talk to me about this "old man pants" thing in regards to Louis outfits please?
do you think he will dress like maybe he is stuck between periods of time but like in a good way with maybe a modern twist? Cause those clothes do look like something from circa 1950's or so.
Hah, yeah! Basically I think that the little hint we got of it in the finale is that his new contemporary wardrobe is going to embrace all the eras that he's lived through, which really feeds into the culmination of his s1 and s2 arc of time and immortality being a gift. I have felt that that's probably where they're going to keep going with his costumes in the future, and I feel kind of quietly confidently with it based off the glimpses we've seen of him on set so far.
Like, okay! Let's start at the top of his post-second-divorce era:
(A face card that truly never declines.)
The first scene we see him in post-interview, we don't get a great sense of his full outfit, but it's clear from the hotel desk that he's wearing a Henley.
Henley's actually originated as men's pyjamas and underwear, but very quickly became sportswear, particularly among British rowers in the mid-1800s (it's even an English rowing town they're named after). They then became popular among the working class in the late 1800s - around the time Louis would've been born - but it wasn't until the 1970s when Ralph Lauren (another self-made billionaire who grew up as a part of a marginalised community in America [Jewish in the Bronx]), rediscovered them and turned them into a fashion staple in the 70s and 80s (something that helped to catapult his career) that they became a stalwart of men (and women's) wardrobes.
(The rest - including spoiler shots - are below the cut!)
His tourist look obviously has a lot of fun nods - he's in a New Orleans Saints hat, his hometown football team, which plays with Lestat having called him as much (and I think is a lowkey wink to the fact that Lestat was going to St Louis only to be pulled into New Orleans because of Louis, and Louis came to New Orleans only to be pulled back to Lestat). That team's only been around since the 1960s, so they would've been one he discovered in his immortality (and hell, maybe at the airport), but the varsity jacket he's wearing had its origins at Harvard back in the 1800s, so he would've grown up knowing what that was.
I personally think him wearing the latter is partially just about pulling him into a tourist look, but it also absolutely works as a bit of a wink to him playing the student of his own life as he's on a tour which, in the moment of it, is literally about his personal history.
And he's in high-waisted pleat pants, which had their origins in the 1930s, but carried through the 50s, and I do think the costume department just like that cut on him (who wouldn't), but they're absolutely a dated pant and right now a stalwart of his wardrobe, because he's also wearing them...
In the reunion scene! These ones are a bit more of a cigarette pant (and potentially styled more late 50s/early 60s) than the ones above, but they're still high-waisted with a pleat. Interestingly, he's wearing a Henley again too, which I think makes a lot of sense for Louis as a go-to given they're still as fashionable as they are, often high end, with a cut that embraces the figure.
He's also wearing a bomber jacket though, which I'm a bit obsessed with! I've talked about it a bit before here, but bombers have a serious history both in and out of pop culture, from their origins in WWI (which Louis lived through) to their rise in popularity in WWII (which Louis capital-l Lived through) to their rise as a symbol of anti-establishment power and the reclamation of them specifically by gay communities in the 60s and 70s. They have a fascinating history, and I don't think that it was an accident that they put him in this for the reunion as it feels like an embrace of so many parts of his history.
His singlet and mohair cardigan in the finale are a little harder to place, just because they both have pretty extensive histories as individual items, but I see the colouring as at least partially calling to a regular 'fit Billy Preston would wear, which makes sense! Billy was a Southern Black gay musician, deeply closeted for most of his life, and a vitally important (and often overlooked) artist across the 60s and 70s in particular.
Not to show my Beatles stan self, haha, but he's had a bit more attention put on him again from Peter Jackson's Get Back documentary in 2021, given he features pretty heavily in it and is emphasised as the first non-Beatles artist they let create with them [and he and George Harrison in particular were lifelong friends] (the doco is where the first cap is from too!), but his influence is massive, and I can see Carol being influenced by his story just as I can see Louis as a character being impacted by him in general.
What's fun about Louis' new white shirt (and potentially the navy shirt if that is his), is that it further points to history.
That double-pocket men's shirt was actually most popular in the 1930s - although it did have a resurgence in the 1950s - which accounts funnily enough for both Louis' shirt and the navy one that Sam's wearing that may-or-may-not be canon, haha. Interestingly though, Louis' still wearing high-waisted pants, but they're flat-front, which are definitely 30s-inspired, but his grey pants in the other pic scream 80s, between the cut and the print.
So yeah! I don't know! I think his costumes will embrace a range of time periods, and that they'll have a lot of nods to Black gay culture, which again, I personally think is a part of the link with Billy Preston, and the James Baldwin physical styling that Jacob's already cited - and I think that older cut of pants will definitely be a part of it. I think Louis' costumes will encapsulate his history as a Black, gay man, and personally, I love that.
This isn't new, but i love that they redressed the Whickber Street set for the sixties sequence, clearly wanting it to seem like it was taking place in another bit of soho.
Where Crowley talks to Shadwell is directly opposite the bookshop. (Between what becomes the coffee shop and the French Cafe)
Which means the lit up signs for 'striptease' are actually on/in front of the bookshop (you can see the doorway column on the far right)
(And yes, in S2 the Dirty Donkey pub where Crowley makes his plan here is opposite the shop entrance, but in S1 it wasn't)
I love this, because it's ingenious redressing of the set, but also because if you make it canon/in-universe reality, then "I work in Soho, I hear things" becomes "you are literally parked outside my shop you idiot", and "I'll give you a lift, anywhere you want to go" is an invitation to a date - for Crowley to take him out somewhere, because he obviously doesn't need to be dropped home.
Because I think I’ve got it down to this Bordeaux (presumably no later than 2017?) but, as I know literally nothing, I can’t comment any further on what it means for Taverner as a character and I know it has to mean something because they’re so good at these details on Slow Horses…
Stills of Taverner with it in her pristine kitchen (until she lets you know who in, anyway) available in @ilysmkst’s post.
god i adore the dark castle. the walls have blue and white accents against the red and cream. the background tapestries feature characters THAT ARE DRESSED LIKE BELLE AND RUMPLE!! the set dressers knew what was up and i love them for that :)
