Indian Summers Costume Recap – Episode 7

I’m excited enough about Indian Summers (now airing in the US on PBS) that I’ve decided to write a costume recap for each episode, so we can dish about what we liked and didn’t like. Keep your eyes peeled on Fridays for a new post, and check out our recap of the previews episodes: one, two, 3&4, and 5&6!

As a side note, there’s a great slideshow on the PBS site that gives lots of details on the costume designer’s work. Apparently all of the costumes, including those worn by extras, were made by the production in Malaysia (where filming occurred)!

This episode starts with some of the orphan children finding Jaya, dead and floating in the lake on Ramu Sood’s property, dressed in the stolen wedding sari:

Dougie puts on a jacket and comes to the lake to say a prayer for the thus-far unknown woman:

While Leena tells Adam that his mother has died:

Ralph is at work in his spiffy cream suit, when he is asked to see if he can identify the body (Jaya was seen at his house).

Ian wakes up with the lady he shacked up with in episode 1 (the woman who was wearing Sarah’s out-to-be-laundered dress). She’s in a gorgeous red, blue, and white floral print:

Ian realizes that he knows the woman who was killed, as he’s the one who hired her to work on Sood’s tea plantation. He goes off to the authorities to tell them what he knows. He manages to put on a jacket, but no tie:

Ian then goes to talk to Ramu, who is none too pleased to be at all involved. Ramu knows that this is not going to end well for him, and Ian is all confused — he was just trying to do the right thing!

Meanwhile, the Brits are putting on a play — The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, to be specific. Cynthia is playing Lady Bracknell, the grand dame. She’s in her lovely printed/pleated blouse and skirt combo from episode 1.

Eugene is playing Algernon or Jack, I’m not sure, and not doing it well. At rehearsals, he’s in his usual suit and bow tie.

Ronnie Keane, who works in Ralph’s office, is the director. He’s all about getting shit done with his no-jacket look:

And the viceroy is playing another key character. He almost looks like he’s already in costume — it’s the cravat, which is Old School compared to all of the other men:

Sarah has roped Alice into joining the play. Madeleine is also in it, and she wonders why Alice can’t seem to say no to her social-climbing friend. Alice is wearing her floral print dress, Madeleine in her traditional beige-y silver but in her fashion-forward pants, and Sarah in her red and white print dress.

Once Ralph worms out of identifying Jaya, he goes straight to Cynthia, who clearly 1) knows all of his dark secrets and 2) has been around for a long time. There’s conversation about the whole Jaya affair happening years (10?) ago, and Cynthia was around then. Cynthia is relieved to discover that Ralph didn’t kill Jaya. Ralph’s now in his dark suit, but jacketless:

Now that the authorities have an Indian to finger — and an uppity, doing-well Indian at that! — they arrest Ramu. Cynthia is all smiles for Ian, thinking he was trying to do everyone a favor by pointing the blame at someone she can’t stand. Ian is offended; he was just trying to do the right thing. Somehow now that Ian is acting all good and noble, he went from seeming about 17 to more like 25. Notice the fashion-forward cut of his lapels — nothing as extreme as Ralph, but still!

Ian gets roped into taking over Eugene’s role in the play. For dress rehearsal, they put him into an oldey-timey suit and stage makeup:

Cynthia is a nice Edwardian ensemble with a great toque hat. Madeleine’s dress is appropriately costumed, but her dress doesn’t quite fit her in an Edwardian way, which I thought was great attention to detail.

After rehearsals, everyone heads to the club. Alice and Madeleine don’t change, but Sarah is now in a very homespun, yellow gingham dress.

That night, Dougie tries to talk to Sarah about the dead woman. She glosses over it — clearly she doesn’t care because it wasn’t a Brit. Sarah’s wearing a pink satin dressing gown:

The next day, there’s a funeral for Jaya. Dougie and Leena just know that it’s Adam’s mother, but Leena has figured out that Ralph is Adam’s father. Alice joins Leena and the children who found the body at the funeral. She wonders why Adam is there too, and Leena tells her that Jaya was his mother. Leena is in her green and orange sari. Alice is in her blue suit that she wore when she gave evidence about the shooting. For some reason I like it much more now — I think I can see details I couldn’t see before? Nice jaunty hat tilt, too.

Ralph attends the funeral, attempting to lurk out of sight on horseback (seems like an obvious way to lurk). At least he has the decency to wear a dark suit, although that’s the only gesture he makes. Alice sees him lurking.

Alice runs into Aafrin, who has been visited by an Indian police officer who shows him the stolen evidence. Aafrin accuses Alice of having turned him in, but she denies it and tells him to talk to Sooni. Aafrin tries, but Sooni is too busy being right to be willing to talk to him. Seriously, he can’t just say “HELLO THIS IS IMPORTANT I MIGHT GO TO PRISON”?? Aafrin is still in his one dark suit this whole episode.

Ian goes to visit Ramu in jail, and finds him completely bashed up. WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO HIS BEAUTIFUL FACE??!! Ian tells the police that Ramu has an alibi — him! — but the police don’t care.

Alice wears her hair down for her role in the play. She wears a pretty red and white striped dressing gown over her costume, while Sarah is in a white poufy something.

Alice’s costume is a high-necked white blouse with a lavender suit:

Aafrin brings Sita to the play with him. He’s still pissed at Alice, so he makes a show of kissing Sita while she’s watching. Sita is in her beautiful dark blue sari:

The viceroy’s costume doesn’t look much different from what he regularly wears, with the addition of a straw boater and some stage makeup:

And finally, Ralph and Ian talk about Ramu. Ralph just wants it all to go away, and he tries to encourage Ian to just shut up. Ralph, you’re a jerk, but I love you in white tie:

What did you think of Indian Summers episode 7 and the costumes?