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How one ‘incredibly inappropriate’ dress perfectly sums up ‘The Gilded Age’ finale

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The next comprises spoilers from the Season 1 finale of “The Gilded Age.”

“I’m anxious that it might be too small,” says Bertha Russell, the socially bold spouse of a railroad tycoon on the heart of HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” “New cash” incarnate, Mrs. Russell (Carrie Coon) is speaking to her workers concerning the opulent ball she’s internet hosting to christen her Fifth Avenue property and, she hopes, attain New York society’s interior circle. Will town’s notables attend the extravagant occasion? And — extra essential — what is going to she put on?

These questions are answered in Monday’s season finale: With a little bit of strategic intimidation, Bertha secures the attendance of Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) and, by extension, the remainder of the hard-to-please elite — together with her elusive neighbors, Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon).

Bertha hosts the affair in a show-stopping black-and-white ball robe, adorned with leaf-shaped appliqués and lined with a whimsical periwinkle chiffon. (All paired with jewels that echo the railroad empire constructed by her dashing husband, performed by Morgan Spector.)

The match is edgy for each its extremely graphic nature and for what’s below her corresponding cape: asymmetrical sleeves, the left of which is voluminous in form, whereas the suitable is a single sliver of cloth.

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Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) wears a daring robe within the “Gilded Age” season finale.

(Alison Cohen Rosa / HBO)

“There was an extended, heated debate in my becoming about whether or not or not she might get away with that tiny sleeve with no scandal,” recollects Coon. “On the time, it was extremely inappropriate for a girl to have a sleeveless robe, as a result of that might [mean] you had been a courtesan, a prostitute. I used to be advocating for some lady to return into the ball and gasp after they noticed my naked arm! It was breathtaking. I liked it.”

The truth that most of Bertha’s apparel this season has been far more vibrant in shade makes her final look all of the extra significant.

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“Bertha is discovering this language of glamour and what it seems to be like on this new world that her husband is creating, and since she has an infinite sum of money, there’s an journey and a boldness inside her model, and a extra rapid embrace of recent concepts,” says costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone. “However she additionally desperately needs to develop into a part of this society of girls, and he or she might be attempting to impress them greater than vice versa.”

For the ball, “I went for these tremendous gentle colours in order that Bertha matches throughout the aesthetics of the ball, as a result of the thought was that she is lastly a part of the world that she’s been attempting to interrupt into,” Walicka-Maimone provides. “Nonetheless, the black appliqué nonetheless attracts consideration and makes her stand aside from all people else.”

Three views of a woman in different period gowns, in gold, red and green.

“There’s an journey and a boldness inside her model, and a extra rapid embrace of recent concepts,” says costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone of Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon).

(Alison Cohen Rosa / HBO)

A mere sampling of the season’s 5,000-plus costumes, Bertha’s robes had been normally adorned with glistening beaded fringe, billowing feather preparations and hats so tall that the highest of the carriage needed to be eliminated to ensure that Coon to not have to tilt her head sideways. Such elaborations not solely illustrated the interval’s opulence — “The sum of money they spent on their clothes was limitless, so we needed to discover tips to point out that with out really spending that type of cash on every outfit,” says Walicka-Maimone — but additionally drew the viewers’s eye away from Coon’s being pregnant.

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“I used to be already displaying, so my waist is about six inches too excessive, and so they added extra quantity to ensure they may conceal my being pregnant as a lot as they probably might,” says Coon with amusing. “Everytime you see Bertha in a flowery cape, you possibly can relaxation assured that it was shot within the final two weeks of filming. It was type of a wild factor for costumes to have to determine the place to place my boobs, as they saved getting greater!”

There was an added good thing about Coon’s being pregnant too: “As a result of I used to be carrying tennis footwear and no corset, I used to be probably the most snug lady on set,” she says. “So there’s nearly one thing concerning the seems to be that relaxes in a method, that makes me consider a lady who’s discovered her voice, who’s in her energy and power. And her seems to be nearly cool down into one thing that’s very emblematic of her.”

Since capturing the bash required a prolonged shoot with an ensemble of dancers, the forged killed time by displaying off their outfits for one another with an impromptu vogue present.

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“It was magnificent when everybody got here out of their dressing room to see what everybody was carrying, like going to an precise ball,” Coon recollects. “We had had type of a wacky evening, so by the point the actors really went onto the ballroom flooring, folks simply saved laughing hysterically and bumping into everybody. We didn’t shoot that very lengthy, and I actually can’t imagine they obtained a usable take as a result of it simply felt like chaos.”

A man and a woman in period dress dancing

The Russells — performed by Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon — in “The Gilded Age.”

(Alison Cohen Rosa / HBO)

Walicka-Maimone is presently making ready costumes for Season 2 and guarantees that the sequence is simply getting began: “Since Season 1 was such a large studying course of on the best way to make this huge present, now we all know it and might actually play.” For her half, Coon hopes Bertha’s unapologetic luxurious has been an entertaining escape for viewers right now.

“There’s nothing fallacious with one thing that’s aesthetically lovely, to have a look at simply on this second,” she says. “All of us want these hours away from the chaos that’s the world we’re residing in proper now.”

