early 1790s. She explained, "We wanted to show that transition especially for the women. The look in London is very different from the look in the countryside. For the country ball the fashion for the older women is more of the old style but for the younger women we show the introduction of the Empire line." The costume designer created all of Hathaway's outfits from scratch, and "looked for images of a young Jane Austen." Ní Mhaoldhomhnaigh explained, "I wanted to get her youthfulness and innocence across through her dress. But crucially there was also her strength of character. So we kept away from frills and flounces. I wanted a definite look that was quite strong but also pretty at the same time. Jane was living on a working farm so her dress had to be practical as well. In terms of the costume we were definitely trying to steer away from the chocolate box image that we associate with Jane Austen." Ní Mhaoldhomhnaigh dressed McAvoy in rich fabrics, such as velvet and beaver fur, to help distinguish him from the other men. She recalled that "he wears very stylish waist coats and cut-away jackets. With Jane around he'd have an extra swagger in front of her. James (McAvoy) was really into it. We'd talk about the colours and fabrics to achieve his distinctive look." Ní Mhaoldhomhnaigh and Maggie Smith agreed that Lady Gresham's dresses would be modelled after 1770s fashion, which was "the sort of dress that the character would have worn when she was much younger and suited her back then. Lady Gresham is very much her own character and is not someone who is dictated to by fashion." Smith's dresses contained stiff fabrics "to emphasise a woman who was very set in her ways". Filming Produced independently by Ecosse, Becoming Jane was given a limited budget of €12.7 million (£9 million or $16.5 million). Production designer Eve Stewart researched Regency literature and Austen's life, and along with Jarrold, scouted locations in Dublin and nearby counties for five weeks in January and February 2006. They ultimately opted to shoot in Dublin and the Irish counties of Meath and Wicklow instead of Hampshire, the birthplace of Austen, because it held "a sense of countryside that felt more unchanged," while Hampshire had unfortunately become too "groomed and manicured". Jarrold also found "a great variety of Georgian houses and older houses"