One big benefit of knowing about the clothing in your world is that you can use it for characterization. If you have a world where two cultural groups are at odds with one another, and member of one group chooses to dress like the other group, that's an interesting detail. You wouldn't be able to describe it (or maybe even think to include that detail) unless you'd considered clothing in the first place. So, in the interest of being able to describe our worlds with the richest detail we can, let's consider clothing.
Daltoners:
Daltoners tend to wear the clothing of their forebears back on the island of Dalton. This means dark fabrics of medium-to-heavy thickness, often with ornamental elements. Despite the decorative nature of Daltoner clothing, it is considered extremely disrespectful to remove any item of clothing in public (with the exception of tipping one's hat). Daltoner clothing is typically worn for extended periods of time, so the cleanliness of one's clothes can indicate their wealth.
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| Daltoners of a middle class family. |
Women - Among Daltoners, women tend to dress in highly ornamental fashion, with outfits that can get in the way of practical tasks such as cleaning or cooking. Long skirts and especially long dresses are the fashion, and corsets are in style for those who can afford them. The complexity of design elements such as borders and shapes or patterns is a reflection of status; the more complicated the design, the more status. Thus, richer Daltoner women wear bolder colors, more complex patterns, and additional ornamental clothing such as large hats, while poorer Daltoner women dress in solid muted colors with simpler bonnets. Popular colors in women's clothing include crimson, navy blue, dark grey, and black. Popular patterns include the catchstitch, the blanket stitch, and backstitch (all practical stitches used to secure the heavier fabrics that Daltoners use).
Men - Daltoner men dress in slightly more practical garb, though only by a modest amount--they still find themselves slightly hampered in everyday tasks by their clothing from time to time. Tight breeches and a combination of layers of shirts, vests, and coats are popular; it is generally held that the more layers a man wears on his torso, the higher class he is. Male clothes are almost exclusively made in solid colors without patterns; the ornateness of this clothing is created with the number and style of buttons, details like collars and cravats, and stitched family emblems on the chest (though these are created with thread almost matching the fabric in order to minimize the design in most cases). Popular colors in men's clothing includes crimson, dark green, black, and burnt orange.
Accessories - For Daltoners, accessories are an important way to distinguish one's personal style. This is a delicate thing, as individualism in Daltoner society is complicated; the effect on personal style is that the accessories must complement but not distract from the more shared elements of style. For women and men, hats are considered almost mandatory--the hat, like other details discussed above, is an indicator of class. Taller hats signify more wealth, so the poorest Daltoners tend to wear simple caps and even simply head scarves. Jewelry is the other notable expression of personal style. Gold is the most prized precious metal for Daltoners, so practically all Daltoner jewelry is made of gold. Designs are simple--plain chains and studs for most, and even the wealthy don't elevate their designs beyond simple shapes; the most complex design really allowed by Daltoners is a silhouette of their deity, Pelor.
Faninites:
Faninites, like Daltoners, dress in something of the typical fashion of their ancestors on the island of Fanin. However, the climate of Fanin is much colder than the climate of Evanoch, so the typically padded or fur-covered clothing of the small northern island clothing of Fanin has become the more light and airy Evanine variant. Faninite clothing is extremely practical and bears little to no ornamental additions. Faninites tend to wear earthy colors in reverence of nature with an especial taste for warmer or green colors. Faninites typically change clothes daily, and not doing so is usually treated as an indication that someone is struggling in life. Faninites almost universally make their own clothing.
