Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2022 August 24

= August 24 =

Clara's 1920s hairstyle
In the Doctor Who episode Mummy on the Orient Express, did Clara Oswald cut her hair or was it a wig? 86.130.4.135 (talk) 19:47, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Was it back to normal in the next episode? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:24, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
 * It was. 86.130.4.135 (talk) 18:32, 25 August 2022 (UTC)


 * OP, do you mean:
 * "did the fictional character Clara Oswald cut her hair or wear a wig within the context of the fictional story presented in that episode?"; or,
 * "did the actress Jenna Coleman who portrayed that character cut her hair or wear a wig for the purpose of filming that episode?"?
 * {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.90.29 (talk) 00:39, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I mean: both. 86.130.4.135 (talk) 18:33, 25 August 2022 (UTC)


 * I just took a look at the previous episode, the episode under discussion, and the subsequent episode. Your question is certainly justified.  In the episode under discussion, Clara has a kind of bob cut to match the costume’s style of the Orient Express. In the other two episodes, her hair is noticeably much, much longer.  My guess, therefore, is that it’s either a very nice wig, or, something called a faux bob, which allows a stylist to mimic a bob by presenting it as a hidden updo.  Searching for "faux bob" will show you how they do it. I’m not knowledgeable enough to tell you if this is what they did or if it’s just a wig, but I would be astounded and surprised if it wasn’t a wig. Viriditas (talk) 09:06, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Episodes are not necessarily filmed in the order they are broadcast. Fgf10 (talk) 11:44, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Kill the Moon: "Filming took place on 12–13 May"; Mummy on the Orient Express: "Shooting started on 20 May and finished on 10 June"; Flatline: "[Filming began on] 28 May, and concluded on 18 June 2014". Viriditas (talk) 12:08, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
 * It was never mentioned in that episode that either she cut her hair or she wore a wig. Have you searched Doctor Who Mummy on the Orient Express wig on Google? And did she have to have that hairstyle because most women had those hairs in the 1920s-mid 1930s? 86.130.4.135 (talk) 21:07, 26 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes we searched. We even verified that 1920s bobs could be arranged using hairclips like for Clara Oswald as it shows for her on the pictures: unfortunately out of stock, but seems to indicate that bobs must have been something late in the 1920s (hand shaped hairclips, if you will). --Askedonty (talk) 11:04, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
 * You mean the images on Google? And were there hairclips on her hair? 86.130.4.135 (talk) 21:49, 31 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes. By the way, editing other users comments like you did https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous&diff=prev&oldid=1107785248 is not considerd good practice in discussions - unless you're an administrator and have good consensual reason according to the rules in usage on Wikipedia. --Askedonty (talk) 06:09, 1 September 2022 (UTC)
 * She (the character Clara) didn't have to, she presumably chose to. It is not necessary to spell out every single visual detail in a TV episode or other visual medium – viewers are expected to be able to infer plausible reasons for them if they notice and care about them at all.
 * In a written narrative such as a book, which needs to describe visual elements to a greater degree, the writer might choose to describe Clara styling her hair, and even her reasons for doing so, but it's a minor detail that doesn't affect the story in any way, so they probably wouldn't bother with her reasons and might not even mention her doing it, but at most include it in a brief description of her appearance.
 * Many women (in Western culture) change their hairstyles (with or without the aid of wigs) occasionally or frequently; it's their personal choice, it doesn't need an explanation. A realistic fictional character may be portrayed as doing so simply to add depth to the portrayal. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.90.29 (talk) 18:37, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

So was it a wig? 86.130.4.135 (talk) 20:25, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
 * In terms of the fictional story, there is no definite answer: you can assume either a wig, or a faux bob as Viriditas explained above, or anything else your imagination can come up with. Maybe (since she's a time traveller) the character cut her hair shorter after the events of 'Kill the Moon' and there was a long enough period between 'Mummy on the Orient Express' and 'Flatline' for her to grow it long again. Maybe the Tardis contains an advanced Gallifreyan hair-modifying device no-one has ever mentioned. (After all, Jane Jetson's stylist had one.)
 * In terms of the actress Jenna Coleman, probably only she and the hair stylist who worked on that episode know, because no-one else would care about or want to record such a trivial detail. If it matters that much, contact her and ask. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.90.29 (talk) 21:56, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

So she didn't cut her hair or wore a wig? It was a faux bob with hairclips? 86.130.4.135 (talk) 21:20, 1 September 2022 (UTC)
 * You know as much as anyone here does. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:50, 1 September 2022 (UTC)