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‘The Gilded Age’

The place: HBO

When: 9 p.m. Monday

Score: TV-MA (could also be unsuitable for youngsters below the age of 17)

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Movie Reviews

Movie review: “The Watchers”

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Movie review: “The Watchers”
“The Watchers” is a horror/thriller movie that is Isha Night Shyamalan’s directorial debut, released in 2024. It is based on the book The Watchers by A.M. Shine. There is a hint of fantastical elements throughout the movie and lore that would have made for a great overall story, but unfortunately,…
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How did Travis Kelce know he was falling for Taylor Swift? He offers a 'genuine' answer

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How did Travis Kelce know he was falling for Taylor Swift? He offers a 'genuine' answer

Travis Kelce isn’t afraid to share his love story.

It turns out that Taylor Swift’s unexpected behavior during the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears in September tipped the relationship into this-is-the-real-deal territory, he said on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast.

Kelce explained that they had already been seeing each other privately but that her attitude toward taking things public impressed him.

He offered her a security escort into the stadium, but she brushed it off and walked in with the rest of his guests.

“She really won me over with that one,” the tight end said, describing how Swift preferred to “be around family and friends and experience this with everybody” instead of getting celebrity treatment.

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“She’s very self-aware. And I think that’s why I really started to really fall for her, was how genuine she is around friends [and] family. It can get crazy for somebody with that much attention … and she just keeps it so chill and so cool.”

The two have kept the intimate details of their relationship under wraps but are notably more public than Taylor has been with past boyfriends. Their passionate kiss after Kelce’s Super Bowl win in February effectively broke the internet, and he joined her onstage in London over the weekend, spicing up the Eras tour.

Kelce says he wants to “keep things private,” but “at the same time, I’m not here to hide anything … that’s my girl, that’s my lady.”

He did admit there have been a few downsides to entering her spotlight — notably, random fans showing up at his pad in Kansas City, Kan.

“I’ve had fun with just about every aspect of it. It’s just when you’re at home you want privacy, and you don’t always get that,” he said.

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The wild online speculation is another annoyance. The athlete said that his father would come across crazy tabloid stories from time to time and call him to fact-check.

“He’d see something so f— out of the blue, like something about me and Taylor, he’s like, ‘Hey, you guys OK?’”

Kelce always has a reply at the ready: “Get the f— off Facebook, Dad.”

And for those still wondering — KillaTrav’s favorite TSwift songs are “Black Space,” “Cruel Summer” and “So High School.”

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Movie Review: ‘Summer Camp’ is an entertaining disappointment

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Movie Review: ‘Summer Camp’ is an entertaining disappointment

Nothing forges a friendship like treating an arrow wound. For Ginny, Mary and Nora, an ill-fated archery lesson and an injured classmate are just the beginning of the lifetime of trouble they’re about to start.

Ginny is a year above the other two, more experienced in both summer camp and girlhood, and takes it upon herself to somewhat forcefully guide her younger friends. Mary cowers in the bathroom away from her bunkmates, spouting medical facts, while Nora hangs back, out of place. When their camp counselor plucks them out of their cabin groups to place them in the new “Sassafras” cabin, they feel like they fit in somewhere for the first time.

50 years later, “Summer Camp” sees the three girls, now women, reunite for the anniversary reunion of the very same camp at which they met. Although they’ve been in touch on-and-off in the preceding decades, this will be the first time the women have seen each other in 15 years.

Between old camp crushes, childhood nemeses and the newer trials of adulthood, the three learn to understand each other, and themselves, in a way that has eluded them the entirety of their friendship.

I really wanted to like “Summer Camp.”

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The opening scene, a glimpse at the girls’ first year together at Camp Pinnacle, does a good job at establishing Ginny, Mary and Nora’s dynamic. It’s sweet, funny and feels true to the experience of many adolescent girls’ friendships.

On top of that, this movie’s star-studded cast and heartwarming concept endeared me to it the moment I saw the trailer. Unfortunately, an enticing trailer is about the most “Summer Camp” has to offer.

As soon as we meet our trio as adults, things start to fall apart. It really feels like the whole movie was made to be cut into a trailer — the music is generic, shots cut abruptly between poses, places and scenes, and at one point two of the three separate shots of each woman exiting Ginny’s tour bus are repeated.

The main character and sometimes narrator, Ginny Moon, is a self-help writer who uses “therapy speak” liberally and preaches a tough-love approach to self improvement. This sometimes works perfectly for the movie’s themes but is often used to thwop the viewer over the head with a mallet labeled “WHAT THE CHARACTERS ARE THINKING” rather than letting us figure it out for ourselves.

There are glimpses of a better script — like when Mary’s husband asks her whether she was actually having fun or just being bullied, presumably by Ginny. This added some depth to her relationship with him, implying he actually does listen to her sometimes, and acknowledged the nagging feeling I’d been getting in the back of my head: “Hey, isn’t Ginny kind of mean?”

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Despite all my annoyance with “Summer Camp,” there were a few things I really liked about it. I’m a lot younger than the main characters of this movie, but there were multiple points where I found myself thinking, “Hey, my aunt talks like that!” or, “Wow, he sounds just like my dad.”

The dynamic of the three main characters felt very true to life, I’ve known and been each of them at one point or another. It felt especially accurate to the relationships of girls and women, and seeing our protagonists reconcile at the end was, for me, genuinely heartwarming.

“Summer Camp” is not a movie I can recommend for quality, but if you’re looking for a lighthearted, somewhat silly romp to help you get into the summer spirit, this one will do just fine.

Other stories by Caroline

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Caroline Julstrom, intern, may be reached at 218-855-5851 or cjulstrom@brainerddispatch.com.

Caroline Julstrom finished her second year at the University of Minnesota in May 2024, and started working as a summer intern for the Brainerd Dispatch in June.

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