What would you call the female lead’s style in Ludwig? (Anna Maxwell Martin)

[Mixymaxymoxy]

Has anyone watched Ludwig on the BBC? I’ve watched the first series and started on the second. Anne Maxwell Martin plays the female lead, and I am just fascinated by her character’s style. Her hair is a very odd bob with a too short fringe and looks like she has cut it herself with kitchen scissors. Her dress style in the second season is an odd mix of old fashioned school girl (knock knees, short pleated skirts, white ankle socks and big Clarks shoes), and 70s/80s woman - striped polonecks, maroon anorak. It’s like she’s dressed from a school jumble sale.

What style is this? Why have they chosen it and who dresses like this in real life?

I think I’m fascinated because its so far from anything i could ever wear (big boobs, big hips). And I love the house her character lives in - I guess a lot of the clothing choices reflect that 70s / 80s vibe.

I hate her “style” and I really dislike the house.
OMG reminds me of my grandparents house - 1960s/early 70s. 😩

I wish my grandparents house had been that cool 😄

I coveted a dolls house in the 1970s which looked like this house. The Lundby Caroline’s Home.

I think it’s a bit ‘try hard’ tbh. To give an intellectual answer, in the devil wears prada the meryl character points out to judgy Anne that she chose what she was wearing and she was saying something with it so she shouldn’t judge others for caring about fashion because clearly she herself does too. And I always think of that when I see someone trying to be anti fashion!

DS and I were so so with the first series - he sighed when I said series 2 was out and said ‘why can’t they take the budget for this, Death Valley, all the DiPs and make a really decent murder mystery where the answer isn’t obvious and the actors they employ can actually act’.

Sorry @Quebeccles I missed your link to the house too... please could you post again? 💐
I absolutely love that mid-century style!

Of course, @boobashka - it’s here:

https://www.freshlocations.com/property/ham-yard/

I've just watched Ep 3 (the Influencer). That skirt was extremely short but there was such a brief sight of it if I hadn't been looking out for it I wouldn't have noticed.

So do I. I would live in that house forever, it's gorgeous.

Bloody brilliant styling. I’m coveting several pieces she’s worn/looks she’s pulled off 💕

Apparently she bought some of her clothes for the series from Vintage Angels in Aldeburgh. Their Instagram has a photo of her standing in their doorway wearing a long printed dress (and white ankle-socks 🤔)

Socks with dresses or skirts can look great. Ankle socks with a mini skirt on properly adult women in chilly weather, no.

I have that dolls house . 🙂

I think when she was in the short skirt and ankle socks that she actually skipped away from the camera at one point? Or did I imagine it? Oh dear.

Having watched the available three episodes I admit I cannot parse the style …

Are we supposed to assume that Lucy is an habitual charity shop dresser who has, in a period of trauma, somehow lost touch with the reality of what’s she’s wearing? I mean, we might all pick up a short pleated skirt and think Ooooh - that reminds me of the one I used to roll up on the way home from school! - and then put the thing down and go home and order something that looks … as if it belongs in our grown up lives. But she isn’t able to do that at the moment, because her life’s exploded.

I don't think it's that deep.

@CaptainMyCaptain - you don’t think professional costume / wardrobe designers (who might have trained or gained experience over years) think deeply about how to use clothes as an outer manifestation of what’s going on inside a specific character?

I do!

I think of it as more of a general aesthetic. I know nothing about the industry only my own reactions to the product.

But the police station doesn’t look modern - it just looks dingy and very odd with the huge open plan but with padded separation booths thing going on

I've never watched it but having had a little Google I'm obsessed with both her style and her house in the show so clearly I've got terrible taste...!

Its taken me back to my childhood in the 80s. My mum once put me in a peach jumbo cord knee length skirt, ankle socks and some sort of orange and brown checked blouse, and I remember feeling freezing all day in school. I'm wondering if this is why I'm obsessed with dressing appropriately for the weather. I always pick outfits shoes first for that reason. Sorry for the massive digression...

I was at one of the Tate galleries over the w/e. Half the women under 40 had a fringe like hers, ankle socks, various skirt styles

AMM’s character is channeling the blue-stocking academic look. This is Cambridge after all! Mid century modern house is possibly Ham Yard in TW10 via Fresh Locations.

You might enjoy reading the thread, @MeetMeOnTheCorner …

i don;t know what anyone was thinking about this character in this series, least of all her wardrobe. i get her husband has disappeared and she's questioning everything but she;s totally obnoxious and self-obsessed - i loved the first series but doubt i'll watch any more of this one, just horrible

@DeHumanaeMentisApatheia Life is a bit too busy to read everything. Ignore me - that’s ok!