The Borgias- Giulia Farnese...

In light of the second season coming this year and after watching the production of 'The Borgias' on Sky Atlantic- I was immediately inspired by all the opulent costumes- designed by Gabriella Pescucci. Who was nominated for an Emmy in the category- Outstanding Costume for a series. The sumptuous colours and gorgeous fabrics of the female character's gowns are so lovely to the eye, that I was inspired to create my own designs.

'The Borgias'- Season 2 

Holliday Granger as Lucretzia Borgia and Lotte Verbeek as Giulia Farnese

I was initially torn between designing for Lucretzia- the Pope's daughter and Giulia Farnese- the Pope's mistress. However I eventually chose the latter as I wanted to design for a slightly older- more worldly character and I liked the idea of her being the Pope's mistress and all that, that entails. Being mistress to the head of the ruthless Borgia family and to the Pope of Rome; Giulia would have to have been a beautiful, intelligent, strong willed women to have retained her place as the Pope's mistress and to stay alive!

Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia and Lotte Verbeek as Giulia Farnese

Lotte Verbeek as Giulia Farnese

Giulia Farnese (1474 – 23 March 1524) was mistress to Pope Alexander VI. She was known as Giulia la bella, meaning "Julia the beautiful", in Italian. Lorenzo Pucci described her as "most lovely to behold". Cesare Borgia, son of Alexander VI, described her as having "dark colouring, black eyes, round face and a particular ardor". Giulia remained the Pope's mistress until 1499 or 1500. At this time, she seems to have fallen out of his favour due to her age. Bellonci believes that the break between the two was probably made amicably with the help of Adriana de Mila. Her husband also died around this time. She then moved to Carbognano, which is not too far from Rome. This town had been given to Orsino-her husband by Alexander VI. Alexander himself died three years later.

Portrait of Giulia, by Raphael and Sleeve Detail from 

For my interpretation of Giulia- I started by looking at portraits of the time such as the image above -which is presumed to be a portrait of Giulia, by artist Raphael- and Gabriella Pescucci's designs for all the female characters. Within Pescucci's creations, the beautifully detailed sleeves really struck a chord with me and I really wanted to incorporate the style shown above into my final costume design. I then created a mood board (see below) of all the different sources of inspiration that I had gathered.  

"I don’t believe in originality. You take inspiration from whatever moves you, and you find your own voice in those things" -Photographer Tim Walker. 

From here I began to design for Giulia. I wanted to show her wealth, so lots of gold trimmings, embroidery and glass beads. I chose more muted but still rich colours to accompany the stark white chemise. I think the olive green and purple combination works particularly well together and reflects Giulia's darker beauty. I think this will be the design I take further.

To be continued.

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