Mansfield Park

Two productions of Mansfield Park are featured in the exhibition, the 1983 BBC series starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Anna Massey, and the 2000 Miramax film starring Frances O’Connor.

BBC 1983 Production
The costumes for the 1983 production were designed by Ian Adley, and the stars’ dresses were supplied by Cosprop.

Mrs Norris in the novel, played by Anna Massey, is very keen on economy, and on needlework; so a highly accessorized look was very appropriate for her: accessories were an easy way of changing one’s appearance without having to invest in a new dress.

John Bright insisted on his actresses wearing corsets to create the accurate ‘line’ for the period. It also dictates – and limits – an actress’s movement. Corsets, or ‘stays’, were still worn in the early nineteenth century, when Mansfield Park was written. By this time, the ‘Grecian’ figure had become fashionable, and stays altered in shape to suit the new, more natural style.

Miramax 2000 Production

The Miramax film of Mansfield Park stars Frances O’Connor as Fanny Price. The costumes were designed by Andrea Galer. In director Patricia Rozema’s radical adaptation, the heroine is spirited and unconventional – quite unlike Jane Austen’s shy and deeply pious creation.

The penniless Fanny Price goes to live with her relations, the Bertrams, at their country home, Mansfield Park. In the film, they are a decadent family, who owe their fortune to slavery. Andrea wanted to convey this in the costumes.

The riding habit was a very fashionable garment in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Ladies would, of course, ride side-saddle; so the train of the habit would hang attractively down to one side.

Image: close up detail of dark blue silk gown with cream lace collar worn by Anna Massey's character in Mansfield Park