Some Thoughts About Agent Carter Costumes: On Style and Level of Comfort
aka ‘you won’t believe who actually is the little diva fashionista’
So in 2021, I set myself a little challenge: emulate the characters’ outfits so I can understand first-hand how they move and what historical outfits feel like. It’s been more than a year since I began that project, and I have some interesting findings...
Peggy
Peggy’s one of the reasons why this project was started in the first place. I noticed a discrepancy between how the historical costuming community describe mid-century dress, and how Peggy’s experience with her clothes are described in fandom circles. So I wanted to see for myself: how much movement do you get with ‘40s womenswear? Are they comfortable?
In short, yes, they are! And even though I started this project knowing that historical outfits are often more comfortable than we would think from our modern perspectives, I was still surprised by how much movement you get with stockings and garters. I have tested the action and yes, you can comfortably knee someone in the ***** in garters and stockings.
There are some caveats, of course. ‘Comfort’ with garments and outfits comes from familiarity. For example, as someone who wears skinny jeans all the time, including the summer months, the excess fabric of ‘40s wide-legged pants was a bit of a foreign sensation. I don’t mind tight clothing, so I didn’t have trouble with wearing girdles and cinchers as part of my ‘40s outfits. I also have got plenty of experience with heels, so walking and even running in them was not a challenge. I would imagine Peggy—and for that matter, most women in the AC universe—to be familiar with these elements, and find them reasonably manageable.
What I was surprised by, was that Peggy’s outfits are actually on the plainer side of ‘40s fashion. Comparing Peggy’s outfits to historical pictures, other female characters, and historical reproduction fashion, her clothes mainly consist of plain, solid colours. Ana and Rose, for example, wear plenty of prints. Angie and other Griffith girls wear knitwear with interesting patterns.
Overall, I would say Peggy’s outfits are practical and comfortable. A lot of her perceived glamour comes from her makeup, and the fact that her clothes are pretty well-tailored.
Jack
One thing I find interesting is that repeatedly in AC fics, Jack is supposed to be the fashionista—he is supposed to be the one who is fussy with his appearance. But upon closer inspection, that does not appear to be the case.
Like Pegg, Jack’s outfits are plainer and more practical and comfortable than what meets the eye. His outfits seem stylised to the modern eye, with suspenders and patterned ties. But moving past the modern perspective, all he seems to wear around the office are loose, comfortable shirts and slacks. And while suspenders seem like a ✨fancy✨ choice to the modern audience, they are very everyday items in the ‘40s. They are arguably more practical than belts—in my experiments, I find that with suspenders, you trousers aren’t going anywhere, but they would still shift with belts. In short, his outfits are very practical and comfortable.
I would say a lot of his perceived style comes from the fact that he has several well-tailored suits. Another meta once discussed how owning several suits—and well-tailored ones, at that—in the ‘40s speaks to a certain level of wealth and resources. But again, I don’t know how much of that really reflects personal style. Like Peggy, he basically is hiding behind good tailors. On his own, he seems like someone who still values comfort and practicality over style.
Daniel
It’s easy to dismiss Daniel as the ‘unfashionable’ one. His outfits in S1 and AOS S7 seem very boring and conservative, being far more formal than what his colleagues wear and composing of ‘dull’ colours like beige, brown, and black. As for S2, it seems easy to dismiss that as phase. Those loud Hawaiian shirts have been affectionately nicknamed ‘Hawaiian shirts of heartbreak’, and it’s easy to write off that part of his life as a simple experiment. But is that really the case?
The AC costume designer said that, and I paraphrase, the sweater vests in S1 act as a style layer, to have something that adds style and design after the jacket is removed indoors. And that’s what sets Daniel apart from everyone else—he layers. He has a collection of sweater vests in different styles—plain, colour block, argyle, to name a few. And while the fact that he layers can be read as a metaphor of how he hides his heart, one can hardly accuse him of being unfashionable.
His outfits in S2, again, speak to a level of style and willingness to experiment. For someone who seems to dress rather conservatively in New York, he has no qualms stepping way out of his comfort zone, experimenting with loud patterns and a decidedly West Coast style that the AC costume designer calls ‘sultry’. I think this willingness to experiment with fashion and try new styles is not something we can expect from Jack or Peggy.
And then there’s his outfit when he is first introduced in AOS S7, the dark woollen suit combo. For the sake of this discussion, I will engage that outfit in good faith, rather than writing some of the idiosyncrasies off as oversight by the costume department. If I have to sum up his outfits from 7x03-7x05, I will say this: style over practicality. First off, he is wearing many very warm layers for the height of summer in a desert. He is wearing a coat, a woollen suit, and a sweater vest on top of a shirt and whatever undergarments he may have got. Besides, he is wearing suspenders under the vest. If he is intending that to be a style layer that he doesn’t necessarily take off, like in S1, that would make for some inconvenience.
So overall, I would say that while Daniel’s outfits are also comfortable and warm, he is definitely the one who is more adventurous with fashion, and values style a little more than the other two.
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