Or, what about clothes?\u00a0\u00a0 Since I’ve been asked some detailed questions about the clothes in Paksworld.\u00a0\u00a0 This post can’t possibly answer them all, but will suggest some of the sources I used in considering what clothes the characters wear.<\/p>\n
Intentionally, this world has a variety of cultures, with access to a variety of materials, and a variety of fashions for each, suggestive of each person’s social standing, occupation, and personal preference.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All the clothing styles are historical in some sense–I got ideas from history books,\u00a0 art of the various periods,\u00a0 and books on costuming.<\/p>\n
Wool, goat hair (mohair) , fur (both as fur-on-leather and fur felt), leather, linen, silk, and other plant fibers (equivalents of cotton, hemp, etc.)\u00a0 are used in clothing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to these “natural” fabric elements,\u00a0 the nonhumans create some materials by their innate abilities (though they often seem to wear ordinary ones), and the magelords, in their heyday, used magery for some processes and fabrication.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dyes include both vegetable and mineral dyes;\u00a0\u00a0 magic can produce colors not available from these natural means, but magical colors produced by human wizards are not often stable.\u00a0\u00a0 (You can pay a wizard to color your dull scarf bright pink, but you’d expect it to be drab again by the next day.)\u00a0\u00a0 “Old magic” produced stable colors.<\/p>\n
Wool is used more in cold climates than warmer ones, but is nonetheless used to some extent everywhere.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Silk is expensive and used only for high-end garments.\u00a0 Plant-fiber materials are used both mixed with wool (linsey-woolsy)\u00a0 and alone…when used alone, for warm-weather wear.\u00a0\u00a0 Woven cloth may be undyed,\u00a0 dyed in a solid color (either in the yarn or in the furl), or woven in patterns using different colored yarn.\u00a0\u00a0 Different materials take dyes differently.\u00a0\u00a0 Stripes and checks and plaids are the most common and least expensive of the patterns;\u00a0 more intricate patterns such as brocades are very expensive and thus used only in high-end garments.\u00a0 Loom width varies with location and culture.<\/p>\n
For example:\u00a0 the brown and maroon solid color woolen material used by the Duke’s Company (later, Fox Company) is relatively easy to weave (plain weave, solid color) and though of good quality, less expensive than some other colors of plain.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s produced in Tsaia from Tsaian wool and dyestuffs.\u00a0\u00a0 The design of the soldiers’ tunics is simple (3\/4 length sleeves, length just above the knee)\u00a0 and these garments are produced by cottage labor, to be maintained by the wearer.\u00a0\u00a0 The brocade for Dorrin Verrakai’s court robe is heavy silk–an expensive thread to start with–and woven to the previous duke’s design, in Aarenis, using the most costly dyes: that robe would clothe a cohort in plain wool.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The design is more elaborate, and was sewn by an experienced tailor in a shop used to making high-end garments.<\/p>\n
Fabrication includes spinning, weaving, felting, and such needle arts as knitting, crochet, lacemaking, tatting, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 in addition to sewing.\u00a0 All garments are handmade, from the base material on up, and are therefore expensive in terms of both labor and (when purchased rather than made for oneself or one’s family) in money. \u00a0\u00a0 All cities support tailors (high end clothing) and (middle level clothing.) \u00a0\u00a0 Clothing is\u00a0 expected to last years.\u00a0 Garments are frequently passed down from one generation to another until the material is worn completely out;\u00a0 cities also support used clothes dealers.\u00a0 Royal households have vast wardrobes of clothes; “state” outfits may be worn only once or twice a year, and thus last a longer time.<\/p>\n
If you are a farmer in Fintha, male or female, working in the field, you would probably wear a pull-over shirt (possibly a laced shirt) reaching to mid-thigh.\u00a0 Depending on the weather, season, and work you were doing, you would wear short or long trousers under it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The wealthier would try to wear blue every day; the poorer would save their blue shirt for grange drill.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In towns, women might wear a skirt instead of long trousers, but Finthan Girdish women are still proud of the equality gained and all wear trousers sometimes.<\/p>\n
If you are a merchant in town, you would wear a merchant’s gown (two forms–closed and open) over whatever undergarments were comfortable.\u00a0\u00a0 Merchants who belong to a guild will have some specifications from the guild of appropriate clothing, and marks of rank on it as well. \u00a0 Craftspersons at work wear clothing appropriate to the job; the messier the job, the simpler (and often scantier) the clothing. \u00a0 Especially in summer (everywhere) and in hot climes (year-round)\u00a0 craftspersons working at hot messy jobs may wear only a single outer garment.\u00a0 In Aarenis, some of these are “wrap” garments, such as a loincloth or wrapped “skirt.” \u00a0\u00a0 Crafters in guilds wear clothing specified by the guild to indicate the craft: so cheesemakers all wear a cheesemaker’s apron and have a distinctive cap, for instance.<\/p>\n
Color has significance everywhere–both to indicate family (the family colors of the Tsaian nobility,\u00a0 for instance) and to indicate cultural & religious alliance (Girdish always have some blue garment; Falkians always have something red;\u00a0 Lyonyans wear a lot of green.\u00a0\u00a0 Gnomes in good standing wear gray; dwarves never wear gray.\u00a0\u00a0 And thieves have black cloaks. ) \u00a0 So if you peek into a Tsaian duke’s closet and find a lot of red and white with silver trim, you know you’re in Mahieran’s closet.\u00a0 If you find light\u00a0 blue and rose, you’re in Serrostin’s closet.\u00a0\u00a0 Red and green: Marrakai.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Light blue and gray: Verrakai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Or, what about clothes?\u00a0\u00a0 Since I’ve been asked some detailed questions about the clothes in Paksworld.\u00a0\u00a0 This post can’t possibly answer them all, but will suggest some of the sources I used in considering what clothes the characters wear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,81],"tags":[108],"class_list":["post-1074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-background","category-kings-of-the-north","tag-background"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1075,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074\/revisions\/1075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}