Agatha Harkness, by and large, is a character actress. We meet her playing the role of Agnes the Nosy Neighbor in WandaVision. And in that role, we primarily see her wearing clothing to play that part. This includes skirts, dresses, et cetra. These are of course: costumes.

So, let's return to the initial question: does Agatha feel more in control in pants?

In my opinion and reading, she does not need pants to feel in control. We can see it during WandaVision: she is very much in control of everything she does, without wearing pants. Her 1950s plaid dress helps her fulfill and perform the role she is playing.

However, I would posit instead, that Agatha feels closer to authentic in pants, and potentially, in certain contexts, closer to vulnerability and openness of self. This is what I settled upon in the initial version of this post, and I still believe it to be true. And we have further evidence of Agatha's preference for pants.

We know now, that according to the art book and interviews: "Agatha just wears the pants."

Pants in this context is both literal, and also, as Daniel Selon points out in an interview: it is her being in control of things.

I think it would be easy to write this off as simply about Agatha's interest in control and being in charge, if not for the continued lines about the importance of Agatha having an edge of tailored menswear to her looks, and this being brought up again more recently in another interview with Selon.

I do not think it is a leap therefore, to read that as a preference for this sort of fashion. Agatha wears the pants, is in charge as much as she can be (because life often happens at Agatha), and she quite literally prefers to wear clothing with men's tailoring.

I think that brings us to the actual show, and exploring how Agatha presents in the show, and is presented. Her character design is interesting, because we start with an Agatha who is under a spell.

Left with a hex in her mind, Agatha last we saw in WandaVision was the Nosy Neighbor; however, Agatha All Along opens with a new version of this woman:

Detective Agnes O'Connor

Before, in my initial ramble, I stated I was not certain if Agatha is more authentic in this role. I walk that back now. Agnes of Westview is Agatha coming into control of the hex, and it is a reflection of her worldview.

I believe then too, Detective Agnes O'Connor is therefore a reflection of some authentic part of Agatha Harkness. That, like the hex, this is truer to Agatha's core self.

This outfit is not dissimilar from looks Agatha wears down the line.

Agatha's preference for button-ups is clear in both Agnes' look and her Road ensemble, as well as trousers.

I also find it curious, and this may be a leap on my part, that I read Agatha's outfit as Detective Agnes as more similar in some aspects to what she wore while raising Nicholas.

Thicker, more practical fabric, as well as similar colours.

The costuming and character design for Agatha, as well as how Hahn approached her: plays with both the masculine and feminine. Detective Agnes is the most masculine we see Agatha as within the show, in terms of role and clothing. Detectives are classically a masculine role.

This is Agatha shucked clean of her play acting, not wearing a costume put on to convince anyone of a grift or a scheme (you could argue though that she is in a costume to fit the genre, I will not deny that). In many ways, Agatha is incredibly bare as Detective Agnes, unable to put up her masks and hide. It is why we get to see her and Rio Vidal interact with any level of softness. This is an Agatha who can yearn openly for her estranged spouse. This is an Agatha who is not putting on a costume to convince Wanda Maximoff that she is just your normal next door housewife in an unhappy heterosexual marriage (and isn't she performing cisnormative femininity so well!!).

I believe, we see Agatha in a similar position on the Road when she has removed her coat (RIP the coat) to protect Billy, and she left wearing simply what is underneath the coat.

Purple dress pants and a nice button-up.

This is when we get vulnerability between Agatha and Rio, where Agatha embraces Rio. Even momentarily.

Clothing, like the coat, can be armour for Agatha. Quite literally, it is embroidered with runes on the inside.

I would suggest too, she uses femininity often in a similar way. Because, even while we know Agatha would wear pants as soon as the 1930-40's, she still enhances her looks as part of the draw.

The red lipstick pops. She is presenting far more masculinely than other women of the era might be, but she still has enough femininity to not seem off-putting to the witches she is attempting to draw into her grifts.

I think we see this on full display in WandaVision, but even in smaller parts in Agatha All Along. When she goes to entangle Lilia in her nonsense, Agatha steals a set of pearls from Billy's car.

This outfit from episode 2 is really interesting as well, because it is what Agatha puts on when she is going on the run. This is not an outfit meant to con or grift anyone. It is what she plans to wear while on the move, it is practical and utilitarian.

It also, like her Ghost outfit, this one includes a shawl. A nod to the crone version of Agatha from the comics. (Also, again: button up and pants!)

Her witch and ghost looks should also be noted, because I do think they play with higher levels of femininity for the roles she is performing. The performance of witchhood, of being a terrifying witch. And the performance of being a mentor (I think she genuinely loves being a mentor, but it is another role for Agatha to fill and play).

