#the details *matter* in menswear – dark shadows costumes (in the present day) rely heavily on contemporary codes of fashion‚ class‚ leisure

[widowshill]

not for nothing that roger and jeff are wearing completely identical suits for vicki's wedding down to the same pearl stick pin and it's roger that is distinguished with the accessory and the visual emphasis. that roger wears the pocket square and jeff goes plain without one, without a boutonnière (as feels the most probable and appropriate; they both wear boutonnières in roger's prophetic dream of the wedding). that not only is he wearing the handkerchief, but it's folded in such a way as so take as much space as possible – straying from accepted formality of a neat TV fold, occupying more room on the screen, drawing more attention, pointing among other things to his heart in bright white.

#i wrote about this in the tags of that gifset but i thought i should accompany commentary with images. #i've... for sure mentioned this scene before but i've read enough tonight that i feel more confident speaking on it more #than only – omg roger is wearing the same clothes. they could switch places. i wish they would switch places. #625. #it's a category of ds analysis where i do hesitate before ascribing importance but it's not going to stop me entirely. #a) davis could have just not put on the pin he was supposed to and that's the end of that story. not unlikely. but b) #the details *matter* in menswear – dark shadows costumes (in the present day) rely heavily on contemporary codes of fashion‚ class‚ leisure #many Many of the male characters mostly or only wear suits – the subtle differences in those suits (between characters; between days #and arcs) are responsible for communicating a great deal to us about who these people are – their place in the structure of things #and what they want right now. #and in costume design – when two characters are wearing an identical costume (a uniform; a wedding suit) the distinguishing features #take on the role of communicating details of character. #in american weddings the groom is dressed much more like his groomsmen than the bride and the bridal party – this is something #the costume team is going to be aware of and be purposeful about. even if they weren't purposeful: assume a 60's viewer who knows the rules #of suits‚ of weddings‚ of pocket squares (who knows much more than i do) #roger and jeff are dressed so much alike for vicki's wedding as to be nigh indistinguishable – it could have‚ #had things played out differently‚ been roger in jeff's place. #both the script and the players elide the two in vicki's perspective (''why hasn't roger come back?'' ''you mean jeff don't you?'') #this being a wedding that he tried to stop – one in which he sensed disaster – one in which you already have the notion that maybe he does #wish it was *him* instead‚ though he won't say that. but his first and foremost priority in 625 and 626 is her happiness. #he takes the responsibility (and the shame) from vicki's shoulders of telling the guests that jeff left and there's no wedding. #he chases jeff down to the cemetary‚ to try to stop him from digging up a grave‚ and *implores* him to focus on offering vicki a life. #he has a large role in these eps perhaps especially because he's the one that had the premonition against the wedding; but also because #vicki is one of the few people he cares about – and he says as much. all this to say. roger is grabbing attention with his extravagant #pocket square – he's pulling focus visually; narratively; from the groom (in terms of vicki/the wedding – jeff has more to do with eve/ #the graveyard/peter) vicki is spending as much time thinking about roger as she does jeff. and the moment where roger comes up to her room #to see her is .... well. there's more shared in the way they look at each other than all v/j's professions of love between them. #(and it's a distant echo of her first night in the house: roger at her bedroom door) #in the ds in my head (my beloved ds in my head) this is where the paths ought to have diverged. that vicki – no matter how much she loves #the past‚ how dearly she remembers the 18th century and peter and their ill-fated jail cell‚ has to choose now. not the grave‚ life.