#elendira

Elendira changes outfits more than any other character in the series. She's got a different look for practically every new scene she's in! When taken together, they communicate not just a cohesive personal style but also a wealth of fascinating little hints about her intentions, motivations, priorities and psychological state.

Because Elendira is not just chic, she is practical and deliberate in her style choices. She oscillates and negotiates between these two extremes according to the circumstances she's in. Her outfits are more flamboyant when she's on her airships — or around allies like Legato — than when she's going out to fight. Which is honestly a breath of fresh air for a female character. We've all seen those depictions of women in fight scenes wearing, like, stiletto heels, tiny, tight club dresses and long hair all over the place? Not so miss Crimsonnail. But she still retains a diva touch with her signature pillbox caps and boyar-style hats.

In terms of silhouettes she seems to favor bold, geometric lines, layering in a way that effectively hides her body armor. She understands her own body, sometimes feminizing it with light coats and blazers that flare out at the hem to show off her waist. At other times she opts to obscure every shape with huge rectangular coats. She wears sensible boots with no heel to them — she's tall enough already, and heels just aren't practical, especially on a planet covered with sand! Even the length of her hair is played with and tells the viewer something about her. When she makes her grand first appearance, she seems to be going for about as fem a look as she ever does — emphasizing her figure (which blows Meryl's mind, so you can tell she succeeded) and leaving her hair long and flowing. She is making an ENTRANCE, she is here to make short work of Legato and she does it in style. She is in control here, she has her airship, she feels untouchable. In other scenes, however, her hair is usually up, partially braided away or tucked under a hat.

You can even read meaning into her lipstick; when we see her at her most blank and despondent, she's not wearing any. And it gradually rubs off of her lips during her fight with Livio. Oh God, the progression of her appearance during that fight. She starts out buttoned up, hair up, cap on, dark lipstick on. And the more serious the fight gets — the more she realizes she's actually in danger for once — the more her image starts to fall apart. She throws her coat aside. Then her hat. By then time she dies, nothing is left of Elendira the Crimsonnail but her body armor and her own deadly weapon piercing through it all. Her lipstick has smudged away. Her hair is down, mussed up and hanging all around her face as she cries in disbelief and says her final words.

And then we never see her face again. Once she is dead, it's fully or partially obscured from every angle. As far as creative choices go, I interpret that as a kindness. Because yes, Elendira died like she lived — intensely and desperately, in a blaze of strength and glory — but she didn't want to die like that. In her own eyes it wasn't an end that suited her, and so we, the audience, don't get to see her in her disgrace. For Elendira, her appearance is part of the protective walls she built around herself throughout a life that can't have been easy or kind. She chose to wear beautiful armor, just like she chose the dramatic, apocalyptic finality of Knives' grand plan. She clawed at anything pretty she could find in a world that is all sand and ruins and grief.

ELENDIRA THE CRIMSON NAIL 🩸

(LR below the cut)

THE HIGH PRIESTESS | THE HIEROPHANT

High Priestess - "Intuition, sacred knowledge, divine feminity, the subconscious mind but also mysterious secrets, disconnection from intuition, withdrawal and sudden silence..." Hierophant - "Spiritual wisdom, religious beliefs, conformity, tradition, church institutions, but also challenging the status quo and personal believes often lead by sense of freedom.."

Another duo of cards for the project of Trigun tarot.