Fashion in “Enola Holmes 2” (2022)
This article contains spoilers from the movie, “Enola Holmes 2”.
Enola Holmes 2
After the hit movie “Enola Holmes” came out in 2020, fans have been expectantly waiting for the second, and in 2022, much to their delight, the second instalment was released. Set in 19th century London, England, Enola, a detective like her renowned brother Sherlock Holmes, embarks on a mission to solve the disappearance of Sarah Chapman, hired by Sarah’s sister, Bessie. Enola breaks into a crime scene, scales a wall and even crashes a ball, all in an attempt to find the missing sister. Since its release, Enola Holmes 2 has become very popular, scoring 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. This entertaining film is filled with plot twists, action, and a love story that adds much-needed emotional depth and creates a wonderful mix of suspense and passion. The film also provides an exceptional portrayal of an independent and capable female detective as the lead character and explores many concepts such as wealth, represented through the Lyon family, and relationships, such as those of Enola and her mother, her brother, and Viscount Tewkesbury. In this article, we will analyze the many fashion choices, diving deep into the slight details and large statements made in the film. The deliberate and specific choices of attire in ‘Enola Holmes 2’ adhere to the customary practice in period pieces, offering valuable insights into the characters, plot, and the overall message conveyed to the audience. Through the clothing worn by the characters, the film effectively communicates various aspects of their personalities, motivations, and the societal context in which they exist.
Holmes “Blue” and Match Girl “Red”
The first noticeable thing when analyzing the clothing choices in “Enola Holmes 2” is the Holmes family’s signature blue. In the very first scene, we see Enola Holmes wearing a bright blue overskirt fabric, so bold it’s eye-catching. This blue is consistently seen on most Holmes family members shown in the film, such as when Sherlock Holmes wears his bold blue night robe or Enola’s later outfits. This blue colour represents when each Holmes family member is showing their true emotions and feelings, which can be deduced from the observation that Enola is constantly wearing the blue because she puts her emotion into everything she does, while Sherlock only wears it once, the morning after getting excessively drunk when he is vulnerable with his sister. The colour also shows Enola’s emotional investment in everything she partakes in, defying the advice her brother is constantly giving her to keep her emotion out of her work. Blue is an interesting choice of colour to represent the Holmes’s emotional moments, because blue is a colour associated with calm, freedom and sensitivity. This shows that, when displaying their emotions, the Holmes family is truly free, but also in a sensitive state.
Their mother, on the other hand, is never seen wearing the signature blue. This could be for many reasons, such as she is never seen showing her true emotions because she is used to being so independent. She does, however, wear a different colour commonly shown throughout the film, red. Bright red is first seen on Bessie, the match girl and client of Enola Holmes. She is seen wearing a red knit wrap-around over her dress, a pop of colour against her muted skirts. This red is also worn elsewhere in the movie, such as on Mae’s red neckerchief. The colour red represents the match girls in this movie and is also worn by all the girls involved with Sarah Chapman, either by helping her reveal the truth about Lyon factory or some other relation. The colour red is also an interesting choice here, as red represents sacrifice and courage. This shows that the wearing of red demonstrates the girls’ courageousness and sacrifice, such as to create change. Enola is also seen wearing this trademark red at the end of the movie when she rallies all the match girls to go on strike. Enola wore a red neckerchief, similar to Mae’s, as if to show her devotion and commitment to the match girls by wearing their colour. She also wears it over a light blue dress, showing that she can be herself and have personal emotions while fighting for change for the match girls. After the match girls walk out, Enola’s mother, Eudoria, can be seen with Edith, Eudoria’s friend. Eudoria, strikingly, is wearing a completely red ensemble which includes a red hat, red dress and red skirts. This could signify many things, but one hypothesis is that Eudoria was once a match girl or had a similar profession herself, and wore their signature red to express her past life and recognize the match girls strike as a movement much needed.
The Ball
Unlike the common clothing worn by the majority of the characters throughout the movie, the ball provides the audience with many breathtaking, detailed dresses. In the 19th century, light colours, small trains, and short, puffed sleeves were the trend. In the film, there are some of these elements, such as light colours, but others such as the empire waist and puffed sleeves turned into deep purples and thin straps. There was the presence of square necklines, the most common neckline back then, but nonetheless, many elements such as white being the most common colour to wear at formal events were omitted from the screen.
A typical dress in 19th century England would be something similar to the picture displayed above. However, it does truly depend on when in the 1800s Enola Holmes is set. In the film, many of the women are wearing sleeves, if very little, except for two prominent characters, Enola Holmes and Cecily or Sarah Chapman. At the ball, Enola wears a teal blue dress with green accents and a pink, flowy underskirt. But, as some of the women comment, her dress is quite “last year”. Contrary to what these women said, her dress features the thin strap with no sleeves, which was not popular in the 19th century. This means her dress is definitely not “last year”, but rather many years in the future. Furthermore, the comment on Enola’s dress shows how little Enola knows, or perhaps cares, about formal events and upper-class living. She bought a dress not from the current season, which displays her ineptitude or disregard for the way of life of the people at the ball. Enola is extremely observant, so this oversight in her outfit choice shows how little she truly knows about fashion. Finally, Cecily also wears the unique sleeveless dress at the ball, but for a different reason. In her case, the sleeveless dress truly does represent the future, and how she is a modern woman who creates her own future. Sarah in the movie is constantly trying to create change and improve the world, so her choice of dress represents the changes she will enact. This would be thorougly reinforced if, in Enola Holmes 3, all the upper-class women were wearing the thin strap, no sleeve dress. The choice of dress is incredibly specific for each woman at this ball, and each detail represents a different characteristic particular to that person.
Final Thoughts
Fashion can be used in a variety of ways, especially in movies, to express oneself and develop creative outfits that can be beautiful and practical. It is a means of self-expression and explores character development as well as plot advancement in films. In “Enola Holmes 2”, the fashion represents in most cases the proper clothing of the time and uses colour to tell a story. The film does an exceptional job at using sleeves, cuts and other aspects of the dress to help the audience understand more about a character, if they’re willing to analyze deeply enough.
