Daniel Molloy is in his Manther, Nepo-Fledgling era—and we love that for him. We couldn’t help but notice that, in said era, Daniel’s usual choice of black button-ups with t-shirts underneath faded away into a silken, scarlet, floral number. (With, may I say, no undershirt underneath.) In a conversation with Nerdist, Assad Zaman and Eric Bogosian discussed what Daniel and Armand might have gotten up to in the time since Armand told Daniel he wanted to truly be his maker, and the finale of The Vampire Lestat. Among other things, we chatted about day-walking practice and blood-sharing, but somewhere in the mix, Assad Zaman confirmed that Armand did indeed buy Daniel his red, floral, manther-era shirt. And we love it.
We all laugh, and Zaman says, “Yeah, the red one. Definitely. It’s great.” in response to the idea that Armand is now dressing his fledgling/companion and bought Daniel this new shirt. And, though we don’t spend too much time on the point, we love the confirmation of it. Armand dressing Daniel in The Vampire Lestat is actually a time-honored tradition for the duo, and we love to see it become in the canon of the series as well.
In Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned book, she wrote that Armand bestowed upon Daniel, “limousines and private planes… liquor closets stocked with rare vintages and dressing rooms full of exquisitely cut clothing.” That Armand was Daniel’s “immortal lover who gave him every earthly possession he could want.”
Additionally, in the Devil’s Minion chapter, we read, “At sunset, when Daniel awoke, his clothes had already been laid out for him. Heaven help him if he were to change a single item, from the linen handkerchief to the black silk socks.”
And we also learn that “Clothes of all kinds fascinated Armand, not for their beauty but for what he thought they meant. He wore jeans and sweatshirts like Daniel; he wore cable-knit sweaters and workmen’s brogans, leather windbreakers, and mirrored sunglasses pushed up on his head. He wore tailored suits, and dinner jackets, and white tie and tails when the fancy suited him; his hair was cut short one night so he looked like any young man down from Cambridge, and left curly and long, an angel’s mane, the next.”
And, interestingly enough, Nerdist learned from The Vampire Lestat‘s costume cutter Wing Lee, that the flowers on Daniel’s shirt are red gerbera flowers. And red gerbera flowers actually have a very fascinating meaning. As we noted in our piece about Daniel’s shirt from Armand, Bloom & Wild shares, “Red gerbera flowers have a meaning of unconscious love or to be fully immersed and surrounded by love. They’re perfect to send as anniversary flowers or romantic gesture flowers to express your everlasting love for someone.”
Armand, a vampire enchanted by the perceived meaning of clothes, who is dressing his love, Daniel, would certainly know that this chosen shirt implies that Daniel is immersed in his love. And we are delighted by this wildly romantic and intimate exchange between the pair of them. We toast to more companion dressing in season four.
The Vampire Lestat is now streaming on AMC and AMC+ in full. You can snag The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice to read, if you’d like to know a little bit more about what’s going on.
Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerdist. She’s STILL ready for Armand and Daniel to become canon in The Vampire Lestat so one of her ships can finally sail.
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