OUaT s1 - Clothes make the match
Oct. 4th, 2012 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arduinnaOkay, I blame Tom and Lorenzo for this entirely. I started reading them for Project Runway recaps ("Project Rungay"), then started poking at other stuff they write. One of their favorite shows is Mad Men - which I don't like, so was cheerfully skipping the recaps for, till I stumbled over their followup Mad Style recaps, which looks at each episode through the lens of the clothing people are wearing, the rooms they're standing in, body language, color, things like that.
I was fascinated. I wound up reading a lot of them, and I've been reading them ever since. Other than a few basic things I've never really noticed the underlying meaning in things like clothes on tv (honestly, mostly just that SG-1 has always, always dressed in identical uniforms but equally always worn in four different ways, to clearly mark them as individuals who make up a solid unit).
But just as vidding makes you notice things like color, TLo can make you notice things like clothes. And once I started watching OUaT closely for visual cues, they started leaping out at me here, too.
Focusing on Storybrooke here, there are a few people on OUaT who dress individually -- Ruby is always in bright red, Archie is always in dull greens and other muted fall colors -- brown, rust. But the main characters are almost always dressed to reflect the interactions they're having that episode. Some of it's blatant (... for certain values of blatant), some of it's subtle, but it's there in pretty much every episode.
I will spare you screencaps from all 22 episodes, I promise.
But I won't spare you screencaps from *some* of the 22 episodes...
Meet Mary Margaret, Emma, and Regina, together in the same scene for the first time
Okay, bear with me as I go ridiculously detailed on this one. The relationships between these three women are the heart of the show, and they set the connections between them from day one, literally. This is the very first episode.
This is Mary Margaret -- medium-grey skirt, light grey cardigan, cream top, dark purse.
In walks Regina -- dark grey skirt, medium-grey blazer, black top, dark purse.
And here's Emma -- dark pants, light grey top, red leather jacket.
Each of them is wearing something that calls back to the other -- Emma's dark pants match Regina's dark top, while her light top matches Mary Margaret's cardigan; Mary Margaret's medium grey skirt matches Regina's blazer. They're all wearing some sort of half-closed jacket-type thing over their tops.
But the style of each's clothes sets them up right from the start. Mary Margaret is wearing all soft things -- unstructured skirt, unstructured, floppy soft cardigan. She's all harmless, sheltered femininity, and the pixie cut adds tremedous youth to the impression. Regina is in a sleek, tailored suit; she's power and maturity, the establishment. Emma is in boots, jeans, and a leather jacket, in Regina's signature color, no less. She's rebellion and revolution.
A better look at Mary Margaret's unstructured outfit.
Mother and daughter - you can see the matching greys of Emma's top and Mary Margaret's cardigan better here. And what a difference it makes, zipping up a fitted leather jacket halfway, versus buttoning up a schlumpy soft cardigan halfway. Emma looks like she's already wearing armor.
There are scenes scattered throughout where I was seeing callbacks among all their clothes, but I really will spare you other than this one shot from a different episode:
There's the same differences in style -- Mary Margaret is still soft and harmless, Regina is still tailored and powerful, Emma is still rebellion on a stick, just now with a badge. And Mary Margaret's pants are nearly the same color as Emma's top (it's closer in other lighting), which in turn is pretty much the same color as Regina's top. And Regina's jacket matches Emma's jeans again.
Regina and Mary Margaret, Regina and Emma
It's not just these three together; it's Regina with each of the other two.
Here's Regina coming to Mary Margaret's school to confront her, while Mary Margaret is reading to Henry's class outside:
Each in a medium-grey dress with a light-grey cover; Mary Margaret's in unstructured and soft clothes, Regina's tailored and sophisticated. The contrast goes right down to Mary Margaret's light-grey soft sweater having fluttery little fringy things as "lapels", while Regina has sharp-angled true lapels.
Emma's jacket and Regina's lipstick (okay, I know that one is a reach. But when you start obsessing, the littlest things seem important...)
Less of a reach: dark jackets over red tops.
Mary Margaret, Emma, and Henry
The three of them are not only directly related (grandmother, mother, son), but are deliberately working together here to wake up the man Henry is positive is his grandfather and the love of Mary Margaret's life (and Emma's dad). Emma, the middle generation, is wearing a shirt that's basically the exact midpoint between the two blues Mary Margaret and Henry are wearing. This is only the third episode, and already they're being visually highlighted as a family unit.
And here's Henry's other mom in the same scene -- the closest she comes to fitting in with them is that her dress is a darker shade of grey than Henry's t-shirt. They're connected, but much more tenuously than he's connected to the other two women. In fact, here he's most closely connected to Mary Margaret -- both in pale tops with blue jacket/cardigan over -- as he's been bonding with her since long before he ever met Emma.
But there is one person who Regina matches very well to:
Kathryn, whose whole purpose here is to do Regina's bidding and break up Mary Margaret's little family unit. (See David sitting up in the background there? In blue scrubs, matching Mary Margaret, Emma, and Henry. Not Kathryn.)
But it's not all about the women (er, and children). Entirely. Sometimes a boy shows up to entertain them.
