It’s been a lot of fun to go back in time for Hallmark’s new streaming series Hope Valley: 1874, a spinoff of When Calls the Heart that premiered on the 2026 TV schedule in March. The crew has worked hard to make the two series accurate to the time periods they’re set in, which presented a unique challenge for costume designer Barbara Gregusova. She explained to CinemaBlend why creating the prequel’s looks was so hard, and it’s honestly not an issue I’d even considered before.
Barbara Gregusova created the wardrobes for characters not just on Hope Valley: 1874, but for most of When Calls the Heart’s 100+ episodes, and while there were no wild corset issues on the spinoff, Gregusova told me what was more difficult when it came to tackling the right look (other than the foggy, muddy weather):
For the period we are doing, or the people which the show represents, there is not really historical references, right? Because at the time, you only took pictures of your Sunday best clothes, and it was only usually for the richer families. And it was like specific portraits, where usually everybody looks very sad. So I mean, I was trying to do very extensive research. Like, if you know what they had, then you know how to scale it down.
I had never realized that costume designers are basically working blind when it comes to dressing characters from the 1800s Canadian frontier — or any characters from that time period who didn’t possess Titanic levels of wealth. What Barbara Gregusova said makes so much sense, though.
Only the rich could afford to have portraits made or photographs taken, and the people in those photos were likely dressed in the best clothing they owned. Visual representation of what a common person would wear on any random day is severely lacking.
The costume designer used her own history and fashion reference books, as well as the library and, of course, the Internet for her research, and ultimately those fancy portraits ended up giving her a lot of what she needed. She continued:
So even though they were fancy portraits, at least it gives you an idea of, like, the hairstyles and what type of colors they wore, or trims and all the details. Obviously, our show is much more simplified than all these portraits which we found, but it just gives you kind of a starting point. Then you have to create your own world from all the information I accumulate.
She said knowledge of what was available in eras previous to Hope Valley: 1874’s timeline was helpful as well:
If you know that something existed before — even fabrics — you know that it would exist in our timeframe, so you can repurpose it. So let's say, hypothetically speaking, if there would be a fabric even for Rococo period, you could technically still use it, because somebody could find it on something. I don't think that people just threw stuff away, right? So I mean, everything would have a second life, because you would treasure what you have, and people didn't have that much money, too, so everything would have repurpose, I think.
That’s a good point, too, because especially for families that didn’t have a lot of money, clothing was probably passed down and recycled, so the characters in 1874 likely weren’t wearing the newest items available, but rather something from a previous generation.
It’s been so interesting to delve into Hope Valley’s origin story, but just as fascinating to hear how all the pieces come together behind the scenes to make it historically accurate.
When Calls the Heart recently wrapped its 13th season on the Hallmark schedule, with Season 14 already in the works. The finale of Hope Valley: 1874’s first season, meanwhile, is set for Thursday, May 7. The first seven of Season 1’s eight episodes can be streamed now on Hallmark+.
