why are gemma's vintage outfits in 'severance' so disturbing?
from 80s power suits to a $10K luigi massoni vanity, lumon has the best vintage archive in all of kier.
Contains spoilers for most recent episode of Severance. Read at your own risk!!!!!
If you’re a Severance obsessive like me, then last night was a banger of an episode.
Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger with the words “she’s alive!”—referring to the fate of Gemma, Mark's wife, who we have known as the cryptic wellness director Ms. Casey with the fuck ass bob. We finally get answers about how she ended up at Lumon, what they’re doing to her, and her and Mark’s relationship arc.
For the first time, we get a close look at what life was like before Lumon meddled with their lives. The cinematography in these poignant flashbacks employ a grainy, warm film look as it takes us through their initial meet-cute, domestic bliss, miscarriage, and emotional distance caused by the grief of infertility. You truly get a sense of their love, and the pain and guilt that would push Mark to chose the severance procedure after Gemma’s “death.”
I want to break down all 11 of Gemma’s outfits in this episode.
Because they’re an excellent study in costume design. As we flip flop between vignettes of her life before Lumon, and life inside Lumon, the costuming functions to accentuate the stark loss of autonomy and identity. The vintage outfits were especially disturbing—we’ll get into why.
Oh, and please try to enjoy each outfit equally.
1). Meet-Cute in Bookish Basics
My first thought to seeing Gemma in “plainclothes”—whoa, her hair! Everything about it looks so lived-in, a little tousled, she loves a face-framing moment. Very different from the Miss Casey topiary bob. Her clothes are relaxed and sort of nondescript to highlight her facial expressions. Super minimal makeup.
The key to understanding her is in the styling, I think. Dark button downs with the sleeves rolled up, soft fabrics that pool and wrinkle, and the star of this look—the saddle brown Coach turnlock messenger bag (similar). It suits her identity as a professor. Mark’s outfit is actually very similar to hers in color palette and feel, to underscore the message that they are a *perfect match.*
They also use a lot of books and paper in the background in all of the “pre-Lumon” scenes, which made me associate their clothes with the worn quality and smell of old books.
2). Lumon Mint Matching Set
We learn that Lumon keeps Gemma as a prisoner on the testing floor as a science experiment, pushing the limits of how many ways you can sever a person’s consciousness. On the testing floor, she’s wearing a Lumon-issued mint green uniform, hair pulled back in a bun and thin elastic headband. The pastel green, used in this context, achieves an uneasy, hyper-sanitized effect: it reminds me of the blueish greenish shades of hospital uniforms, soap, and dental floss.
The full coverage, high-neck cut of the matching set underscores Lumon’s control over her entire body. It affects her posture and restricts her movement. You could imagine it’s not comfortable to hunch over in this top! It’s also modesty by the hands of a controlling force. This is a recurring silhouette for Gemma/Miss Casey throughout the seasons.
3). Dried Blood Dentist’s Dress
Gemma’s “closet” is basically a fluorescent vending machine of vintage outfits she has to wear to visit the “rooms”—where her innies undergo unpleasant ordeals. In this instance, she has to visit the dentist room. The way the clothes are displayed resemble that of a toy doll’s. Everything is picked out for her, from the wig to the shoes. The unsettling part is that it’s so detailed: