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Hear from Pauline and Nicole Loven on recreating historical clothing, getting dressed, and ‘Golda’
Who are you?
We are Pauline and Nicole Loven, a mother and daughter team. Pauline has been studying and recreating historical dress for around forty years and has lectured on Heritage Interpretation at Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln in the UK. Pauline recently won an award for the costume designed and created for a film based in Tudor Lincolnshire. Nicole is a filmmaker who has worked in the industry for twenty years, with credits including two feature films and BBC’s ‘Spring Watch’.
What is Crow’s Eye Productions?
We are a small video production company that combines Pauline’s and Nicole’s talents to make films for museums and our own YouTube channel, which has received over one hundred million views. We are supported by a loose network of freelance collaborators who join us on projects, including hair artist Annette Gray.
How did you get involved in period costume & heritage film production?
Pauline has been sewing since before she started school and has always been fascinated by history. Bringing the two interests together enabled her to develop a particular understanding of history through dress. It was a natural development that Pauline and Nicole should find that combining their interests and talents would be fruitful.
How do the videos in the Bloomsbury Historic Dress in Detail collection support teaching and study of historical dress?
When recreating historical clothing it is important to begin with the base layers. It is the foundation garments that dictate the silhouette of a given period, whether it is following the natural figure or creating an artificially contrived and enhanced one. It is important too to recognise how technological developments in the production of textiles, and the means of cutting and sewing them, have had a profound effect on the look of a period.
What is the significance of the ‘getting dressed’ aspect of these videos?
Getting dressed is something we all do; it is both familiar and, in another time and place, deeply unfamiliar, but we can all relate to the process. How we dress is an accessible route into understanding the past and other cultures.
Why is it important to look at historic dress in detail?
One of the ways to look into the heart of a culture is to look at the way they dressed. Apart from the aesthetic and potential inspiration in the details, one can see the cultural aspirations of the society, its attitudes to class and gender, and the socioeconomic environment in which clothing was created.
What was your favourite costume piece/film to work on?
We both agree on this – the story of the Wigan Pit Brow Lass is the most fascinating; it features in the episode ‘Victorian Working Clothes from the 1850s’. It reveals so much about class and women’s role in society at the time. They worked in trousers, something that was deeply shocking to Victorian sensibilities, and researching and recreating their dress was very satisfying.
(Question for Annette) The film ‘Golda’ on which you work as a hairstylist, received an Oscar nomination in the Hair and Makeup category. What was your experience like working on this film?
One of the most important things about working on a film like ‘Golda’ was the attention to detail. The film director Guy Nattiv had a definite vision of how he wanted it to look. Because the film centred on Golda Meir there was a lot of research into her life both at home and at work. For instance, her grandson was very helpful in explaining how Golda would always twist her hair a certain way when pinning it up. We were very honoured when some members of Golda’s family visited the set and were impressed by how much Helen resembled her. Suzi and the team at RedGirlfx made the prosthetics for Helen, using innovative techniques which were so lifelike.
It was an honour to work alongside Dame Helen Mirren and to watch her portray Golda. I admired Helen’s stamina, 3 hours in makeup from 5am in the morning, another 1 1/2 hours at the end of each day to remove it all, working in a full body suit all day long with constant touch ups on hair and makeup. Overseeing all of this was our Hair and Makeup Designer Karen Hartley Thomas, who ensured that the standards were maintained at all times. To hear that we had been nominated for an Oscar was amazing and to be invited to Hollywood for the ceremony was a fairytale come true. - Annette Gray
If you could travel to one historical period, which would you choose and why?
Again, we are in accord on this one too – we would travel back to the Anglo-Saxon period and the ship burial at Sutton Hoo. We studied this burial in depth, reading all the reports and visiting the extraordinary finds in the British Museum. We also visited the Sutton Hoo site twice and stayed in Mrs Pretty’s private rooms in Tranmer House with its balcony overlooking the burial mounds. We walked from the mounds to the River Deben and tried to understand the process of moving a massive oak ship up the hill. We read ‘Beowulf’ for context. Such are the soil conditions at Sutton Hoo that the deceased’s body and all textiles and leather in direct contact with it decomposed utterly, leaving only a void and some remarkable treasures associated with the deceased’s clothing. But the conditions within the rest of the boat also led to the preservation of some of the other textiles. The wealth of the grave and the regalia included suggest it is the grave of a king, but which one is uncertain, though it may be King Raedwald, King of East Anglia.
In our film on ‘Anglo-Saxon Clothing’ we made our best guess with this and other evidence, on how they might have dressed, but it is still mysterious. If we could travel back, it would be to that time and that place, and what a sight it would be to behold.
Find out more about Bloomsbury Historic Dress in Detail and our other collections, including free trials and purchasing options.
Image credit: Photograph by Nicole Loven, Crow’s Eye Productions
