“The query all people will get is, ‘How does this world exist?’ We’re displaying you within the art work, we’re displaying you within the tablescapes how this world exists. England known as it ‘fruited cake,’ but it surely’s [Caribbean] black cake. It’s the identical factor. We let the work and units converse for us,” Riley mentioned.
Followers will discover fairly a number of historic Easter eggs within the art work and in addition some portraiture of the actors if they give the impression of being carefully on the inside scenes.
“We don’t must invent something to elucidate our presence when the historical past is already there,” Riley mentioned. “There’s a portray of one of many battles of the Haitian Revolution on the partitions but it surely was sanitized onscreen as a result of Hallmark doesn’t permit express violence. Throughout the identical time the Regency occurs, Queen Louise and King Henri of Haiti are sitting on a lot cash that they are saying they’ve more money available than the King of England. You will get the opulence you want simply by introducing the true historical past, however the issue is most individuals don’t know actual historical past.”
Austen followers are instantly going to note how the costumes form the characters and setting of the period. Smith and Riley labored with the costume designer Kara Saun and hairdresser Kim Kimble to make sure that the design took into consideration Black hair textures and colours to enhance various pores and skin tones.
“There’s a certain quantity of vibrancy, swag, and coloration that we’ve to Mahogany that we needed to additionally be certain translated, though it was a Regency piece,” Smith mentioned. “You’re going to see much more coloration and Vanessa made certain that a few of these colours we needed to make use of had been invented [at the time],” Smith mentioned.
The characters put on bonnets, mob caps, and different headpieces extra persistently than in earlier fashionable variations. This stemmed from Riley’s recommendation and analysis as nicely. Kimble used textured wigs, and the costume designer Saun added small particulars such because the silk the Dashwood sisters used to wrap their curls at night time.