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| Faninites in various dress. |
Women - Because Faninite fashion is so practical, their women's fashion tends to center on simple dresses which can be made by almost anyone--long, flowing pieces which do not cling to the wearer's figure. Skirts are generally made only by skilled seamstresses, and then only for special occasions; dresses are considered more practical and respectful of tradition. More talented seamstresses also tend to add shawls of similar color during colder months. Because Faninites work as communities to ensure that everyone is taken care of, there is little disparity in wealth in Faninite communities, and clothing does not reflect status (only sewing skill). It is considered narcissistic to add decorations to one's clothing, and no patterns or special designs are used by Faninite seamstresses. Faninites believe that the colors chosen for one's clothing are a public statement of disposition; bolder colors reflect more daring personalities, while more muted tones reflect a more reflective and reserved personality. Popular colors in women's clothing include light and dark green, medium and dark brown, medium and dark red, and a variety of darker yellows and oranges. Because clothes are made by the person wearing them, there are no real trends or patterns in garment-making across all Faninites, but it is typical for a more skilled seamstress to teach similar sewing methods to most people in a community.
Men - Faninite men tend to dress about as simply as the women. Gender roles in Faninite society dictate that anyone can take on any role in society, so there is no real division in clothing based on specialized labor. Faninite men dress in simple breeches, usually with cloth wrappings around the lower legs, a habit long-passed down whose origin has been forgotten. They wear tunics of simple cut which usually hang down to the mid-to-upper thigh. This clothing, also hand-stitched by the man wearing it, tends to be loose-fitting and without adornment, although skilled tailors might create a more elaborate torso covered with a belted coat--this, however, is usually the extent of additional design. In general, the quality of Faninite men's clothes is how well the garment fits--some believe the cloth wrappings on the lower legs might have been a way to make the britches seem more fitted. Popular colors in men's clothing includes dark and light green, all shades of brown, medium red, and dark blue-grey.
Accessories - Most Faninites never become attached to the idea of developing a personal style; the focus on the practicality of clothes prevents people from attaching much personal meaning to it (apart from the pride of knowing one has taken care of oneself). As a result, only a small portion of Faninites wear non-functional hats or any manner of jewelry. However, these Faninites do exist, and they tend to keep these additions to their wardrobe simple. Most existing jewelry is actually made of wood, stone, and leather; only the most ostentatious Faninites actually obtain metallic jewelry. The main accessory deployed by the Faninites is the belt--it is not used to hold up clothes, but rather to make them appear more fitted. Belt-making is a skill that is highly prized in Faninite culture, and a large proportion of the community is proficient in the art. Many of Evanoch's population speculate that one can easily tell the difference between the humans of the land; Daltoners' and Faninites' styles of dress are different enough that any human dressing like their culture dictates can be identified genetically.
Dwarves:
The dwarves of Evanoch have drastically different clothing between women and men. Dwarven women are relegated to the home and have clothing that is largely androgynous; dwarven men tend to wear at least partial suits of armor in day-to-day life. Dwarven clothing tends to be made of medium-weight fabrics which are known for their durability. The clothing of the dwarves is functional but also prone to ornamental additions. Dwarves dress in darker colors with simple patterns. They tend to change clothes every few days, viewing it as impractical to clean clothes regularly. Though there is social prestige associated with crafting one's own armor, creating one's own clothing carries no consequence, and tailors and armorers alike do great business among dwarves.
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| Typical dwarven outfits. |
Women - Dwarven women tend to dress somewhat androgynously, wearing long, flowing tunics and tabards representing their clans; these tunics end in something similar to a skirt, but not quite in the same style. Women tend to wear lightly armored boots. Class and clan are important factors in dwarven society, and representing those elements of one's identity are similarly important. As a result, women often wear the same combinations of colors (those in their clan insignia most often) across most outfits, which divides dwarves along clan lines. Adding embellishments to one's clothing is accepted, but the dwarven value of deference to high status means that one cannot dress less ornately than those below them, nor more ornately than those above them. Popular colors in women's clothing include dark blue, bright red, medium green, and a range of natural colors like various browns. This is again influenced by clan identity--this can also include distinctive colors like bright yellows, oranges, and white.
