Sirens Costume Analysis
Easter Egg! Easter Egg! Easter Egg!
Have you guys watched this show??? Because I literally can’t get a read on how many people watched/enjoyed it. I’ve seen it mentioned a few times, but not in the same way that we’re all talking about a show like The White Lotus when a new season drops, you know? Which is interesting, because this feels like it should be the most delicious catnip for a beginning of summer watch. Rich people being so rich and “perfect” that you just assume some shady ass shit has to be going on behind the scenes. Alas, although a dark comedy it definitely is, nothing that wild actually happens. So bad it’s good, like if it was any better it would actually be bad. Still! The moment I saw Julianne Moore in that green dress, wind blowing, setting a bird free, I immediately started taking notes.
As usual, spoilers ahead.
So, Sirens— both the kind on a police car and the kind that lure you out to sea! We love duality! Anyway, Sirens starts with Devon (Meghann Fahy) who seems to not be doing too hot, and is trying to get ahold of her sister Simone (Milly Alcock) who is ignoring all her texts. Devon finally tracks Simone down and goes to fight with her about the fact that she’s not helping take care of their dad who has dementia. Upon arriving to the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard-esque island where Simone works for Michaela, a philanthropist who used to be lawyer, Devon almost immediately starts to worry about how close her sister is to Michaela and how quickly she’s adapted to the lifestyle of the rich, pastel Easter basket of people on the island. Devon is like, this bitch Michaela is definitely running a cult and for sure killed her billionaire husband’s ex-wife (she’s not and she didn’t), so she starts to try and investigate. In the meantime, Simone is continuing to live her life as Michaela’s perfect assistant, so when Michaela thinks her husband is cheating on her she has Simone go follow him for the day, but oops! he catches her. Her punishment is that she must go catch clams with him and he opens up to her and then kisses her. Ah! She runs away and tries to pretend it doesn’t happen but a photographer that’s there to take photos at a gala Michaela is throwing gets a picture of them kissing and shows it to her. Michaela immediately fires Simone, packs up all the stuff in her room, and has it sent to Goodwill. Except that Michaela’s husband has fallen in love with Simone, and so he’s like bye Michaela, hello Simone, and so Simone takes her spot as the new billionaire wife! I’ve skipped a lot of details, but you get the gist.
Anyway, costumes were done by Caroline Duncan. In conversation with Vogue Adria, Duncan said, “We wanted to create a world that feels familiar, but also leans into the horror genre— or at least evokes truly unsettling feelings in an outsider like Devon, as well as in the viewers,” later adding, “We wanted to completely overwhelm the viewer with it, so they feel Devon’s panic as she thinks her sister has been indoctrinated into a cult.” Overwhelming it was. The sweet pastels that adorned every single rich person’s body on that island, accessorized by their large pearly white smiles, were perfect… too perfect. The people that Michaela surrounded herself with, and those on the ferry with Devon, don’t look scary because they defy norms; they look scary because they embody them to perfection. This dreamlike oasis is instead made to feel incredibly eerie, and is used as a tool to manipulate the viewers perception. The Official Preppy Handbook and Go Ivy were books that Duncan used as source material, which align with this visual lexicon that doesn’t just suggest taste— it enforces hierarchy. As bell hooks remind us in Black Looks, “The privilege of looking a certain way becomes the very ground of oppression for others.”
So let’s start at the top of the totem pole with Michaela. We meet her in a green flowing dress as she releases a bird. It’s as if she’s walked straight out of the earth and is a conduit between the natural and divine. She’s selling the idea of nature as a moral high ground with her sartorial choices and with her bird sanctuary. We see her wear a lot of neutrals, along with a few light blues and yellows, and immediately realize that she seems to be immune to the rules that garner others. She stands out amongst all the Lilly Pulitzer prints and candy colored frocks. As cultural theorist Minh-Ha T. Pham writes in Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, “The aesthetic of wellness is less about health than it is about moral order.” Michaela’s palette implies purification— but what, or who, is being purified? This bitch loves Goop, I just know it, and her wardrobe was actually inspired by health specialists and contemporary gurus. She’s always flowy and floating like a goddess or priestess, making it seem like the idea that she might be a cult leader isn’t too far fetched. This is fashion as soft power; aesthetic choices that anesthetize critique. She’s not a dictator, she’s a teacher. She’s not coercing, she’s guiding. And yet, under her gaze, people obey. The horror lies not in the Grecian dresses or silk slips themselves, but in what they allow her to get away with, and perhaps the false power they conceal. After all, she’s not as in control as we’re led to believe when it’s really her husband that calls all the shots in the end.
