Running Time: 124 minutes

This blog entry is a little overdue, but it deserves to be written anyways.

The latest adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma was much awaited by Janeites the world over, and I think it served Austen’s longest (and possibly best structured) book justice.

It follows the story closely: Emma Woodhouse – handsome, clever, and rich but also compassionate, snobbish, and complex – was played well by Anya Taylor-Joy. Emma’s one-time governess and all-time family friend Miss Taylor married, and in her loneliness, Emma adopts into their circle a Harriet Smith, who she tries to set up with various eligible men but all this meddling backfires spectacularly.

Y’know what, I probably shouldn’t dwell too much over the plot right? It’s a novel that is almost 200 years old, and anyone who has ever watched Clueless (arguably the most perfect adaptation, still) can follow the film.

There are enough Johnny Flynn fangirls on Austen Twitter these days, so I’ll talk more about the rest of the eye-candy in the film: the costumes! I’m mad for these. They are so colorful and theatrical, and they worked well with the set. It reminded me of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006) with its vivid pastel colors and period-correct silhouettes.

I took three of the movie poster costumes because I think they illustrate my point, and I don’t want to spoil the other costumes. Also, I really love these three in particular anyway.

The costume below is Emma in this pink scalloped spencer that is to die for. They really copied a lot of extant garments to recreate the 1810s, and I read somewhere that this particular garment was one of them. It’s girly, elegant, and a little elaborate – which I think lends to our imagination of Emma Woodhouse really well.

I also really love this lemon-yellow outfit she has, because I’m very fond of the shade. It’s bright and loud, and reminiscent of Cher Horowitz’s iconic yellow plaid outfit in Clueless.

I know this gown is over-the-top, but it’s very Mrs. Elton, who is fashionable, attention-seeking, and extravagant. I love the design on the hem, the shoes, and that hairdo that’s a little ahead for the period. It’s so crazy but it works really well.

Overall, this adaptation helped kick my early quarantine blues. I was really looking forward to catching it in the cinemas, so I was bummed when it turned out no one will be going to the cinemas for quite a while. Luckily, they released the movie and I think a fair number of people (including myself) got to enjoy it.

P.S. If I do have lovely readers out there, I hope you don’t miss this article that was posted on Pinned.ph. It’s something I worked on and I hope more people can read up on Moalboal, Cebu!