‘Outlander’ Costumes Are Made With Cheese Graters and Pumice Stones
Costumes make up a significant portion of a show. Many showrunners allocate large budgets that go specifically into costume creations. Some shows such as Sex and the City and Gossip Girl have influenced how their viewers see the show through their costumes.
Although some showrunners like to stick to the basics when it comes to their costume creations, others prefer to think outside the box. Outlander showrunners get creative with culinary items to create the iconic costumes audiences see.
‘Outlander’ is about time travel
Claire Randall, a World War II nurse, seeks to revive her marriage with MI6 agent frank. The two decide to have their second honeymoon in Scotland. When they get there, Claire finds herself transported from the 1940s to the 1700s. She also realized that her freedom and life might be in danger after finding herself among the MacKenzie clan, a rebel Highlander group.
To save herself, she decides to marry Highlander Jamie Fraser, and along the way, she ends up falling in love with him. Jamie gets abducted by the vicious and sadistic Randall, who tortures him. Claire and the rest of the Highlander clan band together and rescue Jamie from Randall’s clutches.
Claire gets closer to the rest of the clan by warning them that the Jacobite plan will end in doom. They at first mistake her for a healer but warm up to her. She realizes she’s pregnant and informs Jamie, who takes the news in good stride.
Claire later traveled back in time and got back to Scotland to be with Frank. She tells him about her time travel adventures. He asks her to forget about Jamie and to let him raise their child as his own. Jamie goes to battle at the War of Culloden and vows to die in battle. Twenty years later, Frank dies, and Claire takes her daughter back to Scotland with her. She learns that Jamie didn’t die in the war and works to find him.
At Culloden, Jamie takes his revenge against Randall. He goes to prison for killing Randall but is spared execution. He befriends the governor, who paroles him and offers him a job. Jamie then gets into a sexual friendship, which brings about an illegitimate child William. He reunites with Claire, and they move and claim the land they call Fraser’s Ridge as their own.
Time travel is a crucial element
Outlander is popular with its audience due to the love stories, intertwining storylines, and time travel. The show’s executive producers sought to put the record straight about how the characters can travel through time.
The showrunners noted that time and location are crucial. The characters have to be at specific places such as Ocracoke and Abandawe Cave for time travel to be possible. Additionally, the characters have to wear particular gemstones for them to time travel safely. There are, however, some loopholes to this theory.
Even if someone is at the right place and time and wearing the right gemstones, it is not a guarantee that they’ll be able to time travel. Some fans believe that this is because time travel might be an inherited trait, like in Claire and Brianna’s case.
The showrunners get creative with the costumes
Part of the reason why Outlander is so popular is its scenic locations and up-to-date couture. The characters can always be spotted wearing time-appropriate and fashionable pieces. The ladies usually wear corsets while the men wear kilts with nothing else beneath.
The actors have expressed their appreciation for the costumes saying that they have allowed them to live through the women at the time. Actor Caitriona Balfe noted that staying in a corset for so long during filming has allowed her to feel how oppressed the women at the time felt, especially with their outfits.
According to Marie Claire, the Outlander creative team uses household items to perfect the costumes. The show’s stylists use cheese graters, blowtorches, and pumice stones to create the exemplary costumes and give them a lived-in look. Some of the costumes are even tied up and baked to make them look as authentic as possible.
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