Let’s be real, that scene of Mr. Darcy walking through the mist to confess his love in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ collectively altered our brain chemistry. Have you caught yourself fantasising about the Duke of Hastings from ‘Bridgerton’ or men in breeches generally? It’s not just you! Here, we break down the female obsession with men’s fashion in period dramas. 

Period dramas are a great form of escapism, especially when that escapism features a handsome brooding hero who dons his signature billowy white shirt and wears a pair of breeches particularly well. 

Period dramas are basically meant to describe a work of art or film that is set in, or suggestive of, an earlier time period. Basically, they are movies set in the past. However, most period dramas are actually set in just one particular period of history, typically the late 19th to mid-20th centuries.

Besides helping us escape from the real world with their time machine effect, costumes really capture a period drama’s authenticity. As an audience, we want to feel the change in time in all different aspects. When it comes to period dramas, we desire to leave our current abode and be completely transported to another place and another time entirely. 

Even simple details such as dialogue, locations, and hairstyles capture the essence of what it would have been like had we been there too. Without the transformation of clothes to imagine this, it would be near impossible for us to place ourselves in this world.

What exactly is behind this sudden obsession with men in their billowy white shirts, breeches, and boots? Before shows like ‘Bridgerton,’ we had the intimidating Mr. Rochester, Mr. Ferrars, and we cannot forget Colin Firth’s role in the BBC adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and a certain wet shirt scene. This direction of Mr. Darcy’s portrayal set the standard for actors doing costume dramas; although they might be wearing silly costumes, they could still be sexy. 

Nowadays, you will come across TikTok videos and Instagram reels of women making videos saying, “Guy wearing street clothes, are you even listening to me?” followed by a compilation of pictures of men in baggy white shirts, breeches, and waistcoats. Another example is of a user making a video where they say, “If men are visual creatures, then why aren’t they all dressing like this?” followed by images of many period drama crushes. 

Fans argue that not only does the period drama look contribute to their fantasies, but a lot more things besides. The gentlemanly manners, the letter writing, stolen glances, and the brushing of hands send the tension off the charts. A man who is improved by tailoring and a knee-high boot is just the cherry on top. 

Characters such as this are possibly alluring because they signify a complication to be resolved. Moreover, the circumstances are switched around in the way the woman gets to win over the man, even emasculate him, similar to how Jane Eyre does with the blind Mr. Rochester. 

In the 2020 adaptation of ‘Emma,’ we get to see the perspective of a woman’s impression of men’s clothing. In the film, Knightley is stripped down to bare essentials with an early dressing scene which is usually reserved for female protagonists in period pieces.

“We’re used to seeing women in states of dishabille as they don period dress, and de Wilde wanted to turn that trope on its head,” ‘Emma’ actor Johnny Flynn says. Director Autumn de Wilde said quite openly that she wanted to have this moment of objectifying a man’s body – not in a sexual way, but having him dressing.

“That day I was pretty much the only guy on set and I had to be properly naked. It was the opposite of my experience of getting naked on set usually. It was such a gentle and loving and sweet and family-oriented set. [De Wilde] was really honest about it being a male body intimately seen from the female gaze.”

These period dramas depict a range of characters and different types of masculinity. The regency romance boyfriend seems to have enraptured viewers, not only just with their characters and personalities, but with their iconic fashion sense too. Just like how the Duke of Hastings, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Knightley wooed their lovers, they seem to have captured the hearts of the female audience as well.