Court attire is a recurring symbol within Two Twisted Crowns and supports the overarching theme of Breaking the Cycle of History. Specifically in the case of Ione’s dresses and Elm’s outfits at court, their attire visually symbolizes their mutual struggle to claim their personhood and independence. In Elm’s case, his perpetual choice of black clothing marks him in stark contrast to the Rowans’ gold coloring. Elm’s choice is deliberate, as his conversation with Filick shows: “Filick peered over his spectacles at Elm’s black tunic. ‘I believe the traditional Rowan color is gold’ ‘So it is,’ Elm said to his sketchbook” (165). Many confuse his choice of black attire with his former membership in the Destriers, but Elm’s use of black harkens back to his time as a highwayman with Ravyn, where his will and independence were at their freest. It is a color, in other words, that denotes his willingness to help his cousins and to be more than the princeling his father wants him to be, thus making the color black synonymous with his attempt at carving his own path for himself.

In Ione’s case, her court attire indicates a path away from Rowan subjugation to her eventual freedom of self.