The Fabric of Character

How Maggie Smith Defined Professor McGonagall

As a child, my life was profoundly shaped by reading. 

I devoured books with glee; maxing out my Mom’s wondrous library card every week as we bounded back and fourth with our literary treasures. 

One day, my Mom burst through the door and with tangible excitement, told me that she had found a new book. She brought home Harry Potter. 

And I, for the first time, traveled to another dimension. 

As a child and into my teenage years, as the last book was released (to my Mom: one million points to Hufflepuff for waiting in that midnight Barnes & Noble line), I found the character of Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Head of Gryffindor House, to be quite a daunting figure. I wanted to impress her and was terrified to dismay her, which is quite a fascinating sentiment considering she was not in any physical sense, real. 

When I thought of Professor McGonagall in my mind as a child, she was so large in stature it was hard to imagine the details. But when I saw her on screen, I was gobsmacked. There she was, personified.   

The costume for Professor Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, designed by Jany Temime, was sheer magic (allow me this one indulgence, as I mourn). 

So precise, so detailed and divine, the presence of character could be felt through the screen.

• The green tartan, a symbol of her Scottish roots evokes a sense of noble pride, of duty and honor. Standing with calm authority, for she has been entrusted with upholding the values and traditions of this noble school.

• Professor McGonagall was an Aminagus, possessing the shapeshifting ability to transform into her alternate form: a tabby cat. In her accessories, we see subtle nods to this power, executed with cat-like poise and control. 

• High, structured collars and rigid silhouettes emphasized Smith’s presence, coupled with the brilliant whoosh of thick, sweeping robes. Smith wielded her robes like an armor, expressing such high emotion through movement. They have a graceful yet unwavering commitment about them, perfect to character. 

• Her hat, ever-so meticulously placed at a precise angle. 

The brilliant synergy between the two, Smith and Temime, solidified McGonagall as a woman of profound strength - this wonderful, powerful, demanding, righteous, hysterical, amalgamation of all of the best parts of the Wizarding World. These were not just outfits for this character to wear; these are the details that brought Her to life.

It’s characters like her that remind us that being true to oneself is the highest form of self-respect. Proof that through stylization and fashion, we can exist in a dimension all our own. 

For Maggie Smith: While you may have left us in our mortal realm, we can at least be comforted by the solace that we may visit you in another. 

Until then,

Mischief Managed! 

Alexandra Diana, The A List

(I’ve always wanted to use that spell!)