Men - Dwarven men wear armor in everyday life, which means that the fashionability of clothing carries over to armor designs. It is extremely common for dwarven men to own and primarily wear suits of armor with the clan insignia of their family on it. Further, because dwarves are expected to change clothing every few days, it is also expected that dwarves own multiple suits of armor. Dwarven men generally wear a cuirass and helm (in addition to carrying shields and weaponry) in everyday life; during times of actual conflict, they also don greaves and heavy boots, but in day-to-day life, they forego the lower armor in favor or lighter boots and bare legs for greater mobility. The most distinct detail in a male dwarf's clothing is the shape of his helmet. Helm styles are usually influenced by clan, but dwarves who are rising through social ranks are known to commission increasingly ornate and creative shapes for their helms. This leads to an observable pattern among dwarven men: the more simple and common their helmet, the lower class they are, while a truly unique helmet signals someone of great social prestige. Popular colors in men's clothing includes dark brown, dark grey, and burgundy; armors tend to focus on the more reddish-brown metals, especially copper, but also including darker brasses and bronzes. (Copper is the metal most prized by dwarves culturally.)
Accessories - Dwarves express less a personal style and more a clan allegiance with their clothing, but this is not necessarily true of wealthy dwarves. Dwarves who attain personal acclaim are known to develop more idiosyncratic styles of dress, and dwarves tend to assume something important is afoot when more than a few distinctly-dressed dwarves are about. Thus, there is more individual style among the rich than with the rest of society. This is not to say that accessories are uncommon--most dwarves own several pieces of jewelry and other decorative pieces. With their skill in smithing, dwarves create some of the most prized jewelry in any culture, and female and male dwarves alike usually wear some kind of necklace or bracelet. One piece of jewelry that is basically distinct to the dwarves is the "interlocking amulet," a specially-crafted amulet bearing the clan insignia of the dwarf who commissions it. This amulet hangs to the top of the cuirass of the dwarf wearing it, and it physically connects and anchors to the cuirass to display the insignia more prominently. In recent years, wealthier dwarven women have begun commissioning carefully-fitted cuirasses with matching interlocking amulets. This trend has concerned some more traditional dwarves, but has been wildly popular and has led to a rise in female dwarves wearing armor in everyday life.
Orcs:
Orcs dress almost identically regardless of gender. Both wear various forms of robes in lightweight but durable fabrics. The clothing of the orcs is functional in production, but it does display certain nuances that other groups often don't recognize because of the similar composition. Orcs tend to dress in lighter colors, largely because lighter-colored fabrics reflect more light and heat--the orcish island of Grob is known for high temperatures and lots of harsh sunlight. The only patterns found in orcish clothing are the way that pieces of fabric are worn on the body. Orcs change clothes daily, though this sometimes means wearing the same pieces of cloth in a different layout. Certain clothing designs are reserved for orcs of particular positions in society--orcish wise women, for instance, wear their robes with a decorative knot at the waist, and this style is more or less only socially accepted for legitimate wise women.
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| A collection of orcish clothing styles, though orcish clothes range more in color. |
Women - Orcish women tend to differentiate themselves from orcish men via their style of clothing. Female orcs usually wear more layers of clothing than men do--a typical orcish woman's wardrobe consists of several similar piece of fabric with different textures and stitching patterns. For instance, an orcish woman might wear a light cloth around her torso and upper legs, covered by another light cloth wrapped around the waist, with yet another light cloth draped around the shoulders. Each of these cloths have different visual textures, which creates an overall effect of varying appearance despite the similarity of the cloths themselves. Orcish women sometimes wear simple sandals, but most orcs go barefoot. It is considered improper for an orcish woman's robes to reach the ground, and the visibility of her feet are used as a measure of this. As mentioned, there are certain groups which have designated styles, but unless an orc is a religious or military figure, style is largely open to the individual's taste. Female orcs tend to distinguish their personal style with the ornateness of the tying of one's clothing. When embellishments are added to an outfit, it is either through a similar wrapping of cloth around the head or hair, and natural jewelry (using wooden beads and pieces of crude glass) sometimes adorns the head or neck; elaborate collars are common among respected orcs. Popular colors in women's clothing include pale brown, pale grey, light green, and white. Notably, wise women are allowed (and often expected) to wear darker colors, most especially black. As a result, orcish women dressed in black tend to have automatic respect afforded to them.
