Hullo people! Here at long last we have the first installment of my Epic DS9 Fashion Picspams of Epic series. (Disclaimer: I do not pretend to any fashion-guru-hood; I'm mainly just here for the pretty. And the bizarre.)
On that note: I'm kicking this off with a celebration of the fantaaaabulous *drumroll please* Lwaxana Troi!!! Because it is "We Love the Women Fandom Hates" week at
womenlovefest, and it seemed apropos: Lwaxana is so epic we can love and hate her AT THE SAME TIME.
I decided I might as well go the whole nine yards episodes and pick up TNG as well as DS9, so I've got 31 Lwaxana outfits here. So let's get started!
This is the only dress Lwaxana actually wears the same way in two different eps ("The Forsaken" and "Menage a Troi"). And why not? I mean, it is FIERCE. I love the way Lwaxana's outfits almost always have this Victorian, or Edwardian, or 18th-century-colonial Classics IN SPAAAACE vibe going on.
In this case, it's so utterly late-Victorian in a Doctorly mixed-up way: the giant poofy sleeves, the corsetty middle, the skirt...
This isn't a good pic, but you can see what I mean. The corset-back over the hips, the bustle, the whole line of the gown is clearly 1880s saloon girl. Except overdone in a fabulously Lwaxana-unique way.
Observe my meaning. Those aren't just puffed sleeves, they're ruffled. Lady's got a whole flower garden on her dress. And I'm not sure how to say this, but she's also, um, wearing crocheted chenille earmuffs on her boobs?
On anybody else, that would be cause for utter hilarity and mockage. Okay, it's still kind of hilarious, but you cannot MOCK Lwaxana Troi, even for chenille boob-muffs. ;P Yup, I'm a fan.
Next!
This is what Lwaxana wears when she decides to seduce Odo. (I have a whole rant about each of the first two Odo/Lwaxana episodes, and a rather startled "oh God no I ship it hardcore, HOW?" reaction to the third one, but this is not any of those posts. Mostly. *g*)
Anyway! I love how often Lwaxana manages to pull off the "this outfit is two different outfits" look. The top of this dress is all "I'm naaaaked! except for some blue lace! but naked!" Very, um, sexy. (I guess? Not my area, really. *ahem*)
But the skirt! The skirt is like "I BEND THE GALAXY TO MY WILL, and my will is to make a glorious skirt out of the sky!" It's all midnight blue velvet with seeeeequins, and I want to snorfle it. I wish we got a better view of this dress, because it's awesome.
Anyway: usually what happens when Lwaxana tries to seduce someone is this. (What? I have to subtly weave all these TNG pics in here SOMEHOW. *g*)
This is Lwaxana in her boyfriend-of-the-week's borrowed jimmy-jams. For the obvious reason.
Well, okay, sometimes she tries to seduce Picard and then what happens is this:
Talk about your underwired nightdresses! But she doesn't get anywhere, because Picard is Beverly's a captain and busy being the anti-Kirk.
Anyway! Odo, being a blob of goop with (right now, anyway) no sexual preferences, is not interested. But Lwaxana does not stop chasing him.
Instead, she changes into this less intimidating dress and corners him in a turbolift. (Well, it's not her fault the turbolift got stuck. Plotty stuff. Blame Miles. *g*)
I am not sure if that is actually a wrap skirt over a leotard or if it just looks like it. However:
Somebody on
ds9_rewatch pointed out that the neckline of Lwaxana's red dress here cleverly mimics the neckline of
Deanna's teal uniform dress. You know the one. They actually fit really similarly, although Deanna has not got a sash because Lwaxana is just that little bit cooler.
Anyway, so Odo and Lwaxana chat for a while, and then he starts having to turn into goop (plotty stuff again) and he is embarrassed about it.
So Lwaxana takes off her wig. Which really has nothing to do with anything, but Majel and René pulled a rather sweet scene out of a dumb script, so. *shrugs* It's supposed to be an "I would be embarrassed to be seen like this too!" showing-you-my-vulnerability thing. Anyway, Odo curls up in Lwaxana's skirt and she takes care of him. The end. (Of that ep.)
Random digression time! Lwaxana had only one more TNG ep after her first DS9 ep. And she wore only three costumes there. *shock* So I'm going to stick them in here.
This is a rather nice skirt/top ensemble by itself, but it does rather make me go "...um, Lwaxana, are you feeling all right? I'd almost wear that out of the house." ;-) (Plot spoilers: She's not feeling all right.)
Normally, though, it is more like this:
With the fascinating swirly ribbon-thing round the shoulders. (And I do love this skirt. It's... such a statement. With the fitted belt and the pleats and everything; okay, I love me some structured tailoring, whatever the application. Wait'll I get onto uniforms!)
From the side, the same dress is like this. You see what I mean about the shoulder whatsit. Epically useless Lwaxana ruffles, not quite sure how they stay on. (Sadly, I couldn't find a back view.)
I keep saying "dress", but it's really a skirt-and-top. I'm only sure of that because:
Same skirt, different shirt. This one's got a very ST: TOS styling to it - reminds me of "Mudd's Women", with the angular slash across the cleavage.
