Roll for Slay

An analysis of Siobhan Thompson's outfits in Dimension 20

I am such a fan of Siobhan Thompson not only because she is an incredible comedian, improviser and Dungeons and Dragons player but because she is a fashion icon and in my opinion is one of the best dressed players on Dimension 20. She has a very fun personal style which can be seen in her “silly little outfit” tiktok series, but she is also always immaculately appareled in every episode of Dimension 20. 

Fashion and DnD are two things that you wouldn’t think overlap but surprisingly do. Take for example me running into my mutual and fellow NYC fashion girlie, Kelley Heyer at the Not Another DnD Podcast live show at Carnegie Hall. She was dressed like she was watching the Opera, and I was wearing a Beverly Toegold V cosplay. More recent seasons of Dimension 20 have put a lot more effort into the wardrobe of the cast. Brennan went from shirtgate to Dming the side quest Dungeons and Drag Queens fully in drag. Although I love the new fashions coming to D20, we need to give our flowers to our original concept dresser —Siobhan who has been turning looks since season 1. 

I love Siobhan’s D20 looks because she is always able to capture the vibe of the season and the essence of her character through her wardrobe. In a behind the scenes interview with Denise Valentine (the D20 makeup head) she talks about how Siobhan likes to be more playful with her on screen looks and infuse her character into them saying : “if Siobhan feels like a little girl we put her in pigtails and spiral curls”. In this post I will be going through some of my favorite looks of hers and talking about how they contribute to the atmosphere of the season and her character. (I will only talking about Fantasy High S1, Starstruck, Neverafter and Mentopolis because I think those are the seasons that have the most storytelling with Siobhan’s wardrobe and also I don’t want this post to go on forever.)

Fantasy High Freshman Year

The world of Fantasy High mixes traditional Dungeons and Dragons fantasy with 80’s coming of age movies a la John Hughes. Siobhan plays the posh, anxiety ridden, wizard Adaine Abernant, who failed out of her prep school Hudol and is instead attending the more rowdy Aguefort Adventuring Academy. Being the inaugural season of D20 the trend of dressing to fit the vibe of your character hadn’t really caught on yet so I think Siobhan does a good job of getting the engine running with her looks this season.

This is the shirt she wears in the very first episode of Fantasy High, to me this is the quintessential Adaine shirt. I’ve been obsessed with this shirt for years and have tried in vain to find it for resale but alas :( . This shirt is so Adaine to me because of the blue color scheme and the graphic. The graphic is cartoony but very whimsical which I think is very much the tone of Fantasy High. The floating crystal reminds me of Adaine’s arcane focus that she uses for spellcasting. The shirt and the geometric crystal also remind me of the shirt which Adaine purchases later in the season which is blue with an arcane polygon rune symbol on it. The style of the t-shirt with the slightly puffed sleeves and the double collar reads as very 80s to me. Which is perfect for the John Hughes meets DnD campaign that is fantasy high.

In the Battle of the Corn Cuties we get this very preppy look from Siobhan - a nod to the prep school uniform that her character Adaine is made to wear by her parents. I enjoy the oversized tie a lot because it’s a little bit silly and cartoonish much like how Fantasy high is one of the more lighthearted and cartoonish seasons of D20.

Here we have another preppy look with this neck tie blouse. I love the added quirkiness with the breast pocket with video game symbols especially since she wears this in the episode where the group goes to the AV club and meets Biz Glitterdew. 

This is the outfit she wears in the finale Prompocalypse episodes. This puffed sleeveless number is an obvious reference to 80s prom dresses leaning into the 1980s John Hughes movie sixteen candles type beat. I really love to imagine the character Adaine wearing this dress in the final battle (even though I don’t think it was possible that the bad kids could have changed before heading to this battle) because Adaine has been restricted to wearing her old Hudol school uniform by her parents now that they are no longer an imposing force on heir life she is free to wear a very fun over the top taffeta 80s prom dress.

A Starstruck Odyssey

This season of D20 is science fiction set in the world of Starstruck which is based on the comic book series Starstruck by Elaine Lee, mother of D20 DM Brennen Lee Mulligan. The aesthetics of the universe are very retro-futuristic, it definitely calls back to early pulpy science fiction from the 1950s. In this season Siobhan plays an aquatic humanoid alien called Riva.

