I am wondering if anyone can point out the inaccuracies of the costumes in both series. I have heard mention that the costumes in TURN were far from accurate, but having looked at period paintings of Continental and British forces at the time, they look pretty close to my untrained eye. From the links below, I would love if someone could look at them and explain what they got wrong.
TURN:
John Adams:
Of course, any input on costumes that I did not link are welcome. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help with this.
I cannot totally speak for civilians but I can for military. TURN had some of the worst costuming in the case of accuracy. John Adams did a much better job to my eye. TURN did improve after the first season, but still some issues persisted. I will get to those. How the military wanted the uniforms to fit reflects from how civilians wore clothes, so there might be some overlap.
The coats of the soldiers need to close up at the upper chest with hooks. It helps it from getting in the way and hangs better off the body. Looking at Simcoe and the soldier directly to his left, the coat should be a bit more tailored around the body. The British army really wanted their soldiers to look well and have the uniforms fit a certain way - form fitting for the most part. The soldier has some of the baggiest clothes on him that a serjeant would take him aside and go tell him that one of the regimental tailors needs to adjust it, or even lash at the tailor for not doing a good enough job. So a little background, every year the British would get new clothes around June which coincided with King George III's birthday. The clothes would come in the three sizes of small, medium, and large and with seams just basted. Tailors would adjust to the soldier according to the standards they had. The sleeve cuff ended just at the wristbone and the sleeve fitted to around the arm. The lapels ended just at the waist and the 1768 Royal Warrant called for the lapels to be around three inches wide. The body of the chest fitted around the figure but not too tight to constrict movement needed for soldiering. it was both aesthetics and economics of cutting the right amount of fabric. The army did not want wrinkled coat either!
Breeches should also fit closely on the legs and not look baggy. The Dragoons have a better fit overall. A couple dragoons have too long of a sleeve but the rest is mostly fine - save for the boots. Dragoons served as mounted infantry for most of the warfare in the eighteenth century. Riding boots had a reputation for being uncomfortable in marching or just on foot. I do not know the scene that came from but those boots were not made for walking.
The generic British uniforms became one of the other pet peeves of the show. They lacked the details that period regimental coats had. By 1776, Simcoe had a commission in the 40th as a captain of the grenadier company no less. While he has the metallic epaulettes, his coat lapels and cuffs lack metallic lace. You can see the silver lace on Hewlett's coat but not on Simcoe. All commissioned officers had metallic lace on their coats, each regiment established which metal to use: silver/gold. Simcoe with his redcoat has some plain wool lace which goes against the 1768 Royal Warrant. He also lacks the gorget in both his supposed 40th uniform and as the commander of the Queen's Rangers. I am a little lenient with the Ranger portrayal, but he is missing his gorget, metallic lace, and one more epaulette on the shoulder. However, since he is taking the field I deduced he had a field coat for it as I have seen some officer's field dress that lacked the extreme amount of lace they usually had. The Queen's Rangers have an established uniform with a ton of documentation and AMC did not even get close to the mark with the soldiers. Even though the Rangers are both provincial and not a regular force, they still had uniforms. Green coats and waistcoats, coats had black facings on them. So they got it right with Simcoe's coat for the most part.
Some of the soldier's redcoats do not look right with the tint either. Madder red makes it more orange than the dark red that the series uses. Part of me knows it is costuming for a series and not all of the portrayals will get it right, and to get it right would cost the production several times more than a budget would allow. If I remember correctly some of the British uniforms were actually used in The Patriot before TURN. Budget constraints may have pushed for use of older costumes than remake several dozens to hundreds for extras.
The facial hair on the main characters is one of the major pet peeves besides the fitment of the clothes and details. By and large in America, Britain, and other western powers facial hair was looked down upon. Only three reasons you would have a beard normally.
Otherwise, it was customary to be have a clean shaven face. The fact that Robert Rogers has a beard is quite off character of someone in the military - ranger or not. Even those in the frontier stuck to customs done in the city. The same with Caleb Brewster, especially since he had a commission in the Continental Army as a lieutenant, an organization that required shaving. Living in rural areas did not mean a separation of the norm. Those on the frontier may shave less but a beard of two weeks would be more acceptable than a cultivated beard you see now a days on the street. Those that had growth would shave at the first chance before hitting town. Soldiers would especially get shaving soap as part of a ration, and soldiers that had former occupations as barbers may get extra duty in their former profession.
In comparison, John Adams has a better costuming presentation. Better fitted clothes, clean shaven people, and a bit more tailored to civilian wear. I do realize that shows/movies like TURN, Outlander, Patriot are going to have flaws in the costuming department, it's not the main priority of the show. It's to provide entertainment and do so with the best available resources to immerse the audience into the scene. It did it's job to make the actors look in part to the era they needed to be.
That said I have been looking forever for documentation on the leather coat that Woodhull often wears. The first instance I find an example or docs that one was made - I'm gonna save for one.