Men - Orcish men generally dress in a way that is similar enough to orcish women's style of robes that most outsiders defer to the orc's physical body to determine gender. Male orcs tend to have slightly more differentiated fashion along the lines of societal roles. While both orcish men and orcish women are allowed to pursue lives in the military, only orcish men use their dress to establish that identity publicly. The trend basically goes such that the less an orcish man wears, the more high and impressive his rank in the army. This has its limits, though--even the most elevated soldier is expected to cover their waist and upper legs in some manner of cloth. Most male orcs, though, adopt the more androgynous approach, and mainly distinguish themselves from female orcs with a simple method of connecting their more spare robes. The detail that most distinguishes individual orcs is actually not clothing at all, but hairstyle: various methods of cutting, braiding, and shaving hair had led to very distinct orcish hairstyles among orcish men (orcish women tend to wear similarly neck-length hair adorned by jewelry rather than styling the hair itself). Popular colors in men's clothing includes pale brown, pale grey, and light green, and white. While both men and women can attain high military ranks, male orcs who aspire to martial greatness sometimes adopt bright reds, blues, and yellows to set themselves apart on the battlefield.
Accessories - Orcish personal style is something that is highly celebrated. While orcish culturally view themselves as parts of a greater whole, they also prize expressions of what makes orcish communities different. As noted above, styles of tying robes is a major point of individuality, but the greatest distinction comes in how an orc's style changes from day to day. Some orcs wear the same types of outfit by habit, while others experiment with more diverse styling. Orcish fashion actually prizes the ability to recycle a garment in many ways over having a diverse array of actual clothing. Jewelry is a major addition to his: orcish women and men use jewelry in quite distinct ways. While orcish women adorn their heads and hair, orcish men tend to wear bracelets and rings more often. And notably, jewelry is something that is never bought or sold in orcish society: it must be a handmade gift from one orc to another. This means that jewelry is prized less for appearance and more for sentimental value. The most common element of orcish jewelry is bone--the bone of a relative or enemy is perhaps the most sought-after component in orcish jewelry.
Elves:
Elven women and men dress very similarly--mostly in robes which are distinguished by ornamental garment. Their robes are lightweight and delicate, often utilizing silks and satins. The clothing of the elves is not truly meant for hardy use, and unless an elf is employed in hard labor, these robes are the expected wardrobe of any other elf. Elves dress in a wide variety of colors and patterns which are chosen in a handful of different ways. The patterns of elven clothing are among the most ornate of any group. Elves change clothes several times a day, usually depending on either activity or at noon and sundown. Clothing among elves is considered a highly personal and meaningful expression of self, and very few generalizations about their clothing styles are possible.
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| Elven styles: conservative styles on the left, more decorative styles on the right. |
Elven women dress in a style almost indistinguishable from elven men--there has never been a meaningful divide between male and female styles in elven clothing. All elves wear lightweight robes; some add a flowing shirt or a skirt to their robes, while others layer a few robes. Accessories are common in further characterizing an elf's style [more below]. The colors and patterns an elf chooses are even more important in developing this style. Darker colors are used to communicate contemplativeness, seriousness, and interiority (traits of the night), while lighter colors indicate energy, curiosity, and outgoingness (traits of the day). There are further distinctions about individual colors, and certain palettes carry their own associations: natural hues mean an elf in touch with nature, blues and purples indicating a hopeful or romantic elf, and warm colors showing the pursuit of a major goal. Elven men and women often wear simple sandals, but a great many choose to go barefoot, and it is an unspoken rule in elven society to never wear shoes inside.
Women - When it comes to elven women in particular, or at least elves who choose to present as female (there is a substantial amount of presenting as another gender in elven communities), there are a few indicators of presented gender. While all elves use at least some makeup on their faces, some female elves will elevate the composition of their makeup beyond accentuating and towards exaggerating their features. Another characterizing feature is the carrying of delicate fans, mirrors, and other props to add more personal style to their appearance. A final appearance marker labeled female among elves is the use of complementary colors; using these opposite hues is generally considered too bold a choice by elves with their subdued taste, but the boldness translates into a greater visual effect. Popular colors in among elven women include bright orange, pale pink, teal, and black and white paired.
