#fashion in fiction

Plain Clothes in Midsomer Murders

You see here Kirsty Dillon playing a policewoman WDC Stephens, recently made a detective, who is struggling with what to wear in 2009. One can see her problem might be endemic as female detectives were so rare in the UK police force that they were titled Woman Detective Constable while men were simply Detective Constable until 1999. This is her first day as a detective and she has on grey trousers and an unfortunate knit cardigan with ruffles at the hem and sleeves. She is pulling at it and pondering, and asks a colleague DC Jones (Detective Sargeant) played by Jason Hughes:

“Ben, what do you think? I mean, how plain are plain clothes supposed to be?”

He never gets to answer, but the idea that plain clothes, that is, not a uniform, need to be plain to the point of ugliness hangs in the air. As this episode proceeds, we see her character trying different looks, while DC Jones wears essentially the same suit and tie throughout. Which gives us an idea of the quandaries women have faced as they moved into new positions of authority with only men as sartorial role models. While she could certainly wear a suit, with trousers or with a skirt, a tie would have been considered odd so the male plain clothes uniform was not entirely suitable.

This was from Season 12, Episode 3 and called “Secrets and Spies.”