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How To Dress Your Characters (Human Edition)


Urahra
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How to Dress Your Characters (Human Edition)
 
Hello, hello. I am Tanith, formerly known as Urara. You may know me from such hits as my Mary Sue/Gary Stu guide or my RP romance guide! Well, I’m back once more and I’m going to tell you guys how to dress your characters in a historically accurate way!
 
Now, I’m NOT here to tell you how your characters should dress. You can dress them however you want! However, if you’re aiming for a historically accurate look, I can help you out!
 
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Let’s start with the peasants.
 
limbourg+brothers+book+of+hours+june.jpg
 
The above image is from a late medieval Book of Hours. It’s basically an illustrated bible, typically owned by noblemen. This particular Book of Hours depicts scenes from everyday medieval life. It was owned by the Duke of Berry in 1413, so this is a very legit depiction! Take some time to note what the characters are wearing. Examine it closely.
 
As you can see, the poor here are dressed in very simple clothes that covered their bodies. Clothing was often made of wool and they often wore layers. Patterns, fabrics, and jewelry  were not common. Clothes that fit close to the body were also uncommon. As you can also see, they wore hats! Now I know that making nice looking hats in Minecraft is a bit tricky, but it’s doable and they often make a very stylish accessory and add to your historical accuracy rating. 
 
In short, if you are a commoner, you should probably dress like this if you’re hoping to achieve an accurate look:
apr.jpg
 
Remember to keep it simple. Simple colors, simple fabrics, and loose and flowy.  Dyes, patterned fabrics, and other materials are very expensive. A peasant farmer is not going to be able to afford silk and chiffon and satin. However, you know what farmers and peasants do have? Sheep. So wool would be a very common fabric seen on the peasantry. Leather goods like shoes and belts would probably also be all right.
 
Remember also that hygiene was a bit different and your peasant character is probably going to be a little dirty. If you’re a laborer or farmer especially, being a bit dirty will tell people a lot about your character without them having to say anything. I’m not saying go all out and have them covered in feces, but a little mud and dirt adds some character. 
 
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Now, when covering the nobles, I’m going to use the court of Henry XII as an example because I love the Tudors (the historical family, not the show) and because they had some exquisite fashion. The Tudors were, admittedly, on the tail end of the Middle Ages (arguably, some people might say they belonged to the period following the Middle Ages), but LOTC has never been one to stick to any perfect period in time. Some of you dress in clothes that look practically Victorian.
 
As shown above, we can learn a lot about fashion from looking at works of art painted during the time period. Below is a picture of Catherine of Aragorn, Henry IIXs first wife.
 
aragonsittow1.jpg
 
This image dates from 1502. As you can see, she parts her hair down the middle and keeps it mostly hidden under a headdress. Their head-dress consisted of a coif that fitted closely round the face, to which was attached the cornet - a long piece of black material that often hung down the back. Her jewelry is very exquisite and her dress has a square neckline. We can see a lot of these same qualities in this later portrait of Anne Boleyn.
 
annehorenbout.jpg
 
Tudor women liked to dress in gown that accentuated the hourglass silhouette, as seen here:
 
298px-Catherine_Parr_149x300.jpgtriangle.jpg
 
Their dresses, as you can see, are hugely elaborate and took a very long time to put on and take off. Very little skin is shown and most of the emphasis seems to be on showing off the expensive furs, jewels, and fabrics rather than showing off the woman’s body.
 
Men, funnily enough, leaned more toward a square shape in their attire. They wore short doublets over their hose and the shoulders of their coat were cut wide. It was fashionable for their sleeves to be slashed and their flat hats were often decorated with feathers. 
 
square.jpg
 
As we can see, Henry IIX  and his court were all very fashionable guys!
 
HenryVIII12.jpg
Hans_Holbein_d._J._057-232x300.jpg
 
Now, you may be asking yourself “Tanith, how can I show all of this on a Minecraft skin?” The trouble is that you can’t. But you can sort of replicate it. I tried to replicate the coat and doublet look with my recent skin on Thomas.
 
b233f417dd5c571ac8b5cfdcf39ee3d0.png?136
 
I also tried to give Lynesse a Tudor style dress when SKiddles asked me to make a skin for her.
 
a4d3b35f9cc219870177ecdc16f87397.png?136
 
Note the slashed sleeves!
 
RPing proper medieval clothing can enhance your RP and get you extra points with the historical accuracy crowd. Give it a go!
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Urara, Tanith, What about coats? Some areas are rather cold, how did women in these times have their Coats designed? I'm looking over a few skins I have, but I'm not sure if I have it right, perhaps you can help?

 

[Maybe you help me make skin, yes?]

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Urara, Tanith, What about coats? Some areas are rather cold, how did women in these times have their Coats designed? I'm looking over a few skins I have, but I'm not sure if I have it right, perhaps you can help?

 

[Maybe you help me make skin, yes?]

 

Well, I poked around on Google and I couldn't find anything. But you'll notice in one of my pictures that one of the women has a fur wrap. The dresses themselves would be very heavy and hot, I suspect, plus the headdresses as well. A fur wrap is probably all you would need. You'd need to consult someone more knowledgeable than me for really accurate info, though.

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How may I make clothing look baggy.

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Urara, Tanith, What about coats? Some areas are rather cold, how did women in these times have their Coats designed? I'm looking over a few skins I have, but I'm not sure if I have it right, perhaps you can help?

 

[Maybe you help me make skin, yes?]

My knowledge in Medieval wear, whilst it is not the best in the area if women's clothing, leads me too believe that some form of long fur coat, parted to to reveal the "hourglass figure" of the dresses, so it is held together around the waist. If it had a hood attached to it, it would be quite clothy, with only a fur trimming. However, having a form of scarf was quite common. Hope I have helped! 

 

P.S As stated above, my knowledge on the wear of medieval women, for travelling and such, is not as on par with the rest of my knowledge, so I may be inaccurate.

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Hmm. Interesting, good use of using the Tudor time, to relate to LOTC, very well done.

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Very nice Tanith, was getting kind of tired of the short-short shorts and tube tops honestly :} This guide should [hopefully] help change that.

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Great guide, hoping to see guides for the other five races too!

 

The trouble with that is that I'm only really familiar with humans and orcs! And orcs don't really have a fashion sense. They're mostly just half naked and wear whatever. 

 

As for elves, dwarves, and kha -- well, they're all fantasy races and can wear pretty much whatever they want. I could write a long post about how the elves in LOTR are very influenced by Asian and Celtic dress, but our elves are pretty different from LOTR and it wouldn't be applicable.

 

Thought I have found some lovely elven looking dresses from the 1910's-20's. Wouldn't it be awesome to have elves with 20's influenced fashion? That would kick ass forever.

 

Check it:

 

tumblr_mihz5oagbR1qcddvlo1_500.jpg

 

tumblr_mihzgs11f41qcddvlo1_500.jpg

 

tumblr_mihykh4gnS1qcddvlo1_500.jpg

 

I think those would look pretty damn good on an elf lady.

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