Outlander – Everybody Chill

This is a great article by Sarah Lorraine with Frock Flicks about Outlander costumes, what Terry and crew design for Claire to wear and the historical accuracy of the clothes.

Some promo pictures for the upcoming third season of Outlander recently dropped, and I wanted to address them, since they have apparently caused a stir.

The issue apparently is that Claire is wearing what looks like a modern button-down shirt with an 18th-century skirt.

No, it’s not historically accurate.

I am OK with this.

We here at Frock Flicks have said from the beginning that we want to see more historical accuracy in film and television, and Terry Dresbach and her team do a good job with the period. I find more things about the costuming I can quibble with in a show like Harlots (2017) than I’ve ever found with Outlander. And frankly, this is a story about a woman who goes back in time through a magical stone circle, for cryin’ out loud!

Yes, the photo shows Claire in what is possibly a modern button-down shirt with an 18th-century-esque skirt. Yes, we are aware that this is Not Historically Accurate in any way, shape, or form. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the costume designer knew this, too. In fact, if you’ve read the books or watched the first two seasons, you would be used to Claire’s tendency to mix-n-match the 1940s with the 1740s when it comes to her clothes. We’ve covered the dresses in Season Two that were directly inspired by Dior’s Bar Suit, and we’ve talked at length about the other myriad of ways that the designs that Claire wears in the show are meant to look like someone from the 1940s got thrown back in time 200 years — which is pretty much the basic gist of the plot.