The Crown, Netflix's forthcoming series about Queen Elizabeth II, starring Claire Foy as the Queen and Matt Smith as Prince Philip, promises to be full of the period drama we crave. The added frisson of wondering what its royal subjects think about the series is undeniable.
But there's no doubt that a huge part of the show's appeal will be its sumptuous costumes. "That was really our thought from the start...do it as properly as we can," says Michele Clapton, The Crown's costume designer. In the video below, we get a glimpse of what's sartorially in store for viewers. That giant wardrobe is no joke.
Clapton says she was attracted to the project's complicated layers: "It was something that I was really interested in doing because of the story I had to tell, the public and private life." Altogether, she estimates that there were 350 principal costumes.
The costume team made a staggering 95 percent of the Queen's costumes, including a painstakingly accurate replica of her wedding dress. Clapton tells ELLE.com that it took six embroiderers, who worked ten-hour days, six weeks to make. "I think to have any credibility for our interpretation of the private moments we had to nail completely the public moments that are so documented," Clapton says. Even the extras (7,000 of them!) had between two and five costumes each, and at peak times, the costume department consisted of 80 to 100 people.
The Crown's costumes were created without any information or endorsement from the royal family, though Clapton notes she once met the Queen and Prince Philip, and was "taken by how petite she was and how jocular he still is." Still, from what we can see in this sneak peek, they're going to be spectacular.
The Crown premieres November 4 on Netflix.