Mary Margaret and David
These were actually the two I noticed first in terms of matching clothing color, specifically in this scene:
Good gravy, they couldn't be telegraphing them more strongly as "supposed to be together". They are in almost identical colors from top to bottom; David's shirt may be more red, but there's pink in the fainter cross-hatching in his shirt that's basically a duller version of the pink in her cardigan.
So they have started falling in love, spending more time together and admitting to Feelings and stuff, and what happens when blue and (pink)red get together?
Purple. Purple is what happens when blue and red mix it up. It's not quite as blatant as the first set, but these are clothes that go together; the light purple of her sweater is in his shirt, and that purple scarf looks pretty damn close, too. I'll ignore the matching anoraks on account of Maine in bad weather. Everyone's in an anorak.
So now they totally together, because they are in love! And sneaking around, because of David being married and all. So they have to hide their connection.
So they both randomly start wearing green. Clearly they don't belong together, as all the world can see!
That same night, they run into each other on the street. David is still in his greenish flannel, while Mary Margaret is all dolled up for a girl's night out. In pretty much the exact blue-teal shade as in his shirt.
So totally not together, these two, nothing to see here, move along!
(Seriously, I think they put David in plaid flannel all the time specifically so they can match Mary Margaret's clothes to him more easily.)
Emma and Sheriff Graham
I wasn't expecting to see any of this, and yet I did. So:
I know, this one looks like a ridiculous reach. But it caught my eye anyway. This is the first episode, and Emma has been thrown in the drunk tank because Regina wants her the hell away from Henry. Graham's colors echo Regina's almost precisely -- except for that nearly hidden strip of red across the neck of his jacket, matching Emma. So from the very first, he's connected to her visually in the midst of his vast professional and personal connection to Regina.
This is a couple of episodes later, and the connection is much, much clearer; they're basically in matching shirts. And best of all, Emma's shirt was originally Regina's -- she's taking Regina's property all over the place, here, as Graham gets increasingly attached to her.
And here we are an episode later, with Graham popping the question of "wanna be my deputy? please say yes", with his tie linking him to Emma's red leather jacket.
Regina the seductress:
Not her more vampy seductressy ways, like when she tried to get the Huntsman to do her bidding, but specifically when she's trying to get men to believe she's innocent and sweet so she can get them to do terrible things for her, Regina has a pattern:
She pulls out the blue dress of demure innocence, is what she does, no matter where she is.
There are tons of little connections and cues all over the place in this show, and the more you look, the more you see.
Next up, more clothes, but in a different vein: clothes that make a point, specifically about episode 8.
-----
OUaT s1 picspam series
Part 1: Season one takes place in a forest
Part 2: Regina and Rumple: colors and castles
Part 3: You are here!
Part 4: Clothes make the point
Part 5: Disney references
Part 6: Bits and pieces
I was fascinated. I wound up reading a lot of them, and I've been reading them ever since. Other than a few basic things I've never really noticed the underlying meaning in things like clothes on tv (honestly, mostly just that SG-1 has always, always dressed in identical uniforms but equally always worn in four different ways, to clearly mark them as individuals who make up a solid unit).
But just as vidding makes you notice things like color, TLo can make you notice things like clothes. And once I started watching OUaT closely for visual cues, they started leaping out at me here, too.
Focusing on Storybrooke here, there are a few people on OUaT who dress individually -- Ruby is always in bright red, Archie is always in dull greens and other muted fall colors -- brown, rust. But the main characters are almost always dressed to reflect the interactions they're having that episode. Some of it's blatant (... for certain values of blatant), some of it's subtle, but it's there in pretty much every episode.
I will spare you screencaps from all 22 episodes, I promise.
But I won't spare you screencaps from *some* of the 22 episodes...
Meet Mary Margaret, Emma, and Regina, together in the same scene for the first time
Okay, bear with me as I go ridiculously detailed on this one. The relationships between these three women are the heart of the show, and they set the connections between them from day one, literally. This is the very first episode.
This is Mary Margaret -- medium-grey skirt, light grey cardigan, cream top, dark purse.
In walks Regina -- dark grey skirt, medium-grey blazer, black top, dark purse.
And here's Emma -- dark pants, light grey top, red leather jacket.
Each of them is wearing something that calls back to the other -- Emma's dark pants match Regina's dark top, while her light top matches Mary Margaret's cardigan; Mary Margaret's medium grey skirt matches Regina's blazer. They're all wearing some sort of half-closed jacket-type thing over their tops.
But the style of each's clothes sets them up right from the start. Mary Margaret is wearing all soft things -- unstructured skirt, unstructured, floppy soft cardigan. She's all harmless, sheltered femininity, and the pixie cut adds tremedous youth to the impression. Regina is in a sleek, tailored suit; she's power and maturity, the establishment. Emma is in boots, jeans, and a leather jacket, in Regina's signature color, no less. She's rebellion and revolution.
A better look at Mary Margaret's unstructured outfit.
Mother and daughter - you can see the matching greys of Emma's top and Mary Margaret's cardigan better here. And what a difference it makes, zipping up a fitted leather jacket halfway, versus buttoning up a schlumpy soft cardigan halfway. Emma looks like she's already wearing armor.
