The Witcher's season three trailer is getting a mixed reception among fans so far, with one major sticking point being the costumes of its lead cast. A Yennefer scene from the footage in particular stuck out, as many argued that sorceress from Andrzej Sapkowski's iconic books would never wear these clothes.
The sorceress wears a long black skirt and loose-fitting purple blouse that some viewers considered to be far too trendy, giving her a look of a "seventh-grade math teacher" or a "1950s secretary" as two fans put it. Another problem is that a textbook version of the character has never worn any clothes that aren't black and white — something that Geralt even joked about right at the beginning of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The issue has been soon brought to Reddit by Goofiestchief, who wrote: "Look me in the eye and tell me you believe Yen would actually wear this."
As you can probably guess, nobody was brave enough to say that. Yennefer fans gathered around to debate that this costume goes against the character's core aspects such as a very distinctive sense of style. "Literally looks like she forgot to put on her costume and they just rolled with it," one of the most popular comments read, while people keep pointing at how Anya Chalotra in this piece of wardrobe looks like a model from an H&M advertisement. "The real Yen shops at Balenciaga," Jekliso wrote. Some even assumed that such treatment of the original source was one of the reasons behind Henry Cavill's departure from the show. "He took one look at that blouse and was like 'I'm outta here'."
As of now, we've seen very little of The Witcher's third season, yet fortunately for the fans, the sorceress was also shown in her traditional colors. It appears that many other characters would have their costumes changed a bit as well, including Geralt, whose updated armor was briefly shown in some shots.
The Netflix show is no stranger to controversial outfits. Some may still remember the notorious armor of Nilfgaardian troops that was massively criticized by viewers (Witcher 3 players especially) when season one aired, leading to major changes in the second season. However, according to fans, there's still room for improvement to give the show a proper feeling of Slavic medieval fantasy that source is widely known for. Until then, many are busy on the subreddit and Twitter poking fun.