All three Lwaxana costumes in this ep - it's called "Dark Page" - are very "sub-fusc", as Harriet Vane says. This one practically looks like a shiny housecoat. (Apparently this is for Plotty Reasons, but it's kind of disorienting.)
See? This is the third outfit, a hospital gown made of blue corduroy. It's very pretty (and I am quite fond of the use of corduroy and other non-futuristic materials IN SPACE), but it's hardly Lwaxana's usual style.
However, in her next appearance (in DS9's "Fascination"), she's right back up to par.
She turns up in this fantabulous gown and matching cape-thingy. Purple! And shiny rainbowy mosaic! Lwaxana does love purple, and for good reason: she looks brilliant in it.
Also, that hat. Let's get a better look at that hat. It kind of reminds me of Scarlett O'Hara, the way she's wearing it. (Honestly, Lwaxana and Scarlett could probably raid each other's closets quite happily - allowing for size differences, anyway.) And her earrings! Lwaxana takes her earrings seriously.
Sadly, she doesn't stay in that lovely purple travelling-dress very long. Instead, she changes into this orange number, which I don't like: it does nothing for Majel's Winter coloring, the fit isn't flattering, and the wig reminds me forcibly of
Jo Grant. That style worked all right for a teenybopper character, but one expects Lwaxana Troi to look like she brushed her hair.
It is fairly fabulous in style, though. I mean, look at that; that thing in back is like the love child of a butt bow and a bustle. If they had triplets. ♥__♥
And because I am always thinking in terms of "hmm, how could one cosplay this?": have a back view. For it was available. (Also, I am torn between whether Odo or Bashir looks classier right here. So much awesome!)
And that is the end of Lwaxana's second DS9 ep. So, another digression!
This one is on the subject of Lwaxana in Purple. Because she loves purple.
The first time we meet her (in TNG's "Haven"), she's wearing this: fairly tame in cut, but the color is stunning, and get a load of that hair. I love (most of) Lwaxana's hairdos. Also, she made Picard carry her luggage. :D
Here's what that same outfit looks like without the kimono jacket. I guess it wouldn't be Lwaxana without a little "peekaboo!" somewhere.
In the same ep, she wears this wonderful object. I mean, it's got FOLIAGE on it. (Which later acts like a snake and snitches food from Deanna's prospective mother-in-law's plate, IIRC. Well, you wouldn't expect Lwaxana to wear well-behaved self-moving foliage, would you? *g*)
Also, from the back, it looks like this. That odd thing in the front view that looks like a bead-spotted neckerchief? That's what keeps it on. So classically Lwaxana.
(You know, Mr Homn totally sticks around for the lols. Ya think? Being manservant to Lwaxana cannot possibly be boring.)
The next time Lwaxana shows up on TNG, she's wearing this... amazing rig. Which somehow manages to look like an 18th-century sacque dress and "Shiny Chainmail Bondage FROM SPACE!" (thank you,
Fashion It So) at the same time.
(Incidentally, I don't quite know how to get in touch with the Fashion It So people, but the one time they've blogged - tumbled? O_O - this dress, it's in a different ep and not actually being worn. They lament not seeing it worn. So I wanted to point them at this ep. Any ideas?)
The plot of this ep is basically "Lwaxana hits on Enterprise people! and finally shags some holodeck dude!" *shrug* So right here she's hitting on Riker. Me, I do not see why he does not shag the nice lady ambassador already - possibly because she's Deanna's mother and it would be weird? - but eh.
As far as I'm concerned, Lwaxana, you can have Riker and I'll take the dress. That is one shiny shiny dress. And the ribbon of roses over the shoulder gives it a very definite saloon-girl vibe; Lwaxana's certainly broadcasting her intentions with this one.
And then she switches to this one. WANT WANT WANT. I am incoherent from OVERDOSE OF RUFFLINESS. ♥ So much want.
(Mr Homn isn't doing badly for himself either - do you suppose he makes his suits from Lwaxana's cast-offs? - but LWAXANA. PURPLE SHINY RUFFLES. CANNOT LOOK AWAY.)
I've got no idea what this one was about, and honestly the water-wings look like they're on upside down, but it's definitely purple. And startlingly un-Lwaxana-ish; more This Is The Future, We Wear Colorblocks than her usual.
Let nobody say I am not subtle, for here I segue neatly from Lwaxana In Purple to her third DS9 episode, "The Muse", wherein Lwaxana is pregnant. (She's also much less obnoxious than she was in the first two. Majel Barrett Roddenberry helped write the script for this one, and managed to make me ship Odo/Lwaxana like a squeeing teenybopper. :S)
Anyway, the costume! I love this costume. It's toned down, yeah, but still so very Lwaxana with the rich fabric and the detailed stitching and the completely random bead-suspender-things. Also, purple.
She only wears that outfit for one scene. In the next scene, she's wearing this one, which I love even more. Such a glorious fabric! I'm sure I have a paper doll gown in that fabric somewhere. (I collect historical-fashion paper dolls, ftr.) I wish I had a Lwaxana Troi paper doll; I wish I had all the DS9 paper dolls. XD They ought to exist.