Men - Elven men (and elves who present as men) follow the same general conventions described above, but with a few distinctions that men often take to distinguish their fashion. Elven men tend to fit their clothes more tightly to the body, requiring greater work from tailors and seamstresses. These fitted robes culturally signify masculinity, but their appearance to other cultures is similar to female styles in other groups; therefore, elves striving to look as masculine as possible are usually perceived to be female by non-elves. Additions to the shoulder area of male garments has become popular in the last few centuries, and these cloth pieces are shaped after traditional elven pauldrons. And elven men also distinguish their clothing by having relatively simpler patterns. Where female-presenting elves might sport elaborate plant patterns or spiraling designs, male-presenting elves tend toward patterns like stripes and plaid. Popular colors among male elves includes dark blue, black, red, and gold.
Accessories - Elves celebrate personal styles, and it is considered odd to not carefully cultivate a rich collection of garments and accessories. A great factor in this is the multiple changes of clothes a day that elves perform--there are more plentiful opportunities to display one's style when one wears three to ten outfits in a day. As mentioned above, accessories are a tool in distinguishing personal style, but also gender presentation--women tend to opt for delicate items such as fans, mirrors, books, or even small animals, the goal being to illustrate that they are capable of caring for a vulnerable thing, while men opt for items associated with specific tasks in order to project their interest and skill in something, such as by carrying an apothecary's pouch, an astronomer's spyglass, a gardener's trowel, or a tanner's knife. To outsiders, this distinction seems a reflection of gender roles, but in fact, they are more aesthetic choices than straightforward communication. Jewelry among all elves is common, particularly that which is displayed in the hair or used to pin clothing. Elven jewelry is widely diverse, but the dominant style for nearly a millennium features plant and animal designs made out of surreal colors, such as a rose with each petal a different vibrant color. The elven industry for jewelry rivals the dwarves', and their competing styles have inspired most of Evanoch's modern jewelry world.
Half-elves:
Half-elven fashion is a creation that combines various parts of their Faninite and elven ancestors' styles. The simple design of tunics and breeches is preserved from the Faninites, and a more ornamental flair of the elves is added to create an entirely new style unique to the half-elves. Or at least, originally pioneered by the half-elves--this style of clothing has become the dominant fashion in Evanoch since its development over a thousand years ago. Travelers across Evanoch and many who were raised in multicultural settlements have also adopted the half-elven style, and it is now often described as a distinctly Evanine fashion. Like their Faninite forebears, half-elves do dress in a somewhat gendered way, but skirts are common in male fashion, so this often defining feature is obscured. Half-elven clothing features a wide array of fabric types (most garments are made of the medium weight, durable cloth of the Faninites along with accessories made of the silky and satiny fabrics of the elves) and colors (an emphasis on natural tones from the Faninites and a wide array of accent colors from the elves). Half-elves experiment with a variety of patterns, adopting many of the elves' more common ones. It is worth noting that half-elves do not retain the Faninite custom of making one's own clothing, but many half-elves do repair and alter their own clothes at least. Half-elves change their clothing daily or more often, usually depending on how they were raised.
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| A variety of half-elven styles. |
Women - Half-elven clothes for women tend to revolve around ornate dresses. Typically, these dresses have conservative neck lines, but this fashion is in the midst of changing. Also typically, these dresses are very long, sometimes to the point that they need to be lifted and carried--this is especially true of wealthier wearers of half-elven fashion. Another vital component of this style is a headpiece of some sort. In most half-elven styles, a woman's hair is entirely hidden or woven into an ornate hat or tiara. As is apparent from these details, half-elven women's fashion is geared toward projecting an image of prosperity. A result of the abundance of this fashion across Evanoch is that class has become less visible from clothing since the population has more widely adopted this style, which is true for both women and men. While colors are used in expression in half-elven fashion like in the elves', women's fashion is the domain for brighter colors not found in nature. Reds and pinks are extremely popular in women's fashion, as is purple, yellow, and light blue. When a woman wearing half-elven fashion wears more natural colors, it is considered a statement of opting out of fashion at large. Women tend to wear either flats or slippers in the half-elven style, though these shoes are seldom seen beneath the long dresses and skirts.
