The stylistic variation reflects Nina’s position along the spectrum between her superego, ego, and id, the parts of her unconscious mind that exert the most control over her conduct. I’ll break down the mechanics so you can see how Nina goes from “White Swan” to “Black Swan” in a visual way.
In the first scene, we see Nina dressed in a lovely tutu like the one little Odette wears in Swan Lake before she is transformed into the iconic bird. Rodarte, an American apparel label with a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind, and artistically crafted aesthetic, was established in Los Angeles, California, by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who also served as the film’s co-signatories along with Amy Westcott.
This establishes the groundwork for Nina’s metamorphosis since the lack of attire allows for more quick identification of the character; in this case, Nina is seen to the audience in her purest form. It is the intention of the author that Nina be portrayed in this work as her “ultimate fantasy, the perfect prima ballerina.”
Her superego is represented by soft, feminine tones of white, pink, and pastels. Pink is a popular color for dancewear because it draws attention to the toned legs that are so important to the art form. In addition, it’s the norm, and maintaining norms is crucial in ballet. It’s no secret that Nina loves the color pink, but the softer shades of pink that she prefers serve as a symbolic representation of the youth and innocence that are integral to her sense of self. The pinks are joined by because they are less intense than primary colors, pastels provide a sense of serenity and tranquility because of their association with neutrality. Colors that are more muted reflect Nina’s more reserved character when she is shown as “good” or the “white swan.”
Nina’s connection with her mother mirrors the SuperEgo in that her mother shapes a large portion of Nina’s identity. Her mother treats Nina like a kid, protecting her at all costs, directing her every move, and lecturing her on right and wrong to the point that Nina feels ashamed of her own opinions. When Nina, self-conscious about her weight, refuses to eat the cake her mother baked for her, she causes her much distress.
In an instant, Nina feels bad for “misbehaving” and abandons her earlier plan, opting instead to eat the cake so that she may make her mother happy. Nina exemplifies the SuperEgo by being very responsible and striving for perfection in an effort to win her mother’s approval and avoid punishment. The ID, or the area of the brain where primal, instinctual tendencies and processes are expressed, becomes more accessible when Thomas, the instructor, is seeking for one girl to play both the white swan and the black swan parts, but after seeing Nina sing, he says he would choose her if he were just casting for the white swan.
In his mind, Nina has all the qualities of a white swan—beauty, fragility, and fear—but the black swan, as the wicked sibling who steals the white swan’s love, must be all those things and more. In order to fully experience life, he advises that she “lose herself and let it go” (Aronofsky, 2010).
To allow her dance to reveal the aspect of her she most wants to exhibit. Nina, on the other hand, is envious of Lily, the dancer presented for the black swan part, since she is neither a flawless nor a neutral dancer. Because Lily is more spontaneous and uninhibited than Nina, she represents everything Nina aspires to be.
Nina wants to be more like Lily in a manner so that she may become the black swan because of the perverted way in which she perceives Lily; the ego is clever, responsible, and controlled, while the id is passionate, instinctual, and yearning. Yumiko, a well-known dancewear designer, created the leotards, skirts, cover-ups, and legwarmers that Wescott had Nina and Lily wear. Yumiko’s original designs were tweaked to better fit the character’s development, with new textiles used for cover-ups and dyed in shades of black, grey, white, and pink. The striking contrast between the two dancers is reflected in their respective wardrobes, with Nina’s being lighter and Nina’s being darker in a more mysterious, laid-back, and cool style.
Nina’s outfits become deconstructed, slowly forming sharper lines. The use of color blocking is utilized as well. Color-blocking is thought of as “the exploration of taking colors that are indirect or direct opposites on the color wheel and pairing them together to make interesting and complementary color combinations. Since color-blocking is an abstract form of art, it is easy to create illusions for accentuating body shapes, making people look taller and thinner. Color-blocking provides versatility to clothing that other styling techniques don’t provide.” – Hisour
Her traditionally feminine outfit is slowly becoming infused with darker grey tones. The color grey represents complexity or everything that exists on a spectrum between black and white. The color’s versatility lends its associations with intelligence and moderation. It’s a neutral shade that skillfully bridges the gap between black and white. It’s not the hue of strong disagreement or unwavering agreement. – eye-popping hue
Ego is manifesting itself in Nina’s new gray clothes. She’s finally starting to think for herself, free from the constraints of her upbringing, her parent’s expectations, and her own self-imposed limitations. Although she is not yet in a life-threatening situation, the stress she is now experiencing has made her more emotionally fragile. Grey clothing is a visual representation of the ego, which represents “the reason and the common sense.”
When Nina decides to be more autonomous and not subject to her mother’s control, she not only crushes what is morally right to her mother, but she also breaks her own rules and morals, so the ego that was briefly shown is overpowered, and the strong superego power diminishes drastically because the id is now running her personality.
Sometimes in her mirror, she may see the ephemeral self, often known as relative sanity, saying, “Dancers are always looking at themselves, so their relationship with their reflection is a huge part of who they are. Filmmakers are also fascinated by mirrors, and it’s been played with before, but I wanted to take it to a new level. Visually, we really pushed that idea of what it means to look in a mirror. Mirrors become a big part of looking into Nina’s character, which is all about doubles and reflection.”