There are scenes scattered throughout where I was seeing callbacks among all their clothes, but I really will spare you other than this one shot from a different episode:
There's the same differences in style -- Mary Margaret is still soft and harmless, Regina is still tailored and powerful, Emma is still rebellion on a stick, just now with a badge. And Mary Margaret's pants are nearly the same color as Emma's top (it's closer in other lighting), which in turn is pretty much the same color as Regina's top. And Regina's jacket matches Emma's jeans again.
Regina and Mary Margaret, Regina and Emma
It's not just these three together; it's Regina with each of the other two.
Here's Regina coming to Mary Margaret's school to confront her, while Mary Margaret is reading to Henry's class outside:
Each in a medium-grey dress with a light-grey cover; Mary Margaret's in unstructured and soft clothes, Regina's tailored and sophisticated. The contrast goes right down to Mary Margaret's light-grey soft sweater having fluttery little fringy things as "lapels", while Regina has sharp-angled true lapels.
Emma's jacket and Regina's lipstick (okay, I know that one is a reach. But when you start obsessing, the littlest things seem important...)
Less of a reach: dark jackets over red tops.
Mary Margaret, Emma, and Henry
The three of them are not only directly related (grandmother, mother, son), but are deliberately working together here to wake up the man Henry is positive is his grandfather and the love of Mary Margaret's life (and Emma's dad). Emma, the middle generation, is wearing a shirt that's basically the exact midpoint between the two blues Mary Margaret and Henry are wearing. This is only the third episode, and already they're being visually highlighted as a family unit.
And here's Henry's other mom in the same scene -- the closest she comes to fitting in with them is that her dress is a darker shade of grey than Henry's t-shirt. They're connected, but much more tenuously than he's connected to the other two women. In fact, here he's most closely connected to Mary Margaret -- both in pale tops with blue jacket/cardigan over -- as he's been bonding with her since long before he ever met Emma.
But there is one person who Regina matches very well to:
Kathryn, whose whole purpose here is to do Regina's bidding and break up Mary Margaret's little family unit. (See David sitting up in the background there? In blue scrubs, matching Mary Margaret, Emma, and Henry. Not Kathryn.)
But it's not all about the women (er, and children). Entirely. Sometimes a boy shows up to entertain them.
Mary Margaret and David
These were actually the two I noticed first in terms of matching clothing color, specifically in this scene:
Good gravy, they couldn't be telegraphing them more strongly as "supposed to be together". They are in almost identical colors from top to bottom; David's shirt may be more red, but there's pink in the fainter cross-hatching in his shirt that's basically a duller version of the pink in her cardigan.
So they have started falling in love, spending more time together and admitting to Feelings and stuff, and what happens when blue and (pink)red get together?
Purple. Purple is what happens when blue and red mix it up. It's not quite as blatant as the first set, but these are clothes that go together; the light purple of her sweater is in his shirt, and that purple scarf looks pretty damn close, too. I'll ignore the matching anoraks on account of Maine in bad weather. Everyone's in an anorak.
So now they totally together, because they are in love! And sneaking around, because of David being married and all. So they have to hide their connection.
So they both randomly start wearing green. Clearly they don't belong together, as all the world can see!
That same night, they run into each other on the street. David is still in his greenish flannel, while Mary Margaret is all dolled up for a girl's night out. In pretty much the exact blue-teal shade as in his shirt.
So totally not together, these two, nothing to see here, move along!
(Seriously, I think they put David in plaid flannel all the time specifically so they can match Mary Margaret's clothes to him more easily.)
Emma and Sheriff Graham
I wasn't expecting to see any of this, and yet I did. So:
I know, this one looks like a ridiculous reach. But it caught my eye anyway. This is the first episode, and Emma has been thrown in the drunk tank because Regina wants her the hell away from Henry. Graham's colors echo Regina's almost precisely -- except for that nearly hidden strip of red across the neck of his jacket, matching Emma. So from the very first, he's connected to her visually in the midst of his vast professional and personal connection to Regina.
This is a couple of episodes later, and the connection is much, much clearer; they're basically in matching shirts. And best of all, Emma's shirt was originally Regina's -- she's taking Regina's property all over the place, here, as Graham gets increasingly attached to her.
And here we are an episode later, with Graham popping the question of "wanna be my deputy? please say yes", with his tie linking him to Emma's red leather jacket.
Regina the seductress:
Not her more vampy seductressy ways, like when she tried to get the Huntsman to do her bidding, but specifically when she's trying to get men to believe she's innocent and sweet so she can get them to do terrible things for her, Regina has a pattern:
She pulls out the blue dress of demure innocence, is what she does, no matter where she is.
There are tons of little connections and cues all over the place in this show, and the more you look, the more you see.
Next up, more clothes, but in a different vein: clothes that make a point, specifically about episode 8.
-----
OUaT s1 picspam series
Part 1: Season one takes place in a forest
Part 2: Regina and Rumple: colors and castles
Part 3: You are here!
Part 4: Clothes make the point
Part 5: Disney references
Part 6: Bits and pieces