Men - Half-elven clothes for men range from elevations of the simpler Faninite garments (simple tunics and breeches paired with skirts, capes, and hats) to more ornate elven-inspired designs (including long, billowing robes and elaborately patterned suits). Breeches are common whether the wearer has on a robe or skirt as well, and these are typically of a thin fabric. The tunic or robe element of male outfits is usually thicker, mostly medium-weight fabrics. Men tend to wear basic leather shoes or slippers. The most common iteration is this is a half-elven original--essentially a slipper made of thin leather. This type of shoe is widely available nearly anywhere in Evanoch. Half-elven men tend to create outfits that follow a general pattern: breeches + tunic/robe + one accessory. Skirts are a common accessory, as are capes and hats--these additions to outfits fit the same general premise of elven prop-carrying in that they are meant to characterize an outfit and the wearer. Skirts signify grace, capes denote mystery, and hats suggest status. Among men in the half-elven style, natural colors are the norm, though it is also accepted to choose dark blues, dark greens, and reddish oranges.
Accessories - Half-elven fashion is more or less designed to be customized into a personal style. With the simplicity of the Faninite style and the detail of the elven style, practically anything is possible while still remaining within the half-elven paradigm. Accessories are a large part of this, and both hats and jewelry play a large part. For women, hats range from humble bonnets and wimples to grand tiaras; for men, hats range from the simple cap to the elaborate headdress. While half-elves are not known for creating jewelry in the physical sense, many of the leading jewelers in Evanoch work with half-elven artists who create the designs for the jewelers. Many elements of elven style are present here--a focus on depictions of plants and animals, but with an added focus on celestial bodies. A well-known design depicting a crescent moon with stars tracing the outline of the rest of the moon has been duplicated by a great many jewelers in recent years. Jewelry in the half-elven tradition utilizes a variety of forms--necklaces and bracelets are the most common, but accessories such as hair clips and sash pins are also notable.
Gnomes:
Gnomish fashion is a product of the gnomish focus on invention and innovation. Gnomes have created new materials, most notably denim and polyester, and have utilized leather in new ways, notably using it for accessories rather than as the main component in a garment. Gnomish fashions change often, but certain elements of each new wave of clothing get kept in an overall gnomish style. Gnomish clothing tends to use a variety of colors, including those which natural dyes cannot create. This has led to one of the most noticeable traits of gnomish clothing: its bright colors. Gnomish experimentation with pigments has led to a huge advancement in dyeing technology, and particularly elven clothiers have become dependent on gnomish color experiments. Beyond the color of one's clothes, gnomes are primarily interested in functionality, and most gnomish clothing is among the most practical available anywhere. Gnomes change clothes roughly every day or two, but mishaps in an experiment can often lead a gnome to change outfits a few times in a day.
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| Gnomish fashion (minus the gadgets they would certainly have). |
Women - Gnomish women's clothes bear a bit of a resemblance to Daltoner clothes in terms of style, but are distinct when one pays attention to the details in cut. While Daltoners' women's clothing is extremely conservative, gnomish clothing is more free with cut, leading to exposed legs and arms. Fabrics tend to be cut to create ruffles and blooming sleeves, which lead some who are unfamiliar with gnomes to think that they are simply shaped like their fashion suggests. A typical gnomish women's outfit is composed of a blouse and a skirt; the blouse is paired with a vest or shawl. Belts are commonly used to accentuate the gnome's figure, always worn on the outside of the clothes; some gnomish women add belts around individual legs, the arms, or the torso for visual flair. Gnomish women, like the men, wear boots which rise at least to the top of the calf and often to the knee. An outfit typically consists of three colors: a bright color + white/grey/black + a natural color. The more vibrant or uncommon the bright color is, the more fashionable the outfit as a whole is considered to be.
