‘Costume in Literature: What do television adaptations of modern literature ‘write’ on the body via the clothing used as costume?’

This presentation/paper explores visible representations of the modern working class via television adaptations of modern literature. The focus here is how costume often communicates socially sanctioned class positions despite the possible intentions of the author.
The presentation/paper will foreground industry practices concerning the use of ordinary clothing as costume; discussing the compromises inherent in the practice. It will touch upon the complex relationship between notions of the ‘ordinary’ and the working class. It analyses the use of ‘ordinary’ items of clothing re contextualised as ‘costume’ in television drama using the work of Henri Lefebvre (1969, 2005). Particular aspects of Lefebvre’s work that are relevant to screen clothing in this context and its subsequent representation of the working class are; firstly the idea of paradox and tension, next the notion of information redundancy and lastly Lefebvre’s idea’s around ‘contestation’. This presentation/paper is a development of work that explores how these ideas can be applied directly to the articulation of the working class via small screen costume.
The broader aims are; to examine what if any influence costumed representations of the working class have upon existing notions of class identities and to consider what may or may not be the underlying political, cultural or social ideologies underpinning the representations discussed.
This project is informed by a research degree currently being undertaken at the University of the Arts, the outcome of which will add to the newly emerging literature around television costume (Warner, 2013). The research considers and integrates both theory and creative practice and positions the subject of costumed screen representations of the working class firmly within the field of cultural politics.