Clothes lines

Having to think a lot about weapons was new, but I also found that clothes were surprisingly important in this, and that was kind of a switch too.

It’s not that I have never thought about them at all, because I usually had kind of an image of how the character dressed, based on who they were. Cristina in Jade Mask is a jewelry designer—very artistic, but also easy-going. She tended towards the almost Bohemian, with flowing skirts and long necklaces. Cady in Coulrophobia was a detective, and as a woman in a man’s world she tended to dress in suits. If I ever do write Against the Grain, Sheena* will stride into that copy shop with a Ramones t-shirt and short spiky hair, because she is a punk rocker.

Still, those are all just basic ideas. For this, I have had very clear ideas on how the characters dress. Some of that may be from the strong visuals presented in the music videos. Especially in Na Na Na, the Killjoys are just so colorful! There’s a kind of pageantry to their rebellion. (Actually, it’s so bright that I almost thought they changed clothes in Sing, but it was really just the difference between bright exterior light and blue interior light, which went with the mood.)

Oddly, Jane’s outfit went the opposite direction, to where the first impression is that she is all in black. There are actually some other colors in there, but the overall impression is just black and dark. She didn’t go into rebellion—she went into mourning and then ended up a rebel anyway.

Beyond that, yes, there were clear images of how they looked in 2019, but there were also clear images of how they looked in 2012, which were fine, but for summer term at a state school, the looks were a little formal. Most students wouldn’t dress that way. When they first meet, Gerard is in black pants, white shirt and red tie, and Jane is in a blue A-line skirt and a sleeveless white blouse with a ruffled scoop neck. I’ve been around college campuses in the summer—that’s not how people dress. These two people did, though. Maybe that’s why they were drawn to each other.

As a theme clothing continued to be important, because acquiring new clothes is not easy in the post-apocalyptic dystopian future. How did they get to looking how they looked?

One thing that had made a strong impression on me back in the day was Luke Skywalker’s transformation in the original trilogy. Starting in white, he went to khaki, and then black where he was kind of looking like Hamlet. It may have been intended to show that threat of turning into Vader, but I never took Luke’s corruption seriously. For me the color shift symbolized loss, as he lost person after person.

Jane kind of goes on a similar journey, as she gradually goes from the figure in white and blue to the figure in black. She starts a new journey when she is shot and has nothing but a hospital gown, and from that point on replacing clothes is not easy.

Eventually she gets a chance to get back some of her old clothes, and for a brief moment it feels like she can get back some normalcy, and that comes crashing down pretty quickly. She ends up in the same outfit that she started in, but it kind of highlights the differences too. No more manicure, or hair styling, or jewelry (with one exception), and there is a big scar on her chest that wasn’t there before.

It’s important that it happens with Jane because she is the one who worries about losing herself, about who she will be as the world changes and she changes.

Now back to the jewelry. The one piece of jewelry that she has at this point is a wedding ring, and the reason she has it is because Mitch had been hanging on to his and his wife’s rings after her death, and he gives them to Gerard and Jane. Everyone is giving to each other. Mikey’s jacket changes hands three times, and each time there is love.

That is part of Jane’s problem. People need to scavenge because it’s their only option, so much of her stuff has gone elsewhere. At the same time, that comes with love and caring and remembrance.