Outlander's Costume Designer on Crafting Claire's 1960s-Tinged Vision in the Season Finale

Claire's assault at the hands of Lionel Brown and his men in the season five finale of Outlander is possibly the most violent attack the series has shown on screen thus far. Outlander doesn't shy away from storylines revolving around sexual violence⁠, something the show's writers and creators have been criticized for in the past. And the footage of Claire being gang raped is, understandably, hard to watch.

But what's interesting about the episode "Never My Love" is how it juxtaposes that horrific imagery with a dream sequence of sorts. Footage of Claire's rape is intertwined with her dissociation, and viewers see her being brutalized, but then the show rapidly flips to a hallucination; a vision in her mind of her 18th century family transported into the future.

Costumer Trisha Biggar was tasked with creating the 1960s-inspired looks for characters like Jamie, Marsali, and Young Ian, non-time travelers who have yet to appear in the 20th century so far.

"I think the starting point in a way is the fact that all the characters and what they're wearing are produced by Claire's imagination. We're in her dream, so creating these looks was really about interpreting their personality, and thinking about how she would be wanting to see them at this particular point." Biggar says.

"And they're all in a happy place when we see them. We see Jocasta and Murtagh together and married. And Murtagh's still alive, and Jocasta's not blind." Similarly, Fergus has the use of both his hands in Claire's vision.

Creating the costumes, Biggar explains, required "not only thinking what would Marsali wear. It was also, what would Claire envisage Marsali wearing in the 20th century?"

Here, she breaks down each character's look.