“I love working with Jacqueline Durran. She is the costume designer who also designed that green dress in “Atonement” and all the costumes as well for “Pride and prejudice”, that I did. She is one of my favorite costumes designer definitely, but just creative people. I think the reason is that there´s always a really specific reason for each costume and they really tell the story.”

(Keira Knightley)

“His costume had a series of stages. The first time we see him he’s at Meryton, where he has a very stiffly tailored jacket on, and he’s quite contained and rigid. He stays in that rigid form for the first part of the film. By the time we get to the proposal that goes wrong in the rain, we move to a similar cut, but a much softer fabric. And then later he’s got a completely different cut of coat, not interlined, and he wears it undone.”

(Jacqueline Durran, Costume designer)

“So what’s Keira Knightley like to work with?
She is absolutely delightful, very down-to-earth and totally un-starry. And she was always very interested in her costumes, as all good actresses are. She would often discuss the moods and emotions that were building up in her character and relate the dresses to various scenes. Every dress had a lot of meaning to her performance.”
So what did Keira keep? No gowns, thank you very much. Durran says the ever-practical actress only hung on to a pair of boots.”

(Jacqueline Durran, costumer designer)

“Jane’s fashion is “the most refined”, but her dresses are still meant to look slapdish and homemade.”

(Jacqueline Durran, Costume designer)

Also Joe´s decision, he considered bonnets and carriages too cliched for Jane Austen:

http://pemberley-state-of-mind.tumblr.com/post/2082674862/wanted-to-keep-as-many-bonnets-out-of-the-film-as

That was Joe Wright´s choice:

http://pemberley-state-of-mind.tumblr.com/post/2746536979/joe-wanted-lizzie-s-character-to-be-tomboyish-to

http://pemberley-state-of-mind.tumblr.com/post/2583224149/lizzie-bennet-was-the-tomboy-and-wore-earth

http://pemberley-state-of-mind.tumblr.com/post/2568723282/joe-wanted-to-make-something-wich-felt-more-real

http://pemberley-state-of-mind.tumblr.com/post/4809825084/the-contrast-between-the-genteel-but-down-at-heel

http://pemberley-state-of-mind.tumblr.com/post/1562936711/elizabeth-bennet-s-costumes-these-corsets-were

“If you see closely Darcy costumes in the course of the film change quite radically. In the early scenes he´s wearing a very buttoned up, very rigid, very stiff style of costume. In the middle stage, he´s wearing the same style but in a softer fabric and a softer cut and, by the end of the film, he´s wearing a much looser cut, an open jacket, a more country style, less uptight, less rigid. His costumes reflect the other changes in his character”.

(Jacqeline Durrant, Costume designer)