Lucy Liu's wardrobe in Elementary's early seasons

By Elizabeth Prata

I love art and design. I've written about art before, I review tv sitcom apartments, took note of the Kinfolk Aesthetic, delighted in fonts and book design, propaganda posters' graphic beauty, basked in The Brady Bunch set design and original house's renovation on HGTV, and the like. I also enjoy wardrobe design.

It's interesting to see how clothing choices affect the viewers' perception of character development and how those two things mesh. The 1970s tv show Marty Tyler Moore costumed Mary expertly for the character and the show. Her wardrobe could stand today as timeless. In fact, it does stand today, as we read in this article-

"Mary's clothing in particular really evolved with her character. She started out wearing miniskirts and boots and ended up wearing some real power suits by the end. Another wonderful detail is that the costume designer would allow mixing and matching, just like a regular woman would do. So you'd see repeats," explains Armstrong. 

America's would-be fashion designers were watching the Mary Tyler Moore show, too, either the first time around, or in reruns on cable TV. Her signature '70s collars, sweater vests, pea coats, flared pants and graphic print shirt dresses helped shape American style, including visions of modern women's work wear in the collections of Tory Burch and others that reverberated in the forthcoming spring 2017 collections.

I just find costuming a fascinating part of television.

Wardrobe affects the atmosphere of the show. When it's seamless, it's glorious. When it's not, it's heinous. I wrote this in 2018 about one of the two reasons I quit watching the Hallmark vehicle, When Calls the Heart- this is the WWI period drama set in the Canadian Rockies. One reason was encroaching feminism in the script. The other was wardrobe. Here is what I wrote-

The first season was lush and the scenery and cinematography was a feast for the eyes. The wardrobe was terrific and beautiful. The suits, coats, and dresses were absolutely gorgeous. However in the second season, they changed the wardrobe person and the clothing became anachronistic. Hallmark intentionally did this, seeking a less historical feel and ‘blending’ of modern. I don’t know why. Maybe the expense. However, in my opinion they went too far and the clothing became too modern and did not match and 1910’s setting. It drove me crazy, it absolutely did. My brain screamed every time they emerged from some house wearing modernish-looking clothes. I couldn’t take it.

I’m not alone in this opinion. There was even a petition to bring back a more historically accurate wardrobe in season 2 of When Calls The Heart.

That was my opinion of the wardrobe change from season 1 and season 2 of WCTH.

During this pandemic time, I've been bingeing at night on the Sherlock Holmes show Elementary. Sherlock was played by Jonny Lee Miller. It debuted in 2012 as a modern update to the canon written by Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1800s of the same character. One of the TV show updates was not only the timing, the show was set in present day nor was it solely the location, NYC instead of London. The show also updates the Dr. Watson character and made her a woman. She was played by Lucy Liu.

I was initially against this change. It is a major difference from the canon to change a character's gender. But once I began watching I grew to enjoy both characters immensely. I loved the show. I enjoy that it's quiet. Both main characters speak softly. Sherlock's penchant for florid prose was kept and I love it. He also speaks many facts, which I also enjoy, because I learn something each time. I love how they might be looking at a crime scene on a bridge in the city and Sherlock erupts with 'Did you know..." and goes on for a minute about flowers, though no flowers are at the scene, and circles back to the punchline and suddenly we see he has delivered a major clue and it all falls together. I love this kind of circular talk, starting off seemingly as a non sequitur but making the point at the end of the anecdote. I do it myself. I know it wearies the listeners though. Sherlock does too, but he doesn't care. He's so brilliant he doesn't need to care.

The procedural itself is always creative, the crimes are unique without being gory and Sherlock's methods are of course unique above all other detectives. It's what has made the original canon so enduring.

There is one fly in the ointment with the show. One hair across the dish. It's Lucy Liu's wardrobe.

Rebecca Hofherr has been the wardrobe designer since the very second episode of the series. I enjoyed the first season's presentation of Liu in hip street wear with an overlay of sophistication.

It was New York gritty, appropriate for the character, the setting, and her job.

As seasons progressed, one would expect her wardrobe to evolve. It did, but so far (I'm only halfway through season 3) I don't like the evolution. She went from streetwear sophisticate to feminine baby doll. Short miniskirts, flowy blouses, even in winter. See:

In one case I remember, it was winter in NYC. The crime occurred in an unheated warehouse. The two beat cops discovering the crime complained about the cold. Upon arrival, Sherlock was wearing three layers, two shirts and a coat. Watson was wearing a miniskirt.

Sigh.

Squatting down to examine evidence at a crime scene in bare legs and a mini-skirt? No. Just no.

I'm not the only person who feels this way. At SciFi Empire we read,

Yet I cannot help but think that Joan Watson wearing a miniskirt to a crime scene was an idea that went too far. I do not know to what regards actresses can choose their own wardrobe, but the outfit Lucy Liu wears are more suitable for a date...

Her clothes, admittedly beautiful and admittedly she wore them well, drove me crazy. It almost makes me want to stop watching, that is how impactful clothing design in television series are to me.

Here is an interesting essay on the beauty of Liu's wardrobe in Elementary: My Dear Watson, I Love Your Outfit.

I don't stop watching because the pluses outweigh this one minus. I love Sherlock's speech, his precisely circular method of speaking, his diction, and the content is always interesting. I enjoy looking at the Brownstone set (Holmes' domicile). I like watching Sherlock solve an unsolvable puzzle crime. But My Dear Watson, put on a pair of jeans or something.