The Severance's masterful use of Essences
Lately, I've been loving the TV show The Severance. It's such well done television, everything is high quality from how it's written to how it's directed to how it's acted. Among its merits, I think it's striking how well done the costumes are: they serve the story in a very specific, concrete way.
They work on different levels. Lumon uses essences to convey their darker meaning, as a manipulation tactic. The Severance uses essences to create effective worldbuilding, as a narrative device.
On the severed floor, workers aren't themselves. The company has stolen their identities, made them forget who they are, in order to mold them into the perfect workers. In order for them to be whatever the company needs. This is mirrored in costume design: every department has its essences, and every person in the department is dressed in those essences, regardless of what their own personal essences might be. This is a way to visually homogenize them, avoid them looking like themselves, and keep up the facade. And although all departments employ a heavy dose of the Classic essence, there are indeed noticeable differences between them, which further fosters the divide between workers: people from other departments look "different", and thus less trustworthy.
Macrodata Refinement - Pure Classic
The Classic essence is used by Lumon to signal Conformity. You must conform. You are just a cog in a machine. Everything is orderly, there are procedures you must follow, everything has its place and you cannot diverge from the norm. This is true for all severed employees, but even more so for MDR, who have a boring, repetitive desk job. The only clothes they are allowed to wear are suits and shirts, sweaters and under-the-knee skirts. The only colors are black, grey, blue, green and a shy version of orange or yellow. The only patterns are stripes or polka-dots, but only in accessories. Everything is designed to be as bland and unfussy as possible. Severed workers live a life of deprivation, and visual deprivation is part of it.
Notice how Helly's Natural lines, in particular, feel constricted in the high-neck, classic silhuoettes she is made to wear, mirroring how she feels like a trapped animal on the Severed floor.
“I hate that she dresses me in the morning like I’m a baby.”
Management and Security - Classic + Dramatic
The Dramatic essence is used to convey Power. The details are sharper, the neckties are solid black, a monolithic dark color is used from top to bottom, with high-necks. These are outfits designed to look good, better than how the severed workers' look, as if they were saying "I can, you cannot". They are designed to elicit fear.
Notice how when Ms. Cobel dresses up as Mrs. Selvig, on top of the obvious wardrobe change, her hair goes from being straight and severe to softer and wavy.
When she's undercover as Mrs. Selvig, she completely loses the Dramatic essence.
Ms. Casey - Classic + Gamine and Ingenue
The way she dresses is very classic, conveying how she is supposed to be meek and placid. However, the little details of the collars lean towards Gamine and Ingenue. Given her role as wellness counselor, they are supposed to elicit Restrained Cheerfulness. Positive emotions, light-heartedness, sculpting your emotions out of clay is probably the closest thing to "play" the severed workers ever get to do. Nevertheless, this combination of essences is also reminiscent of the "horror doll" aesthetic. The result is both calming and unnerving at the same time, mirroring how her sessions are supposed to make you feel good, but not too good (if you enjoy it too much it will be cut short).
Optics & Design - Classic + Gamine
These people are Creatives. They are allowed to be dressed in patterns other than stripes and polka-dots. They are allowed glasses straps made of golden chain. They can wear moon-shaped earrings, or a flower-shaped hair clip. They can wear a bowtie. They can even wear red! This is a very faint version of Gamine. They are afforded a lot more freedom in their clothes than all the other workers, to show how creative they are. Never mind they don't actually design anything themselves. The optics are what's important.
Spoilers from the Second Season of The Severance under the cut.
