"Trust the language of the time, of the period."
Also chiming in, Tony Kushner, screenwriter - his advice is to go to the OED for any possible anachronisms in language (this may not work if your period is as early as mine, the 5th/6th centuries, when really no functionally recognizable form of our language yet existed).
Doris Kearns Goodwin mentions Erich von Stroheim (a very well known director of silents, for those who do not know the name from "Sunset Boulevard" ... or any of his own films), whose philosophy on acting was that, though only the dress might be seen, his actresses should wear silk underwear and period layers, to *feel* what the women in another age would have.
No word on what he expected of actors. Maybe discussing starlets' silk undies made for a better quote ...
Oh, and Thaddeus Stephens' wig? *Supposed* to look like that, yes.
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