Putting it on

Seldom do I appreciate zippers more than when I’ve just watched actors in Regency costume recreate the rituals of Jane Austen-era dressing. All those finicky buttons and cufflinks and drawstrings! It’s maddening!

Still, it’s never a hardship to watch a good-looking man take his clothes off—or even, in a pinch, put them on. And so I commend to your attention the “Getting Dressed—Pride and Prejudice—Fitzwilliam Darcy” video, which arrived on YouTube a couple of months ago.

The thirteen-minute video follows an appropriately dishy Mr. Darcy on the morning of his successful second marriage proposal to Elizabeth Bennet, as his valet helps him put on a dizzying number of garments: stockings, shirt, breeches, waistcoat, cravat, coat, boots, and hat. The Pride and Prejudice overlay is on the hokey side—BBC 1995 this is not—but the voiceover’s detailed explanation of the conventions of period dress is fascinating.

“Fitzwilliam Darcy” is the latest period costuming video from Crow’s Eye Productions, which its website describes as “a small all-female team bringing the past to life on a tiny budget.” Over the past decade or so, Crow’s Eye has produced dozens of bite-size films, including 39 in the “Getting Dressed” series, which covers clothing from the 14th to the 20th centuries.

Two previous “Getting Dressed” videos have Austen tie-ins: In a Pride and Prejudice-themed video from 2022, Jane and Elizabeth Bennet prepare to receive Mr. Bingley on the day of his proposal, and in a 2020 video, Jane and Cassandra Austen get dressed on the morning that Cassandra makes her famous sketch of her sister. A third video, from 2019, recreates the outfit worn by Dido Elizabeth Belle, the biracial great-niece of Lord Mansfield, in another famous piece of Regency art.

Still, although it’s fun to peek into Regency wardrobes, I’m not about to trade my jeans for petticoats. It's a nice place to visit, but give me a zipper any day.