overall: 47 in x 26 in x 3 in; 119.38 cm x 66.04 cm x 7.62 cm
Object Name:
coat
Place made:
United States: New York, New York City
United States: New York, Brooklyn
Date made:
2016
Description:
Pink wool coat worn by Rachel Brosnahan in the Amazon series <i>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</i>. The coat was designed by Donna Zakowska. The coat is collared with a slight "V" neck and a pink hook and loop closure. The coat fans out into a long skirt with a pocket on both the right and left side. The lining is a deep plum satin with one pocket on right breast. There are two fabric tags sewn into the coat: one is cream-colored and reads "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" in pink thread. The second tag is white and reads "Eric Winterling, Inc. New York. M."
This coat was worn in the pilot episode of <i>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</i> in a scene in which Midge Maisel performs her first comedy set. In the episode, after learning that her husband intends to leave her for his secretary, Midge gets drunk and leaves her apartment in a nightgown and this coat to give an impromptu performance at The Gaslight Cafe, a comedy and folk club in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. <i>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</i> was one of the most acclaimed streaming series of the 2010s, winning numerous Emmy Awards and critical praise for its nuanced portrayal of mid-20th century women’s life, urban Jewish identity, and the 1960s comedy scene. Showrunner and creator Amy Sherman-Palladino was lauded for the series’ exploration of women's lives in mid-20th century America, including marriage and separation, societal expectations, beauty, systemic gender inequality, motherhood, and the struggle to navigate male-dominated workplaces. Sherman-Palladino is one of the most active and celebrated female writers and producers in the entertainment industry today, having also created <i>The Gilmore Girls</i> and becoming the first woman in history to win in the comedy writing and directing categories at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
Mrs. Maisel costume designer Donna Zakowska received critical acclaim for creating beautiful and historically-accurate clothing that helped to advance and support the series’ narrative. Zakowska, who won an Emmy for her work outfitting Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney in the 2008 HBO miniseries John Adams, also won an Emmy for Outstanding Period Costumes for Maisel’s second season. As Zakowska said in an interview, ‘the clothes help her through a journey and that was really the beginning moment for Midge. It’s sort of before everything slightly falls apart and it just made sense there.’” Maisel, who is shown in previous scenes meticulously minding her appearance for her husband’s sake (even reapplying makeup early in the morning to look perfect when he rises), is now seizing agency and femininity in a new way, delivering a raunchy set while dressed in negligee in a nod to Phyllis Diller’s parody of expectations placed on American women.
