Margo's Wardrobe: Season One of The Magicians

Ok. So, like. Look.

Periodically I get, like, super fixated on a show/movie and my brain goes into overdrive thinking of ways to make different kinds of art and projects relating to it. I'll embroider fanart or recreate props out of various household materials-- my house is full of extremely specific, niche homages to Lady Lovely Locks, Coraline, Return to Oz, and- as I'm sure you've already noticed from prior posts- The Magicians.

My current obsessions is with the character Margo Hanson and decoding how her wardrobe over the show's five seasons does (or does not) reflect her evolution as a character. Magali Guidasci did an amazing job as costume designer for The Magicians and it broke my heart to discover she passed way too early in 2021, but she left behind a few interviews about her work on the show.

Season One Margo is still a Mean Girl, but there's way more emphasis on girl. She's very girly! She's bubbly and bouncing, even dainty in the way she holds her wrists in the air when meeting Quientinninn for the first time. (I refuse to learn how to spell his name correctly. That particular assembly of Us and Is and Es just breaks something in my brain) Can you imagine High King Margo holding herself like that?

It's really interesting to see the visual language of Margo evolve from Party Mean Girl to High King Margo the Destroyer- especially the fashion elements that persist throughout the seasons. Here in Season One, her wardrobe is very eclectic- sometimes wildly clashing colors with busy prints and other times corporate office monotone bland (not pictured: S1E2's outfit when she's leading Alice down the school stairs). Her outfits are explosive and volatile with their confrontational colors and prints, while also feminine and attractive with their figure-clinging cuts and delicately floral motifs. ...much like her personality, actually. Appealing and abrasive, loud and delicate, girly and aggressive.

Elements that do show up throughout the season are floral prints and reddy/pinky/magenta-y colors, almost always accompanied by jewellery of some kind, especially gold.

Her outfits feel very light. They tend to be sleeveless or cut high above the knee, leaving her limbs exposed.Margo's outfits are delicate, eye-catching, whimsical and flimsy. Such exposed, vulnerable clothing wouldn't last more than a day in the medieval, rough-and-tumble world of Fillory. You need layers there, both to protect you from the elements and from battle damage.

What's interesting to me is how Margo does preserve elements of her Season One style in her later High King Margo the Destroyer wardrobe (Which, unfortunately, I haven't drawn yet. We'll get there!) As her title implies, she is a stern, powerful, and- if needed- destructive monarch who will sacrifice anyone and anything if she thinks it's for the greater good. Likewise, her later outfits reflect that evolution of her character with outfits that are intimidating and almost a kind of ornate armor. And yet! She keeps the florals, she keeps the gold, she keeps very selective exposure of skin. Her clothing as a monarch are still feminine, but they're no longer girly. They're forceful, they're commanding, they're powerful pieces. They're womanly.

Season One closes with this magenta jacket, which she then wears through Fillory in Season Two. It's a pretty good visual metaphor for her transition from a carefree, bitchy student girl to a ruthless, devoted, ruling matriarch. In this final outfit, she is completely covered and most of her clothes are practical (aside from wearing high-heeled boots in a pre-industrial countryside). The colors are solid and dark, without any distracting patterns. It is understated for her, and the multiple, thick layers are a sign that she will be protecting herself from outside forces, whether that's the environment or enemies. The thing that keeps it a Margo Outfit is the magenta of the jacket, its hourglass cut, and the impractical heels on her boots. She is layered up, she is protected, but the color and feminine silhouette of the jacket and the impractical heels still keep her tethered to the vibrant party girl she is on Earth.

Let's find out if I have the stamina to document a whole second season of outfits!