Lady in the Lake

Maddie and Cleo’s wardrobes serve as symbolic representations of who they each are as women, representing their respective manipulations of perspective in order to alter their personal realities. Their wardrobes are an outer expression not only of how they see themselves but also of how they wish to be perceived by others. The kinds of garments that they wear, the origins of their pieces, and the transitions in their styles are all tools for the women to craft perception and, in turn, reality.

Maddie’s transition in wardrobe reflects her growing awareness of the power of perception. At the beginning of the novel, Maddie’s fashion preferences reflect her identity as a suburban wife, mother, and homemaker; she wears fashionable, well-made clothing considered conservative, feminine, and age appropriate. When she moves out, Maddie begins to explore her tastes, gradually acquiring garments that are less conforming and demure, in styles that are modern and contemporary, more adventurous, revealing, and attention grabbing. She is careful and calculating in the way she composes her outfits, deliberately leaning more toward her suburban housewife aesthetic while at the offices of the Star in hopes of conveying seriousness and respectability. Taking Ferdie’s suggestion, Maddie also has her hair ironed. She finds that she loves wearing it down afterward, sleek and smooth, but in this case too, she hides this change at the office, pinning it up. For Maddie, her clothes present an opportunity to redefine herself instantly, a liberation from the prescriptive expectations imposed on her by her former social circles.

The wardrobe that Cleo leaves behind represents her intensifying aspirations to attain financial stability and social protection by way of a man. Cleo had always been interested in acquiring fine things, but until she met Ezekiel Taylor had not been in a position to afford many of the non-necessity clothing and accessories he gave as gifts. The nature of Ezekiel’s gifts, though, betrays the cost of Cleo’s choice to reinvent herself based entirely on the sexist expectations of a “good” woman. The clothes are not for Cleo. Rather, Ezekiel plucked the items from the clothing of his laundromat clients, tailoring them to fit his mistress. In her old life, Cleo could approximate and imitate, but she could never achieve the kind of lifestyle she envied of Maddie. Cleo’s clothing then became evidence, first as pieces with provenance that hold the potential to prove Cleo’s involvement with Ezekiel, and then as planted forensic evidence on Latetia’s body. Cleo sheds these clothes much as she sheds her old life, becoming something else entirely that the reader is never quite made privy to.