In this season Siobhan wears a lot of fun button-ups in blues or aquatic prints. This calls back to the watery world of Aguatunisia that Riva hails from. The cut of the shirts are more loose and boxy which I read as a more androgynous style. This could be a reference to the fact that there is no concept of gender on Aguatunisia and Riva is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. Siobhan also wears the shirts all the way buttoned up which to me shows Riva’s logical way of thinking. Since they come from a telepathic species and the concept of lies and secrets do not exist Riva takes everyone’s words at face value, this leads to them falling for the Pleasure Putty pyramid scheme.  To me a button up buttoned all the way up shows a sense of earnestness and a little bit dorkish, something that fits with Riva’s character very well.

A couple other looks I love are these two western-wear outfits she wears. As a girl from the west and a bolo tie wearer you know I’m going to eat these outfits up. These outfits coincide with the episodes that take place in Baustin on the planet of New Texas, which is a desert planet with blue sand dunes and pink cactuses. How much more quirky futuristic spaghetti western can you get ??

Some more looks that I think contribute to the overall Retro-futuristic vibe of the season are this bomber jacket look which reminds me of vintage pilot’s bomber jackets, and seeing as the cast is flying around in a spaceship (even if the spaceship is shaped like a big hot dog looking thing) I think it’s very fitting. Another look is this Hawaiian shirt with this vintage print. In the 1950s the Hawiian shirt became a symbol of vacation and relaxation by the beach. Siobhan wear this shirt when the crew goes to Uncle B.O.B’s Fantanimalland which is a weird fucked up disney-landesque zoo. 

Neverafter

 Neverafter is a horror themed season set in a world of traditional fairy tales and fables. The tone for this season is much darker and macabre than previous seasons. In this season Siobhan plays a Sleeping Beauty character called Princess Rosamund du Prix. This season deals a lot with the different versions of fairy tales and the dichotomy between the lighter disney-esque versions and the darker more traditional versions of the stories, Siobhan exemplifies this very well through her outfits

Siobhan wears this very romantic floral top on the first episode of the season. This more light girly style is a good representation of where her character starts out at in the beginning of the season. The leafy floral print is also a reference to the fact that her character has been sleeping in a tower encased in briars, and when we are first introduced to her character she wakes up to the briars surrounding her body and choking her. Despite the grim conditions of the world she is in, Rosamund is very naive and remains optimistic about finding her true love and getting a happily ever after. Siobhan continues to wear these more disney princess-like outfits throughout the season the same way her character clings to her optimism and dreams of finding her prince charming. These outfits consist of a lot of pastels, florals, and puff sleeves. They kind of remind me of the outfits people wear to go disney-bounding.

As the season continues the tone of the season gets more grim, and Siobhan wears a lot of outfits to reflect that. Her color scheme is darker, blacks, dark blues and browns. I love the brown looks because they give me an evil spooky forest vibe and seeing that her character is a ranger class and is adept at navigating the forest i think it’s fitting. A recurring motif in her outfits are plaid and collared blouses. I think this reads as very folksy and victorian. Kind of calling back to the more traditional versions of these fairy tales collected by the Grimm Brothers.

Mentopolis

Mentopolis is the underground sleeper hit season in my opinion. It takes place inside the mind of Dr. Elias hodge with all the characters being different emotions and urges inside his psyche. It’s like if Inside Out was a 1930s noir film. The atmosphere of the season is very dark and moody. Siobhan plays the old money femme fatale Imelda Pulse who is a representation of impulse (haha puns).

Siobhan looks criminally good this season — so good in-fact that it turned a switch in my brain and I NEED to be her controversially younger girlfriend. (Siobhan if you read this hmu) .

She heavily leans into the femme fatale aspect of her character wearing striking suits, red lipstick, and vintage pin curled hair. She’s serving film noir silver screen siren and reminds me a lot of Marlene Dietrich. I think her looks are very fun as well as sultry which pairs well with the impulsive character she plays who always is looking for the next new big thing she can do. As a fan of pattern mixing I love the way she incorporates patterns in an interesting way, such as wearing a plaid shirt with a bright gold suit jacket, it’s something you never would think would work but it very much does.