As the film progresses, we see how Nina’s life mirrors the conflict between the “white swan” and the “black swan” from the Swan Lake tale. Nina’s evil side quickly overwhelms her more naive self.
The mirrored images beautifully illustrate this point. Since Black Swan relies so much on duality, it seems to reason that the hallucinations would do the same. There are, on the one hand, indicators that Nina suffers from mental illness. On the other hand, there’s the matter of her striving for perfection and the implications it has for her dual identities as the white swan and the black swan. Hallucinations begin to engulf Nina’s existence, yet she sometimes gets glimpses of reality, revealing her inner turmoil and fixation with being the ideal dancer.
At her official unveiling as the Swan Queen, Nina wore a white, billowing gown by Rodarte that concealed her hidden habit with crisscrossing white chiffon. As she makes her debut, she displays some level of introspection and self-preservation in this work.
This Rodarte scarf with its feathered pattern shows that Nina’s swan obsession has seeped into her daily life. Nina watches herself pass her in a throng as they go to the train. The two Ninas couldn’t be more different: one with perfectly coiffed hair and a prim pink coat, the other with messy hair and a sloppy outfit. When two on-screen characters contrast with one another, it draws attention to the other character’s best traits. The fashion adds to the story by including darker garments when the villainous side emerges. Whenever she isn’t in a delusion, she’s shown wearing all black. The moment when she and Lily hit the bars reveals this.
In the film’s most relaxed scene, Nina and Lily go out for the evening, with Nina wearing a dark color palette. At first, she wears a light-colored blouse that she picked out herself when she goes out to the bars. At night’s conclusion, however, she sheds her inhibitions and accepts the reality she was thrust into by donning a black tank top.
Nina’s first skin-baring garment is a simple black tank top. The dark color exposes my skin. This woman is giving in to her id. Lily gradually begins to wear lighter hues, yet she never goes completely pastel. While Lily’s penchant for black may be a reflection of her attractive nature, Nina’s rejection of her superego via her clothing choices suggests otherwise. As she comes apart, she also rejects the curvy, feminine shapes that have defined her work so far.
Ballet tutu lines emphasized this while yet expressing their individuality. Feathers, tufts of chiffon, and broken angora wool were employed to complement the conventional tulle and add to the visual story within the film’s design. Beautiful in her lovely White Swan costume, Nina is a vision of purity and tenderness as Odette.
When she performs as Odile, Nina really embraces her transformation into craziness, despite the fact that the feathers are soft, the workmanship is beautiful, and the makeup is light and lovely. the black swan wearing a tulle birdcage veil and a tutu adorned with jagged, harsh feathers and huge rhinestones. This aids the ending’s visual story by showing the audience what the situation really looks like, rather than what the unreliable narrator has told them it looks like via his or her attire.
At the film’s conclusion, when Nina gets to dance, she goes through a range of emotions. The first is a person who is so stressed out and overwhelmed that they are already sobbing or on the verge of tears. The second is hotheaded, threatening, and dangerous. These two aspects of Nina had a physical confrontation at one point.
The id has taken control, and her efforts to halt the black swan are futile. When Lily returns to the room after the battle, Nina sees that she has completely demolished herself. Because of this insight, she is brought down to earth and she once again takes on the pain and frailty of the White Swan. Lily discovers the wound as the Swan falls to her death amid deafening cheers and the congratulations of Thomas and the crew. After Nina exclaims, “I was perfect,” the screen goes white.
Since we don’t witness her death on screen, the film’s conclusion might be interpreted in several ways. Instead of the customary transition to black, which provides finality, we witness a fade to white, which appears to leave room for interpretation after seeing her harmed. I think the return to the gentler aspects like silk, delicate feathers, and warm tones that she had lost throughout her transformation is represented by the fact that her final clothing is all white and pure, except for her wound. Like the general appearance and tones Nina originally supported when she was full of hope and dreams for herself, the white fade-out represents a reprieve from the darkness that has arisen inside the turmoil of the superego, ego, and id all coming forward in her road to being the ideal dancer.
Black Swan: Amy Westcott Interview – https://clothesonfilm.com/black-swan-amy-westcott-interview/
Costume Design/Defining Characters – https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/teachersguide-costumedesign-2015.pdf
The giant explanation of Black Swan – https://filmcolossus.com/black-swan-movie-explained/
Sigmund Freud‘s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality – https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/psychodynamic-perspectives-on-personality/#:~:text=Sigmund%20Freud%20’s%20psychoanalytic%20theory,id%2C%20ego%2C%20and%20superego.
The Hidden Freudian Theory in Black Swan – https://medium.com/@yamantb/the-hidden-freudian-theory-in-black-swan-and-fight-club-73ce40ce9fd3
Id/Ego Portrayal – https://writingonthevisualartsspring2015.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/the-id-versus-the-superego-portrayal-through-light-and-dark-colors/
Black Swan Fashion – https://threadbythread.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/black-swan/