Also, it is fun to bring up: it looks like Agatha is wearing some sort of pants under her witching dress/robes!

Personally, I read Agatha's outfits largely as costuming, she is the ultimate "yes, and" improv witch. However, I believe that, from what we see in her costumes, pants and more masculine looks often are tied to Agatha being more authentic, out of her armour. With Agatha, when we see her at her most feminine, she is often poking fun at it (Nosy Neighbor Agnes) or using it as a theatric device to enhance a performance.

This is the ramble over. This next little aside is just something I found fun while I was poking around and looking at fashion from the 18th century onward. I think there are similarities that Agatha's Road coat has to men's tailoring from those eras (frock and travel coats).

I also want to note that heels, especially thicker heels, were worn in men's clothing in the 18th century.

Agatha's heeled boots may even play with the gendered energies that Agatha plays with.

Agatha's clothing is fascinating, how it performs for her, but also how it holds history. Her views on certain cuts and forms of fashion may include some older takes, because she carries history in a way a normal human does not (as she has lived 350+ years).

The first episode is important because it sets up roles, dynamics, and the overall arc of the entire narrative of the Road. That includes the parts with Detective Agnes and Agent Vidal as they are important to set up the places on the heirachy that Agatha and Rio sit, as well as their dynamics together. And if we the viewer/reader want, we can extrapolate that out further to include their presentation within that dynamic together, because it is one of the few times we get to see how they work at length together, without the weight of the grief behind their overall interactions.

Agatha is a character who plays with masks, hides behind her cons, and we rarely see the reality of who she is peek out. In fact I would argue that as much as she is running from Rio (from Nicholas), she is also running from herself (a refusal to sit with herself). While gender presentation and expression are not the end all and be all of being butch, it is important that this is not a human, this is a television character. Specifically a character within a show where she is not being fully open and honest with us, and so some of the signifiers of costuming and what they could mean is important in a reading. Especially the clothing Agatha choses for herself, or places herself in as she gets control of the hex.

I have discussed this at length before, but I believe it is important to keep in mind that Agatha is a witch who fails at and struggles to fit in with other witches. Historically speaking, within the context of culture and art, witches are women who flaunt sexuality and power outside of the traditional mileu of "good Christian culture" within how they are often framed and imagined (think the witch flying naked across the moon, or dancing with the Devil in the woods).

Agatha is a queer woman who struggles to find place among other witches. She is too curious for her own good, outside of her internal magicks own specific issues. She does not fit in among other witches (read: other women). Hell, even though the Triple Goddess on the brooch may be the journey she is on, she makes fun of it under the hex ("what no working professional goddess?").

So the fact that she crafts herself into Detective Agnes, in clothing that may be read as masculine, in a role (the detective) that is a traditionally masculine one is important and interesting. Because, as we know from John (Herb), Agatha has only been Detective Agnes for a few days. And from Jac, we know that this is Agatha taking control of the hex, and moving it from Wanda's sitcom to Agatha's own true crime preference. Agnes of Westview is a reflection of how Agatha sees the world, seeks out seeing the darkness in others, and it is not a jump then to say that may be how Agatha internalizes herself.

Butch as an identity is a complex one, because it has historical precedent, and it has evolved over the years. Early butch identity was closely associated with the working class, something that also is interesting given Agatha's salt of the earth coven beginnings. As well as the fact that, that is who she is in the role of Detective Agnes: a working class woman. It is arguable too, that Agatha may see herself to some extent as a working class woman, despite the hedonism that she hides herself under during some of her cons, because she has to continue to hunt out magic to keep herself empowered.

Outside of the first episode though, we also see Agatha, despite herself, take on the role of the physical protector and defender of her coven multiple times. She guards them with her body on the Road when Rio is rising from Sharon's grave. We also see her take on the role of guarding and protecting Billy from Rio's eyes. She also bodily puts herself between the coven and Billy to guard him when they are curious about the sigil.

When she is given witches she does care about, despite the hot air, Agatha will try to protect them. She even, arguably, did this centuries before for the Seven, allowing them to live when they were children. Also, depending on how you read the interaction—when Evanora approaches Rio, Rio seems shaken, and it is at that point that Agatha steps down to confront her mother. While Rio is unwilling to abandon Agatha to Evanora, Agatha is the one who puts herself in harm's way again, redirects her mother's anger back towards her.

I do go into more depth about Agatha herself within a ramble I wrote last year where I unpacked how I handle writing and thinking about Agatha. So, I will link that as well. Agatha is a fascinating character. One that she often is hiding behind her con so that people do not see her raw truth.

More twigs and Agatha chatter here.