David’s character development as seen through his clothes
In light of the quarantine and suddenly having loads of free time when I usually have none, I figured I'd take this opportunity to revive an old post that I think got swallowed by the internet (probably because I tried to get fancy with gifs, so I'm just gonna do screenshots this time)
Basically, I'm a fashion hoe and I adore David Schreibner so this is an analysis of how the clothes he wears in season 3&4 reflect his journey as a character - let’s go!
Essentially, one thing I love about David is that he's a very multi-layered character, but he remained super consistent throughout his development. That's really hard to do, and DRUCK did it beautifully. To summarise it very crudely, I'd say that there are three main levels to David that we discover in season 3:
- Layer 1 is the mysterious cool guy that Matteo is instantly struck by
- Layer 2 is a fun, goofy and playful side of him which Matteo discovers quite quickly when they start getting to know each other
- Layer 3 is the very vulnerable, scared side of David which Matteo sees hints of a couple of times earlier in the season, but it’s so heavily veiled by the other two layers that I would argue he doesn’t really see this side of David until at least episode 7, and only truly sees the proper extent of it when they reunite at the pool and David finally talks about his feelings.
I also think there’s another layer which is the competitive, sassy side of him, but I have yet to figure out where to place this one, so I’ll leave it aside for now (I think it could play a big role in his potential season, though: when you’re competitive but struggling to achieve your dreams, it can be really painful. But I digress)
None of the three layers cancel each other out of course, David is still a cool person and a goofy person even when we’ve seen his more vulnerable side. But by the end of the season we’re finally able to see how these three aspects of him work together and influence each other to inform his behaviour.
This brings me to his fashion. I absolutely adore what they’ve done with it, and how consistent it has been throughout this development. I just want to point out a couple of examples of his outfits that perfectly demonstrate his consistent and believable development.
Of course throughout the majority of season 3, we see David sporting plain, baggy, dark coloured outfits in order to, we assume, be noticed as little as possible. What I’d like to look at is the clothes we see him wear that depart from this.
There’s of course this iconic shirt, which we see him wear very early on in the season. It hints at his goofier side, which Matteo has already gotten to know. I love that they had him wear it in the almost kiss scene, because although Matteo was very smitten by David’s cool guy side, I don’t think he would have fallen for him so completely if he hadn’t gotten to know goofy David. DRUCK makes a point of showing us the two of them clowning around a lot, so it’s clear that this playful attitude is something of a requirement for both of them, in a relationship. This shirt is also slightly more revealing than a lot of the clothes we’ve seen David wear so far, so that's a reminder of the hint of vulnerability that David has let Matteo glimpse. Basically I love this dinosaur shirt because it encapsulates hints of all three of these layers of David, making the almost kiss even more believable as we are reminded of exactly why Matteo is falling for this guy.
Similarly, the shirt David is wearing here is more revealing than what we’ve seen him wear before, once again reminding us of the reasons why Matteo is so smitten. However there is none of the playfulness of the dinosaur shirt, it’s just dark colours, slightly paralleling the way Matteo feels about this situation: a little vulnerable, and definitely not playful (it’s so clear how uncomfortable he is)
Fast forwarding a little to this scene, aside from being an absolutely iconic look, I was so excited about this wardrobe choice because it completely communicates what is happening in this scene: David is beginning to let other people in. He’s meeting his boyfriend’s friends properly for (I assume) the first time, and later in the scene he gives Abdi advice in a way that implies personal experience (so hints of vulnerability). What’s great about the shirt is that along with this slight opening up to the world, we finally see David starting to wear clothes with a little more pattern and structure, but it remains consistent to his character by having a dark colour scheme. The shirt is also still quite baggy, reminding us that David hasn’t quite let these other people see his more vulnerable side.
This one is quite simple and goes without saying: Matteo and David wearing each other’s clothes, the morning after they’ve finally let themselves be completely open and vulnerable with each other. It’s such a gorgeous visual way of saying: we understand each other, we are here for each other, we love each other.
This one is the look that made me most emotional. The sunglasses are fun and goofy but also cool, and they hide part of his face so again a reminder of his vulnerable side. And paired with the jumper which denotes a sense of belonging to a group, we get this: David still has some way to go in terms of letting people in, but he feels like he belongs, and he’s beginning to open up. I love it so much.
Going into season 4, we see David wear a shirt that serves a very similar purpose to the dinosaur shirt, except this time it has the added layer of being a shirt that belongs to Matteo. Here we are once again reminded of all these layers of David, all these reasons Matteo fell for him, but it also goes the other way around. Indeed, this clip is technically David’s perspective, so we see that he loves Matteo for all of these reasons too, and they go so well together because they understand each other on all of these different levels.
Then for the rest of season 4:
Throughout season 4 we get to see David wearing much lighter colours, or wearing outfits like in the scene where he meets the boys that fit the darker colour scheme that he has always adhered to but have more structure (and occasionally more pattern). This is what I was saying earlier about him having let his friends in to an extent, but still having some way to go before he lets himself be truly open.
On that note, in season 4 I know some people found him out of character, but I don’t really agree: I think those three layers are still at play. The only difference is that we’re no longer seeing him through Matteo’s eyes, and he hasn’t let many people in all the way to layer 3, so of course we’re not going to see him in the complexity that we saw him by the end of Matteo’s season.
Indeed, by this point David seems to have relaxed a little, I’d say he’s let Matteo’s friends in to layer 2, so he is now both cool David and goofy David. But as far as we know he has not yet let them see him truly be vulnerable. This means that he’s still at a level with them that he was with Matteo quite early on in season 3, so there is clearly still a long way to go before he really opens up.
Therefore I hope that if/when he gets a season, we’ll get to see him working towards finally being totally open with the world (not that he needs to tell the world all of his intimate secrets, but just being his entire self). I’m sure Matteo isn’t the only person that he’s let in to layer 3 (Laura most definitely was before him), but I think it’s important to be able to be vulnerable and honest about not being okay with more than just one or two people - maybe we’ll see him start letting in some of his own friends, new or old.
But there you have it, guys. There’s always so much to see, and tbh this only really scratches the surface of what there is to read, but in essence this is why I love what they did with David’s wardrobe choices throughout the two seasons that we have known him. It’s such a perfect example of what DRUCK does so well, which is developing characters in every aspects of the show. I’m really excited to see where they’re going to take David next, and how it will be reflected in what he wears!