The Amanda Fashion Project Part Three

Amanda also wears three different blue outfits in Discovery. In the finale of the first season we see her in this impeccable blue silk.

That cape gives me life. And as with Spock in “Journey to Babel”, here it is the same color as Michael’s uniform. It’s not clear how much time there is between this scene and the next, the medal ceremony where we see Amanda in red applauding in the balcony. Her hair is the same in both scenes, but she’s not wearing gloves here and though possible it doesn’t seem likely this is a coat worn over the red dress. I think this is what she wore to travel to Paris, and she changed into the red for the event. Again, as she does in “Journey to Babel”.

Lest you thought we’d left the Madonna imagery behind with the films, here are her other two blue ensembles, worn in episodes three and seven of season two.

The first is basically her Voyage Home look in a darker and heavier fabric. She even gets a halo again:

The second is less Biblical, but she does wear it to once again find her son in a temple/tomb accompanied by another woman.

This outfit, however, is also used to accentuate the Vulcan connection to Japanese culture and Shintoism. When Michael arrives at her parent’s home Amanda is framed by (the Vulcan equivalent of) cherry blossoms.

And her husband is practicing “tok’mar” a Vulcan ritual to “bring lost souls back home”.

You can see the ritual candles I mentioned earlier, and both Sarek and Amanda are dressed in the style of traditional East Asian clothing.

In this scene, and episode, Amanda is at odds with her husband. She’s hidden Spock and Sarek only discovers the deception by following her and Michael to the aforementioned temple/tomb. Later in the season Sarek has moved his ritual outside, and Amanda has changed into black, indicating they are now united.

I love this tiny, silent scene. It says so much about Sarek and Amanda. First, we get to see a water body on Vulcan. Vulcan has always been described and depicted as a desert planet, and this doesn’t take away from that, but it does add dimension. Water is required for life as we know it, so of course Vulcan has to have water. But it is scarce, particularly compared to Earth, and therefore a commodity. Sarek has beachside property which indicates he’s well positioned and upper class. We knew this from previous encounters, and it has always been a part of their costuming, but I love the production design of their home.

Second, Amana isn’t merely wearing the same color, this garment is the closest she’s ever gotten to matching her husband. Same silhouette, same high collar, same heavy fabric. Amanda’s is more fashionable, because that’s who Amanda is, but even her hair is simple, natural.

The unity continues in their next scene, the goodbye with Michael. They’ve both changed from the beach, but these outfits strongly resemble the earlier ones. And here, even Amanda’s hair is styled to match. Importantly, the black is an indication of mourning. They are aware Michael is leaving forever, that their family with never be fully healed, and both Michael and Spock remain in grave danger.

This fashion project was commissioned by Liz. Commissions are OPEN.

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