Design Diary: Jane Austen’s Emma

Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller

I never considered myself a Jane Austen fanatic. Until now. As my friend Meredith can attest, I’ve been “mildly obsessed.” PBS is airing a new Masterpiece Classic adaptation of Emma. I was so riveted that I asked WGBH (who knew Masterpiece Classic was produced right here in Boston?) to set up interviews with the so very talented production and costume designers, Stevie Herbert and Rosalind Ebbutt.

Not only did they arrange the chats, they messengered me the complete DVD. (Love the perks. LOVE Mr. Knightly even more. And Hartfield house, well, just wait and see.) Then I turned my fascination into two pieces for The Inside Source: “Emma’s Design Inspiration” and  “Jane Austen Era Fashion.”

Stevie Herbert and Rosalind Ebbutt were absolutely delightful and full of information on their inspirations and mindset in creating the scenes and styles. I’m not going to retell all their tidbits here (please click through to the articles for that), but will show you snippets of the gorgeous Regency rooms I grabbed from the video online.