Why Outlander's Costume Designers Find a Cement Mixer So Helpful
With each new season of Outlander comes new locales. The show’s fourth season has transported Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) to North Carolina in the 18th century, inviting the characters into frontier America before the Revolutionary War. This shift has brought an evolution in the show’s fashion, which was created by co-costume designers Nina Ayres and Terry Dresbach (who often shares behind-the-scenes shots and details on Twitter).
The duo designed and built thousands of new costumes for its cast and hundreds of extras, and focused on some serious details when it came to each piece. ELLE.com got a tour of the costume department while on set in Glasgow earlier this year to learn how the clothes are made and what exactly goes into each little element. Here Ayres, as well as Balfe and Heughan, break down some of the secrets of Outlander’s costumes.
Making clothes for the new world
"There was slight concern about how we were going to shoot Scotland in America, so we did as much as we could in costume to help with that,” Ayres explains. “We tried to pinpoint what the fundamental differences would have been.”
One of the most essential elements of the costume designer for season 4 is the fabrics, which vary from previous seasons-although eagle-eyed viewers may spot some previously seen items. “Obviously, a lot of the cloths would have been imported from France and England, which was great because then we were able to reuse costumes we had,” Ayres notes. “At the time, one of things people did was to re-work and re-make old clothes, so we were able to reuse some of the Paris costumes and just reduce the size of the bum rolls and make everything a bit more practical. That helped sell the pioneering look. We’ve also used a lot more cotton and linen and patterned fabrics because what was available in America was Indian block prints.”
The costumes also bring in inspiration from a variety of cultures, including Dutch settlers and Native Americans. “We looked at mountain men and fur traders and the Native Americans,” Ayres says. “There was lots of trade between them at the time. We looked at how we could change the silhouette of men by using moccasins and leggings that the Native Americans wore and then mixing that with European and Western costume. That mix of cultures helped sell America as the New World [on the show visually] because it was melting pot of influences and cultures.”
“There’s definitely been an evolution in the costumes and it’s quite interesting to see in America how it’s quite relaxed,” Heughan notes. “We’ve still got elements of our old costumes and our old lives, but taking on different cultures. It’s more about practicality and about what works. We’ve gone from Scotland to the French courts to here, so we’ve gotten to try everything.”
Mixing and matching
“Something we tried to do with a lot of our characters this season is that everything is mix and match,” Ayres says. “No one really has outfits that stand alone, as in ‘I am wearing this outfit today,’ unless it’s a ball or a party. Everyone has a wardrobe like anyone would have a wardrobe and we are flexible with how looks are put together.”
The costume team keeps track with boards that display all the potential combinations of clothing items for each character and how different pieces can be worn together. They want to be flexible since the Glasgow weather can be cold or windy, so it’s important to work with the real outdoor conditions when dressing the actors. It’s all very realistic in terms of how a real person would pull things from a closet on a given day. “We made loads of things that will work together,” Ayres says. “These can all be combined and layered.”
Reimagining Claire as a pioneer
After Claire is shipwrecked in the New World, the costume team made sure to ask themselves, “Where is she getting her clothes?” “We never want our costumes to just appear out of nowhere,” Ayres says. “So Claire had to buy new clothes because a lot had been lost in the shipwreck. Her new looks are from what she could buy there, so it’s almost as if she’s trying to keep her own style but could only choose from certain elements that were available.”
It was also important to ensure that Claire’s new looks in the 18th century reflected her position as a 2oth century woman. “She’s constantly trying to look for what the practical alternative is without being burned at the stake for being inappropriate in society. She toes the line until she gets to Fraser’s Ridge and once they set up their own homestead in the woods she completely relaxes and her silhouette loosens. She starts wearing men’s shirts, maybe taking them from Young Ian.”
“We are out on the frontier so there’s not as much pressure to conform to what the rest of society is doing and what they would expect of you,” Balfe adds. “Claire will dress differently when she’s going to go into Wilmington or when she’s going to be at River Run or among other people who might comment when she’s not wearing a corset. But when she’s at Fraser’s Ridge and when she’s with her family she can dress the most practical and comfortable, which is quite nice. Claire’s choices are really interesting to see.” And there's one other benefit for the actress: “Getting rid of the corsets has definitely been a relief.”
Claire isn’t able to stop dressing up completely, especially since she spends some time at River Run with Jamie’s Aunt Jocasta. There the idea is that everything Claire wears has been given to her by Jocasta, who is a wealthy plantation owner, so her outfits there include a corset and bum roll. When she and Jamie attended a dinner party there earlier in the season the discomfort of her dress was meant to mirror her discomfort with the slaves at River Run.
“When she’s at River Run, she’s still in that classic period dress,” Balfe says. “The minute she’s in Fraser’s Ridge or on the road she can relax.”
Why the Outlander costumes sometimes end up in a cement mixer
Each costume goes through a long process before it hits the screen. First the pieces are designed and made, then each one goes through a extensive breakdown process. This ensures that each item looks worn and feels appropriate to the time period. The breakdown process includes dyeing, bleaching, pigment spraying, stenciling, dry-brushing dirt onto them, greasing, sanding, and burning. Sometimes the costume team even puts the clothes into a cement mixer.
“Everything has something done to them,” says Ayres. “And sometimes you’re making things look nicer, as well. You’re destroying it and then trying to cover up what has happened to it and make it newer. Even the belts and the shoes-any bit of metal anyone has on them-comes through. We have to do work on everything to make it look slightly aged, because it doesn’t read well on camera if it’s just bright metal.”
Another way of reimagining a costume is to cut it apart at the seams, turn it inside out and then sew it back together as a new dress. This was a real practice in the 18th century called turning. “Instead of making something look old and worn, we get something that is actually old and worn and chop the cuff offs and remake it,” Ayres. “And sometimes the lines are still visible from its previous life and that just adds to the history of the costume. We’re doing exactly what people would have done and then not worrying if it looks like we’ve done that.”
A good example of this is Jamie’s favorite suit, which has followed him from Scotland. This season Jamie has gotten one new suit at River Run, but he tends to stick with the old one in most episodes, which has been specifically weathered to convey its age. “We added layers and layers of darning into it,” Ayres says. “It takes weeks. It’s hand-stitched. We purposefully ripped the fabric apart and then stitched it back together again to make it look like it’s been repaired and repaired and repaired. It’s all in different threads so there’s a history to all the repairs that have happened to it. Claire has repairs on her clothes as well, if you look.”
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