Devon is Michaela’s polar opposite. Our first image of her is in all black and quite grungy— save the light green lace trim of her tank top that foreshadows her wardrobe later. She immediately stands out in the sea of pastels, and because she is an outsider, we believe her. She thinks Michaela is a cult leader and a murderer and we can’t help but believe her, because of course she’s the only one that hasn’t drank the Kool-Aid. Even when she purchases that red dress and goes to the bar, she still stands out. Yes, she is wearing color now, but it’s the wrong color. It’s too bold, but Devon knows that using her body and her sexual proclivities are tools she always has in her back pocket. Devon doesn’t reject beauty, she just doesn’t trust the version that’s being sold to her on the island, so she pretends to want to be a part of it in order to try and get dirt on Michaela. A Lilly Pulitzer dress with a caged décolletage is waiting for her in her room, along with a heart shaped necklace and headband. The caged top becomes a nice way of paralleling her feeling trapped, but also represents her repression of emotions. Later, we see her accessorize with a lemon shaped bag— she’s been sweetened to fit in but her bitterness remains. Finally there’s the Grecian, pink and purple dress that she tries on for the gala when Michaela’s three friends (fangirls) take her shopping. It’s stunning and I wish we saw more of it, but there’s also something very sacrificial about it. Almost like she’s Persephone in full bloom, crowned and led to the underworld.
Then there’s Simone— Michaela’s assistant, who quite literally lives her life to please Michaela. She’s got preppy down to a science with her older boyfriend’s striped and monogramed button ups, scalloped hems, floral prints, headbands, and Lilly Pulitzer dresses (of course). However, her pastels are a little bit brighter and more manic than everyone else’s. While yes, she is manic and her life starts to spiral out of control, that kind of, not quite getting the look right, is the point. She still stands out just a little bit, because she’s also an outsider playing a part, and is using signifiers to fit in. Remember, her and Devon come from the same place and we learn that since starting her job for Michaela she’s gotten a nose job and all her tattoos removed. She gets rid of all her dark colored clothing and her wardrobe becomes a form of aspirational mimicry, recalling Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus: the unconscious embodiment of social class through taste and behavior. Simone hasn’t fully internalized the aesthetic yet— she performs it with the urgency of someone desperate to belong. In doing so, she reveals how performative the look always was. Even her matching workout sets are less about movement and more about image management and control. In private when she’s seducing her boyfriend, her underwear is very lacy and frilly. This youthful femininity reminds us of her age and vulnerability— but also her potency. Her femininity is youthful, sexualized, and disarmingly performative. Simone dresses herself not for comfort, but for observation, both by men and Michaela. She’s always aware of the eyes on her. Then she uses all her understanding of this world to take Michaela’s place as the new Mrs. Kell. Her final blue, draped dress mirrors Michaela’s wardrobe, and ironically, Michaela had it made for her; she set her up perfectly for the part. This light blue is a big shift from Simone’s earlier pinks and florals— a cooler, more composed version of feminine authority. All the manic energy is gone and in its place is a sense of earned serenity. She has been trained to perform this privilege, and Duncan’s costuming of Simone chart’s her evolution from outsider to successor, tracing how fashion can be used not simply to belong, but to ascend.
So that was Sirens. I will not be rewatching but I didn’t have the worst time. Really, I just love Meghann Fahy.
TTYL!!!
xx