Eventually Lwaxana finagles herself into cuddling with Odo in his bedroom, and she falls asleep in his lap (parallelism FTW!), and HE DOES THE BLANKET THING. Excuse me while I squee. Somehow I just think Odo turning into a blanket is one of the most adorably romantic things possible. *hearts in eyes*
(Yup, I ship it hard. core. IDEK. They're just that good, I guess.)
So later on, in yet another dress, Lwaxana is playing hide-and-seek with Odo. I'm not quite sure about this dress, or the necklace, but I guess she rocks it. (Also, Majel does a fantastic job of acting pregnant in this ep. /OT) Also, that hair! Cool. I love elaborate hairdos.
This is, um, a back view of Lwaxana's hairdo! Yes. I totally did not put in a gratuitous extra shot just because OMG HAPPY ODO SHE MADE HIM GIGGLE AND HAVE FUN. *innocent eyes* So, so lovely. This one-minute scene is what turned me completely around from "argh Lwaxana, go pester Vedek Boring" to "ODO/LWAXANA FOREVAR!!!!1!!eleventy!!!"
/personal rambling
So, okay, plotty stuff. Lwaxana's baby-daddy wants to take away her little boy (once he's born, obvs) and raise him among Only Men. It's an alien-culture thing. Lwaxana is sadface. Odo, with his usual utterly awesome legal acumen, finds a loophole: if he, Odo, now marries Lwaxana, baby-daddy's claim to the baby is null and void.
Well, this is Lwaxana's usual idea of a wedding outfit - Betazoids get married naked. (Technically, I suppose, Odo is always naked; he's just really good at imitating textiles. *not thinking too hard about that*)
And in her other canonical (nearly-)wedding, she almost wore this fabulous piece of whatsit, which manages to remind me ineluctably of Fred Astaire's silver knee-breeches-and-periwig outfit in Holiday Inn (screencap sadly unfindable) while still being mostly late-1800s in silhouette.
(Also, hey, Mr Homn ought to try out for Pooh-Bah. Or maybe the Mikado. *g*)
Let's get a better look at the front of that satin wedding dress, just because it's awesome.
But for this wedding, Lwaxana wears a corduroy-and-crushed-velvet ensemble that's traditional on baby-daddy's world. And even with a bat-wing veil hanging from her ears, she looks pretty spiff in it.
After the wedding, Lwaxana decides to leave the station, for (being telepathic) she knows Odo is not in love with her and is in love with Kira. I have no idea what goes on with her shawl - it looks like a sheet of homemade noodles, albeit elegant homemade noodles! - but this is a fantastic dress. Very quasi-Empire; it goes well with the Neo-Grecian-IN-SPACE hairdo.
Odo asks Lwaxana to stay. I wish she would too, and then we could have an interesting love triangle instead of the one with the Hayseed Giant Shakaar. (Besides, OMG THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER *sparkles in eyes*. ~koff~) But she will not! And that is the end of Odo/Lwaxana. :-(
Of course, I have a few more random outfits to go. ;-)
This is one of Lwaxana's travelling outfits. I like it; the random belt-buckle and squooshy rich fabric save it from being too toned-down. (It needed to be sort of toned-down, because there is a Sad And Noble Plot concerning boyfriend-of-the-week there. Majel was really good at looking soulful, bless her gorgeous eyes.)
This is another travelling outfit. Not a toned-down one; more of an OMG LOLWUT one. You can't see it from here, but the thing's got an obi as well as all that pleating and splotch-dye. O_O
Clearly this is exactly the sort of thing to wear when taking a young Klingon boy to the holodeck. Wow. This is one of Lwaxana's more absurd and unflattering outfits, IMO. (I do like Alexander's wee elf-boots, though.)
This is even uglier in colors, IMO, but the sheer panache of the style has to give it some points. The bustle! And the fringed chest-cuff! And the incredible mosaic fabric! And the shoulder pads! I mean, who wears shoulder pads under faux-nude fabric? I ask you.
This is rather prettier. It's what Lwaxana and Deanna wear after a Ferengi Daimon beams them out of their dresses in "Menage a Troi". I have no idea why there was all this shiny green fabric lying around a Ferengi military ship (especially as military Ferengi have no fashion sense at all and generally wear matte gray), but it's pretty cool.
And then somehow Lwaxana comes up with this to wear. I swear, the woman must have her own pocket dimension full of clothes that she can access from anywhere. (Or else she's like Sapphire of Sapphire & Steel and uses Time itself as a wardrobe. Hee!)
One more outfit. It's a lovely turquoise (shiiiiny!) and has an incredible silver raffia sash which doubles as a butt bow. Lwaxana really likes her butt bows, seems as if. (Worf and his Pretty Princess Hair - tm
air_and_angels - are not amused.)
Luckily, the raffia bow is removable, so we get a good look at the asymmetrical neckline and sleeve deal on this dress. Which is rather fantabulous.
Aaand that is Lwaxana Troi! All images courtesy of
TrekCore; tune in at an unstated future time for the next installment of Epic DS9 Fashions of Epic. XD