Doctor Who may be a science fantasy show with a focus on monsters, emotions, and time travel, but there’s always room for wardrobe. Clothing in media often tells us a story, and for Doctor Who, those stories are often loud (the Sixth Doctor’s rainbow jacket springs to mind).
Just as the Doctor’s style is eccentric, his companions typically enjoy cute but practical styles that often mirror or represent the characters’ backgrounds in ways that are fun to untangle. Of course, there are few companions with a wardrobe as classy and chic as Clara Oswald’s. We take a look at ten of her best outfits during her run on Doctor Who — and rounding it down to even ten was difficult, trust us on this.
Asylum of the Daleks
It was September 2012 when fans around the world got the shock of their lives when Jenna Coleman sprang up on television screens everywhere — half a season before she was meant to. Fans were charmed by Oswin, who wound up being an echo of our Clara (wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff), and her cute scarlet dress immediately makes her stand out in our minds.
For Oswin, a normal day is spent listening to opera, baking souffles, hacking Daleks, putting roses in her hair, and dressing up. But just as her wardrobe says a lot of Oswin’s forward and bold attitude, it says a lot about her arc in the episode. In color theory, red is used to signal danger. It’s a warning through wardrobe of the episode’s final plot twist: Oswin has, cruelly, been turned into a Dalek, and retreated into her own mind because of her horrible new reality.
Into the Dalek
Series Eight saw a new version of Clara — or, more accurately, the real Clara. Gone was the “bubbly personality masking bossy control freak” Clara we knew from her first-half series, now we meet the Clara underneath: a Clara frantic to keep her Doctor-life separate from her real one for some semblance of control.
So, naturally, her wardrobe shifted as well. It began to shift in “Time of the Doctor,” but by the second episode of Series Eight, “Into the Dalek,” we saw the biggest change yet: trousers. Clara’s outfit in this episode is practical and mature, yet still holds all the quirky personality she owned in previous episodes: namely with the print of her blouse, which features many eyes.
Listen
Trying to keep a romantic life alive while traveling with a hyperactive Time Lord with no sense of boundaries certainly has its challenges, which Clara learns soon enough when her first date with Danny Pink is an absolute disaster.
What isn’t a disaster is Clara’s outfit for the dinner: it mirrors a lot of her previous outfits with the matchup of a dress with a blazer, but there are no quirky prints here: Clara favors a solid block of colors and a dress that nicely highlights her arms, pulling it together with a fitted blazer.
Robot of Sherwood
Although Doctor Who spends a lot of time in the past, it’s rare to see companions dress in period clothing. But when the Doctor decides to humor Clara’s request to meet Robin Hood, the latter goes all out with beautiful medieval orange gown (and some hair extensions).
In color theory, orange is meant to incite action and represent warmth — which is representative of Clara’s role in the story. She is mistaken as the one in charge by the Sheriff of Nottingham, and she takes the chance to pull necessary information out of him. She’s also a source of warmth for Robin, who is still tending to a broken heart from being separated from Marion.
Sleep No More
“Sleep No More” was Doctor Who’s first foray into the found footage genre of horror, to varying degrees of success. Although the episode itself may have been underwhelming (if not straight up annoying with its repetitive use of the song “Mr. Sandman”), one highlight it has is Clara’s outfit.
It’s technically not even the first time we’ve seen Clara wear this style of clothing: she’s favored this same navy Peter Pan collared jumper twice before, for much shorter appearances than shown here. She wears it once during a montage of “The Caretaker,” and before that in the beginning of “Robot of Sherwood,” albeit with a crimson plaid skirt, rather than the lovely navy printed one she wears in this episode.
The Caretaker
One of many outfits shown in this episode — which almost always features Clara in a state of panic due to the Doctor working undercover at Coal Hill, her workplace, as the Caretaker — Clara’s sheer maroon blouse and printed pencil skirt is one of our favorites.
Only shown in the episode’s climax, this outfit remains one of our favorite Clara outfits due to how it perfectly balances Clara’s life as a teacher and as an adventurer. The contrast between the shirt and skirt is a total eye-catcher and is one of Clara’s best outfits not just of this episode, but of her run altogether.
Time of the Doctor
Chances are, you didn’t see much of this episode at all beyond blurry blobs moving around thanks to how much of an absolute tear-jerker Steven Moffat made Matt Smith’s final hurrah. If you did manage to make it through without shedding some tears, congrats!
Even if the script and performances rip our hearts out, Clara’s outfit is certainly one of the best highlights of the episode — and is the first major departure from her signature look and silhouette from series seven. Clara ditches the flowy look of Christmases past in favor of a more fitted silhouette with a white button-up underneath a black sweater and a short but cute plaid skirt. It’s a nice liminal space between the Clara we knew in her first series, and the more mature Clara we’ll come to know.
Flatline
A shrunken TARDIS, two-dimensional monsters, and Clara to the rescue — what isn’t there to love about the episode “Flatline,” which saw Clara taking up the role of the Doctor ahead of her departure in “Hell Bent,” which saw her practically immortal (in a state between living and dying, anyway) with her own companion and TARDIS.
Beyond Clara’s role as the Doctor, this episode is memorable for her outfit as she unravels the mystery. It’s by far the most casual we’ve seen Clara: wedges, skinny jeans, and a flannel shirt paired with an army green jacket — and a nice messenger bag to boot. It’s exactly the practical thing we’d expect from an adventurer, and just stylish enough that it feels like Clara’s style.
Hide
It’s the 1970s, there’s a haunted house, and a ghost story that isn’t really a ghost story, but a love story. The Doctor takes Clara to meet Alec Palmer and Emma Grayling — or, more specifically, Emma who is an empath that the Doctor hopes can help him get to the bottom of the mystery that is the Impossible Girl.
Clara wears one of her cutest outfits yet in “Hide” with a nicely patterned blue dress paired with a blazer in a deeper shade of blue (and when necessary, an army green jacket over it), and a brilliant red messenger bag. It’s a gorgeous outfit that never sacrifices femininity for practicality.
Under the Lake/Before the Flood
Clara’s style shifts once more in her final season: her outfits seem more casual in tone, adventure-ready — which makes sense, when Clara now has a very distant relationship with her normal life, even skipping her own classes in favor of saving the world.
In the two-part stories “Under The Lake” and “Before The Flood,” Clara wears what we like to call the Nancy Drew dress. She pairs a mustard yellow sweater underneath a purple plaid dress, which is reminiscent of a look Nancy is shown wearing in the 2007 movie. But this is Clara we’re talking about, so naturally, this style icon takes a classic look and modernizes it with a beautiful leather jacket, and owns the overall aesthetic — but are we really surprised?
