“What we did was nothing like that, and it was really exciting.
I think it’s the most exciting season of all.”
Everyone will die, Dresbach recalls.
Courtesy of SCAD
“They can’t wear little cotton dresses.
It allowed us to dress them in warm clothes.
And that was before we knew it was going to be a horrible winter.”
Courtesy of SCAD
Hand-me-down
There’s a scene in the book that I used for Claire’s wardrobe.
“Thats what people did.
It was very rare they went out and spent money to buy fabric.
Courtesy of SCAD
It was very, very expensive and very hard to get.
What was trending
“The trends were the same [as overseas],” explains Dresbach.
You would have your fabrics imported from Europe.
Courtesy of SCAD
They were not allowed to use fabric that they manufactured themselves.
Clothes are changed because people wore less layers.
They sort of created this patchwork quilt.
Courtesy of SCAD
Literally, patchwork was a big thing.
Dressing the natives
Creating costumes for the Native Americans “was the hardest thing.
It was like dressing the Scottish Highlanders,” admits Dresbach.
Courtesy of SCAD
“You’re talking about two groups of people who were in a genocidal war.
Part of that genocide was to not only wipe them out physically, but to wipe out their culture.
I researched it for a year and talked to different people in different tribes.
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I spent a lot of time talking to the Smithsonian.
The little bit of records were burned down in a library during the Civil War.
It’s crazy.”
Courtesy of SCAD
I had to pull together a little bit here and a little bit there.
“Some of those things are direct knockoffs of things I wore.
I wore all of that sort of mod, London-inspired [clothing] in the late 60s.
Courtesy of SCAD
I was in grade school, but my mother was a fashionista.
I know there will be fans that will think I dressed her like a hippie and freak out.
I don’t think she was a hippie; I think she was a 19-year-old girl in 1970.”
Saying goodbye
Dresbach hasdecided to step downfrom her high-profile post asOutlanders costume designer.
In fact, she was never supposed to stick around this long in the first place.
I want to see them at Fraser’s Ridge, one of my favorite parts of the book.
I’m gonna get them to America.
Then I can go.
