The Many Garbs of Gab

It's been a stressful few weeks so in the absence of much progress I thought I'd share a little costume study for series 1.

I've already discussed the different styles of peasant shirt worn by Gabrielle in season 1, but I thought I'd do a quick episodic breakdown of the different outfits throughout the season. This first season exhibits the most costume changes for a main character, possibly because of the fairly fast evolution of Gabrielle from peasant to Amazon trainee to burgeoning warrior, and they had to incorporate those changes into her wardrobe for practical and aesthetic reasons.

The peasant dress is ditched for the shorter crossover top and matching skirt halfway through, as it would be fairly tricky for Gab to fight in a full length dress. There is, however, a prototype crossover outfit which appears only once in "Death in Chains", featuring a wider blue stripe than the standard variant, a red leather belt, and, bizarrely, the Amazonian skirt and necklace bequeathed to Gabrielle by Terreis in the subsequent episode, "Hooves and Harlots". I imagine these episodes were originally filmed with the intention of airing the other way around, but something caused "H&H" to be pushed back. Continuity issues aside, I am not particularly fond of the alternate crossover outfit. I find it a little too fussy, with the belt and the necklace overpowering the overall look, and the wider blue stripes a little clumsy on Renee's 5'4" frame. I can see why they decided to change it. Nonetheless, it's nice to see the Amazon necklace making another appearance, albeit a little out of synch with Gabrielle's initiation into the Amazons!

1. "Sins of the Past" - Peasant dress, long sleeves.
2. "Chariots of War" - Peasant dress, long sleeves, w/jacket.
3. "Dreamworker" - Peasant dress, long sleeves. 
4. "Cradle of Hope" - Peasant dress, green, short sleeves.
5. "Path Not Taken" - Peasant dress, green, short sleeves.
6. "Reckoning" - Peasant dress, blue, short sleeves w/ jacket.
7. "Titans" - Peasant dress, green, short sleeves.
8. "Prometheus" - Peasant dress, blue, short sleeves w/ jacket.
9. "Death in Chains" -  Alternative crossover top, Amazon skirt and necklace.
10. "Hooves & Harlots" - Peasant dress, blue, short sleeves w/ jacket, Amazon Princess kit.
11. -  24. "Black Wolf" onwards - crossover top and wrap skirt.