MovieChat Forums > The Stand (1994) Discussion > The Costuming

The Costuming

posted 8 years ago by GirlwonderReturns
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm a fan of this series, but I have to be honest, the women's wardrobes in it irritate me. They're basically all in skirts and dresses all the time - pretty sure the only time we see Fran NOT dressed up to some degree is the early scene with her dad before the plague (and Fran was not super girly in the book). We might see Sue in jeans in one scene, if I remember right. Nadine wears dress pants throughout. Julie Lawry is dressed like she's going to the club in every scene she's in (where in Pratt, KS, do you find 3 inch platforms, anyway?). It's the apocalypse, you're constantly traveling (by motorcycle!), sleeping in tents, but yet you wear full makeup and dress like you're going on a date or job interview all the time? Lucy is the only female character we see in jeans on more than one occasion. (Also irksome - Stu's line to Frannie at the meeting, "let em see how pretty you look with a dress on", which was taken verbatim from the book, is completely nonsensical in the series; all she wears is dresses.) The men, by contrast, are always dressed casually, jeans, cargos, cords. I dunno, it just bugs me.

The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.

[–] gary_overman 8 years ago

I'm a fan of this series, but I have to be honest, the women's wardrobes in it irritate me. They're basically all in skirts and dresses all the time - pretty sure the only time we see Fran NOT dressed up to some degree is the early scene with her dad before the plague (and Fran was not super girly in the book). We might see Sue in jeans in one scene, if I remember right. Nadine wears dress pants throughout. Julie Lawry is dressed like she's going to the club in every scene she's in (where in Pratt, KS, do you find 3 inch platforms, anyway?). It's the apocalypse, you're constantly traveling (by motorcycle!), sleeping in tents, but yet you wear full makeup and dress like you're going on a date or job interview all the time? Lucy is the only female character we see in jeans on more than one occasion. (Also irksome - Stu's line to Frannie at the meeting, "let em see how pretty you look with a dress on", which was taken verbatim from the book, is completely nonsensical in the series; all she wears is dresses.) The men, by contrast, are always dressed casually, jeans, cargos, cords. I dunno, it just bugs me.

When I saw your post, I was amused, as I had wondered about the same thing. Somehow, skirts and motorcycles don't seem to go well together, do they?

Like you, I'm a great fan of this mini-series, one reason being that it was really pretty faithful to the book, but this is one area where the film is downright goofy.

BTW, that line from Stu came directly from the book. It's almost as though King absolutely positively had to get it in the film.

[–] GirlwonderReturns 8 years ago

BTW, that line from Stu came directly from the book. It's almost as though King absolutely positively had to get it in the film.

Yes, I noted that it was verbatim from the book... the only thing I can think of is that it was in the teleplay before the costuming had been decided and someone wasn't paying attention. But whoever did the costume design was clearly the wrong choice. Personally, in an apocalypse where there was a vast selection of clothing and footwear just lying around waiting to be picked up, I would go for comfort, quality and practicality, certainly during the beginning stages while on the move. Maybe once the Free Zone started really coming together you might dress up once in a while, but still not all the time.

The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.

[–] ebonyruffles 7 years ago

I saw it when it was on TV back in 1994, again in about 2006 & am watching it a third time now. I never paid attention to the clothes before, but was rolling my eyes at Frannie all dolled up taking care of her dad when he got sick. Who wears stuff like that just around the house doing nothing? Bring on the sweat pants, baggy old t-shirts & coffee stained slippers!