I’m really interested in Joan’s wardrobe changes over the past two seasons – during seasons 1-3, her costuming was very casual and very feminine – lots of loose, open, blouses, lots of flowy skirts and dresses, and soft, drap-ey cardigans. Even her autumn/winter wear followed the same style, there were few episodes where she’d swap skirts for jeans, usually she just layered up with tights Like A Champ. In any case, her clothes very clearly broadcasts her as a civilian, not an officer of the law; it’s not meant to clearly identify her as someone who works with police.
[IMAGE: Three caps of Joan Watson’s outfits from seasons 1, 2 and 3. 1)
Joan wearing
a dark blue cotton top and ruffled black leather skirt. 2)
Joan wearing
a ruffled grey dress, tights, black ankle boots and beige overcoat 3) Joan wearing a grey cardigan, ruffled black skirt and purple blouse]
Starting from s4, however, Joan’s clothes have been more formal. We see a lot more suits, or suit-like attire – slacks, collared shirts, blazers, ties and bowties – and unlike her previous costumes, they’re also tend to be more fitted. They’ve growing steadily more white-collar office chic, but still not plain enough for official Law Enforcement attire – she’s wearing more masculine clothing like short ties, short sleeves and bows/bow ties, but they’re obviously less casual than her clothes for previous seasons.
[IMAGE: three screencaps of Joan Watson’s outfits from season 4. 1) Joan in a black dress with soft fabric bow and black coat. 2) Joan wearing black slacks and short-sleeved white shirt with a short. tie 3) Joan wearing white wide-legged slacks and black shirt with long bow at the front]
But most importantly, starting from season 5, her attire is less ‘civilian consultant chic’ and more reminiscent of the outfit of an FBI agent.
Take her at the crime scenes in 5.01 and 5.04, for example: she doesn’t look at all out of place at the scene, and if she started commanding forensics and taking the lead, you bet people would listen.
[IMAGE: Joan and Sherlock at a crime scene in a park in 5.01. Joan is wearing a light blue, short-sleeved collared shirt with a tie]
[IMAGE: Joan and Sherlock at a crime scene in an apartment 5.04. Joan is wearing black slacks and buttoned-up black blazer with a
black/pink
pattered shirt underneath]
They’re not the only thing she wears, but they’ve made a lot more appearances and I’d wager that they make up at least half of her outfits in season 5 so far.
I wonder if it’s to broadcast the message that she’s so much more confident in her work as a detective – by the start of season 4, she’s done a solo stint as a PI, had numerous clients, worked with the FBI and helped close a major organised crime case – or if it’s to broadcast to others law enforcement that she’s deserving of her place at the crime scene.
I’m gonna need to double check, but I think she wears a lot of the more “formal outfits” (collared shirts with ties and slacks) when she’s visiting the crime scene or going to the precinct, but not when she’s going round to interview/question persons of interest – there we see pattered shirts, skirts, shorts and so on.
Which is another interesting point – for one, both her and Sherlock have been put under question and scrutiny, so her dressing to conform to the dress code of law enforcement makes sense. But on another note, people tend to close up around the police, so Joan dressed in less formal clothing when going around to do questioning could be her using her position to her advantage. She’s officially a civilian, and so she could definitely use that to catch people off guard.
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