There has been a bit of discussion and mention in reviews about how many outfits Claire has. Where did they come from?

I gave this matter a lot of thought. Mrs. Fitz gives Claire an outfit. Does she give her just one? Ten? How many? Mrs. Fitz runs the castle and one would imagine has access to a lot of goods. People get sick and die, they move out, they are killed, there are so many scenarios you can come up with that would give Mrs. Fitz access to clothing and pretty much anything else she wants.

So we now have where she gets them, but still haven’t answered how many. Well, there is another element at play here. How do you tell one day from the other onscreen. Well, one of the ways that people know that the days change, is because people are wearing different clothes.

But how do you do this in a way that feels reasonable, that supports the story? A way that is believable.

How many outfits??

I settled on 4 skirts and five bodices, that Claire wears regularly. GrrrrrAnimals. Americans may remember those. Kids clothing coded with animal pictures. The Lion shirt goes with the lion overalls. The Giraffe jacket goes with the Giraffe trousers.

Well, that is what we did with Claire’s costumes. We had to make a calculated decision based on what was a reasonable amount for Mrs. Fitz to pull together, and also a reasonable amount of items for us to make in two weeks (Cait was cast two weeks before shooting). With the Grrrranimal approach we could make those skirts and bodices mix and match, all able to be worn together in many combinations. When we added accessories (stomachers, cowls, capes and mitts, we could create the illusion of even more variety. So we put Mrs. Fitz to work, making what we fondly call, Mrs. Fitz’s Bitz.

I think we have been pretty successful, maybe even too successful, since some are saying she has too many clothes.

We did have to add a couple of special occasion dresses later on in the season, but that is pretty much it.

Watch, you’ll see … GrrrrrAnimals.