to her court debut as the new Queen of England. Like her companion, she has pulled out all the sartorial stops: She wears a gown of heavy silk whose gold bodice and overskirts are embellished with a Tudor pattern in red, the color of power and authority. Covering her hair is a gable hood, an elaborate architectural headdress typical of the period. It’s not by chance that
a prominent cross adorns her neck.
When Henry insisted on divorcing Catherine of Aragon (because the union did not produce a male heir) and declared himself the head of the Church of England, the Catholic Church excommunicated him. Displaying the very symbol of Christianity sends a clear statement that Jane supports her husband. Alas, she’d be dead in a year from complications during childbirth and Henry would move on to Wife No. 4, Anne of Cleves.
This story first ran in the Drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