Men - Gnomish men's clothing tends to be regarded as almost too futuristic for most Evanines. Typically, a gnomish man wears denim pants, sometimes called jeans; these jeans are designed with as many pockets as can reasonably fit and be useful. Jeans are held up by functional belts using loops around the waist. Simple tunics are central to an average outfit--the tunic is tucked into the jeans and covered with some manner of light coat, which is also given as many pockets as it practical. The jackets are generally free of design, though a new trend has emerged in which a customized design is inscribed in the back of the jacket. These jackets are sometimes cloth and sometimes leather, depending on climate or season. Gnomes are responsible for the creation of the duster, which hangs nearly to the ground. Like gnomish women, men wear boots, typically of leather and in a plain color. Jeans are generally tucked into boots in gnomish custom. Details like sashes and capes are common for gnomes, particularly if they are interested in public life. When gnomish men dress, they tend to pick a variety of natural colors paired with a bright color as accent.
Accessories - Accessories are more important to gnomes than the outfits they adorn. While an outfit is a way to display one's sense of style, which is important, an accessory is more personal and customizable. The gnomish way of thinking basically says that a colorful sash is interesting, but not nearly as interesting as a cracked pair of blast goggles. Indeed, gnomes tend to display their profession or interests via accessories. Because so many gnomes are avid inventors, things like goggles, devices, and spare parts are commonly seen attached to a gnome's outfit or hanging from one of the gnome's many pockets. Gnomes do create jewelry, but not in the same style that other groups do. Rather than using precious metals or natural items to create their jewelry gnomes are partial to turning seemingly random objects into works of art. One gnome might own a necklace with their child's first lost tooth, a bracelet with a tadpole submerged in a glass ball, and an earring (gnomes invented the practice of ear-piercing) made from a brick from their childhood home, for instance. Because gnomish jewelry is so idiosyncratic to gnomes, there is little market outside of other gnomes for this work, but because jewelry is so prized by gnomes, there remains meaningful demand. Gnomes have proved willing to experiment with types of jewelry more than any other group, not only creating the ear piercing, but also the nose and septum piercing.
Halflings:
Halfling fashion appears to outsiders to be largely ornamental; the long, flowing robes in bright colors seem at first to be highly decorative. But the reality is that halfling fashion is as practical as it is ornamental. In the strange rainforests of the halfling homelands, there are venomous plants and animals which can kill someone with as little as a touch. As a result, halflings always dress with everything but their faces and hands covered--among halflings who regularly brave the rainforests, gloves and sometimes even masks are common. In everyday life, halflings maintain their body-covering garments just in case a dangerous creature makes its way into a settlement. Similarly, the humid climate and warm temperatures of the rainforests mean that only lightweight clothing can be truly livable; as a result, the robes of the halflings are made of the thinnest fabrics that will still grant protection. Halfling fashion tends to use bright colors which only the gnomes have been able to duplicate through artificial means--halflings have access to a wide range of plants which can produce exotic dyes. The availability of dyes and halfling culture dictate that the most popular colors in halfling clothing are a range of blues, yellows, reds, and greens. Creating purely white garments is difficult without chemicals, which halflings abhor, and black is only available by mixing pigments and chemicals, so these tones do not really exist in halfling fashion. Clothing for female and male halflings is totally identical. Outfits are composed of robes, shawls, head wraps, and simple cloth shoes with leather soles. Halflings change clothes whenever circumstances dictate it (when dirty, when meeting someone, or when venturing far from home), but not on any set schedule. On average, this works out to about once a day, but without any defining pattern based on time.
