Except for the first few episodes of Season 1 of the British historical drama series “Outlander” on Starz, the rest of the 16 episodes focused mostly on the Scottish highlands when Claire Randall, played by Catriona Balfe, was transposed back in time 200 years before her time after she touched the standing stones in a Scotland meadow.
Most of the costume design back in Season 1 where rural in nature and things will be amped up in Season 2 as Jamie Fraser, played by Sam Heughan, and Claire, finally reach Paris where they will blend in with the city’s social circles.
Apparently, they needed to blend into the French capital’s social circles because they are on a mission to stop the Jacobite rising.
Based on the history books, the Jacobite rising paved the way to the Battle of Culloden, which practically wiped out the entire Scottish clans. Since Claire already knows the future, she and Jamie will attempt to stop the Jacobite rising from happening by liaising with Bonnie Prince Charles of France.
Season 2 of “Outlander” shall also be based on the second book of Diana Gabaldon entitled “Dragonfly in Amber” and it seems that there will be a major turnaround from Season 1 costume-design wise, notes The Mary Sue.
Basing on the stills released recently by Starz regarding the second season of the popular TV series, Jamie and Claire look really classy and gorgeous with their costumes. It would be interesting to find out how they were able to look wealthy considering that when they left Scotland during the Season 1 finale, they have nothing in them except for the piece of clothing on their bodies.
Paris setting but not filmed in Paris
Another interesting fact about Season 2 of “Outlander” is that in the TV series, the location is Paris. Even the costumes and the set designs were all from Paris of the 1800s. But in real life, the filming was not done in Paris but in the Czech Republic.
One of the released portraits of “Outlander” Season 2 showed Claire in ‘The Red Dress’ which was a familiar chapter in the second book in the novel and is also very much known to fans of the books.
The picture of Claire was used to promote the interactive Outlander Community, which showed off the magnificent French costumes the cast of characters will be wearing in the second season of “Outlander.”
Terry Dresbach, the costume designer for “Outlander,” confirmed that he got himself a monumental task with Season 2 of the TV series as far as costumes are concerned and the 6,500 hangers that were used are proofs of how gargantuan the costume design of the show has become.
Dresbach also elaborated that the costumes for Season 2 are completely different from the clothing that was used during the premiere season because it actually recreated the fashion of the 18th century France. He said that they had to because 18th century France is one of the most well-documented periods of fashion in the world so they had to get it right for the show.
In addition to the numerous dresses for the cast of characters, they have also acquired another 5,000 shoes for Season 2, the costume designer disclosed.
According to E! Online, viewers would have a great time looking at the beautiful faces of Catriona Balfe and Sam Heughan this upcoming season because they will be in their full costume splendor. It is so unlike Season 1 where most of their scenes were in the highlands or in prison cells where they look more like the peasants of the late 17th century.