Now that you mention it, the only character I can think of (in 1897 at least) who 95% of the time remembered his hat when out and about was the infamous Reverend Trask.
Speaking of 1897, wouldn't the servants have been given some sort of standard uniform to wear? Or were servants allowed to wear garments of their choice within reason?
Incidentally three of my favorite costumes on the ladies were Josette's form-fitting striped dress she wore just after Angelique put the whammy on her in 1795, and Beth's striped dress (that's in your icon!) I also loved the pink dress Angelique wore with the fur lined cape when stalking Aristede on the docks. That really was a spectacular dress, I wonder why they only used it (to my knowledge) that one time.
No matter the time period I *love* the suits on the men. Three piece suits are so damn sharp looking. I admit to being incredibly partial frock coats though.
Oh good, I was wondering whether there would be interest in this topic and I come home to all these great posts! Think I better break up my responses though else this post will be longer than Moby Dick.
The hat thing is amusing -- I remember ONE instance in 1897 where Quentin wore a hat, and I think only one with Edward. Both were at the beginning of the storyline. Edward wore a beaver the whole time he was bringing Rachel to Collinwood, and MIGHT have worn one once or twice after that.
With Quentin, its amusing -- in the first scene where we see him, he wears a hat for I think the first and last time -- might even be that hat of Edward's which I think might be the same one they used for Trask. But what cracks me up with that scene with Quentin is that he's NOT wearing that suit that went all through 1897. Or rather, he's only weaaring the frockcoat of it -- with a pair of fawn colored riding britches and riding boots. Makes sense, he HAD just gotten in. But the humor was in Selby's handling of the frockcoat -- he keeps swishing it around and wrapping himself in it like a bathrobe. And it was far from the first time the guy had done Victorian for a role, so one wonders whether it was nervousness, lack of props to play around with for business with his hands -- or whether the riding britches that were never seen again were way too tight for him to be comfortable.
Servants having a uniform? Might have, maybe something simple like a plain black or navy dress for the women. Beth wore that a couple times, along with the silly maid hat (as opposed to the silly hat that went with that nice striped outfit of hers - I like that dress too!). Beth is an anomaly though, being a LADIES maid, which was NOT really a maid the way we think of one, but a combination dresser, social secretary and companion. They were usually from good family who either had no money or who had lost their money and they looked after the ladies rooms, things and kept up her clothing. They tended to get the mistress' cast off dresses, which they remade for themselves, which certainly explains how well Beth always dressed.
Favorite costumes -- most of the specific ones I can think of are from 1897, simply because I haven't seen 1795 since it was on Sciffi (though I just got the dvds and its just a matter of getting the time to watch). In addition to Angelique's pink one (I really disliked her green one by the way) and Beth's striped number, I also liked Ghost Beth's dress, which WAS likely a wedding dress. I found one which was almost its twin on a site for a Victorian bridal museum. (amusing thing when I was trying to get a screen cap of the dress, as I was using it in a story I recently finished. -- in the scene where Chris is poisoned in the cottage, she bends down to look at him and you see that Terry Crawford was wearing generic ladies white pumps, NOT period. The Dan Curtis budget strikes again!)
Judith also had a number of lovely dresses throughout the storyline despite the fact that in reality, by the end of the storyline she wouldnt' even have been out of mourning for Grandmamamama yet, much less Jenny and Carl, etc.