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| Traditional halfling garments for both men and women. |
Women - As stated above, female and male clothing among halflings is totally identical. In fact, deviation from this common appearance tends to communicate that a halfling is a dissident of some sort. A rising tide of halflings in younger generations are choosing to add distinguishing characteristics to define the wearer's gender, but these signals are so subtle that only halflings tend to notice them. When a halfling woman wishes to assert her gender, she tends to add a scarf to her outfit, often tied around the waist or from shoulder to opposite side. In this newer style, a traditional headwrap that resembles a large cap is worn to add to the style (though neither the scarves nor the head wraps are exclusively associated with female halflings). The only association of colors with women's clothing for halflings is that blue-greens (derived from a flower that grows around the halfling capital) are associated with women in pregnancy, but again, this trend has notable exceptions in the form of pregnant women who do not wear blue-green and men and non-pregnant women who do wear blue-green.
Men - Halfling men follow the same general patterns as halfling women, and there is in fact a cultural force at play which leads many men to emulate the style of women. This detail is the fact that halfling children are reared entirely by women--when a halfling woman gives birth, if there is a man in her life, he is demanded by halfling society to leave the woman to raise the child alone. This comes from a belief that fathers are generally toxic forces in children's lives and is largely a protective measure. Resultingly, women possess a social prestige that is denied to men, and some men attempt to tap into the power of female status through clothing and appearance. Essentially no halfling men wear facial hair, and some halfling men have even adopted the scarf and head wrap style of dissident women. Almost as many halfling men try to assert their masculinity in their own dissident fashion, commonly making their clothes as loose-fitting and bland in terms of color as possible. These men also wear leather garments, which is usually taboo in halfling culture; aside from leather soles on their shoes, halflings consider leather to be a material that should be harvested as little as possible out of respect to animals. Nevertheless, halfling tanners are the most respected, in part because so few halfling leatherworks exist. The most common leather garment for halfling men is a decorative piece such as a sash or purse.
Accessories - Accessories are present in halfling fashion, but they tend to think of these pieces more as emotionally meaningful displays of individual identity than as elements of clothing. Apart from basic additions like scarves and sashes, handmade jewelry is a major element of this part of halfling fashion. Like in the gnomes' jewelry, sentimental value is a key feature of halfling jewelry; halflings tend to preserve items like childhood toys, notes from parents and friends, and now-broken tools that were once vital to the halfling's survival. As a result, it is not uncommon to see halflings wearing a bracelet made from the clothing of a doll, a pendant with a friend's signature inside, or a head wrap pin made from an old fowler's snare. There are no real rules about what makes an accessory female or male; jewelry is simply considered an expression of self without connection to the fashion of other halflings. Halflings do not expect other groups to understand or appreciate their jewelry and accessories, just as they know that they are generally misunderstood by other groups. The halfling's cultural value of extreme individuality is expressed here, and the cultural value for cooperation is seen in the common clothing shared by all halflings. Notably, halflings do not describe each other by clothing (in part because they dress similarly and in part because of cultural appreciation for meaningful difference rather than superficial)--instead, they use the accessories someone is wearing to identify them, as no two halflings would wear genuinely similar accessories. Outside of halfling culture, there is essentially no value placed on halfling fashion or accessories, but only a few halflings convert to other groups' clothing styles when they leave their homeland.
There you have it: a detailed guide to the fashion styles of each culture in my homebrew setting. I'm so glad that I decided to write this--not only did I get to think about clothing styles more than I normally get to, but now I can more clearly picture what's going on in my world. To think that I couldn't accurately imagine what my characters have been dressed like is just wild. Knowing that my dwarves have a clearly-defined warrior aesthetic while my orcs dress like ancient Egyptians really changes my own view of my world--people in Evanoch claim that orcs are the warlike culture, and yet this profile (and many of the others I've done) reveal that the orcs are less bloodthirsty than their dwarven and Daltoner neighbors. I love discovering these details, and I never would have had the opportunity if I hadn't set out to write about my world's clothing. It just goes to show you: putting time and energy into your worldbuilding always yields some return.
That's all for now. Coming soon: how to figure out your style as a GM, lessons from 15 years of my GM notebooks, and why I originally wanted to become a GM. Until next time, happy gaming!
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