Wizard wear and pockets

[erised_straeh]

No: HPFGUIDX 36220

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "reepicheepuk" <reepicheepuk at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "alhewison" <Ali at z...> wrote:
> 
> > This seems to me to imply that the kids normally wear robes when 
> > they're at Hogwarts. [...] I suppose that canon is just confusing 
> >over the issue, and the film doesn't really help.
> 
> Canon IS confusing over this issue, e.g. isn't it VERY strange they 
> are even described wearing robes for a fast sport like Quidditch? 
It 
> seems MOST inconvenient. This also seems to suggest that the way 
the 
> film presents clothing cannot really be accurate. As the whole 
setting 
> of the plot is decidedly medieval, it seems very questionable that 
> anyone would be permitted to wear any modern muggle clothing at 
all, 
> even underneath the robes (whatever they may look like).
> Will be interesting to hear more opinions
> reepicheep

I, too have puzzled over this, not just because of the film. The main 
reason I first wondered about the attire is simply that I was trying 
to imagine riding a broomstick in a robe with nothing on underneath. 
Of course, we now know that they have cushioning charms, so I suppose 
that that would solve whatever discomfort could come from it.  
Although still, the idea of even walking around in a robe without 
pants on . . . what about the cold, the wind, do they have charms for 
all of these? 

So the question is, what sort of attire do they wear underneath?  It 
seems to me there is probably a generation gap here.  Perhaps there 
has been a change in robe styles and for that matter perhaps school 
robes come in different styles as well: over-the-head, zip up, 
outside pockets, inside pockets, and so on.  Older styles, favored 
more by the older set, are more outfits, sort of complete with 
undergarments.  I confess I got this idea from Maggie Smith's attire 
in the film -- it looked a lot like a dress, with a petticoat 
underneath, but I think it makes sense.  (Nod to Eloise as I believe 
she had a similar idea.) However, the younger generations favor 
muggle clothing or something similar and the robes are something worn 
because that's the way it's done, pure and simple.  After hundreds of 
years, the wizard world is becoming more and more connected to the 
Muggle world through marriage, so some things Muggle must be seeping 
into the culture.  I think Harry and his friends and probabaly even 
his parents generation to some extent walk around in jeans and a T-
shirt under their robes and when they're not at school.  Regarding 
Harry, he probably just bought some Muggle clothing for school and 
doesn't wear it during the summer, not wanting the Dursleys to see it 
and think, "Hey, the kid's got money."

The one thing, though, I still don't get is why the older wizards 
have so much trouble dressing like Muggles.  Their kids seem to know 
something after all.  Even if the parents don't know, they could 
ask.  Of course, Gred and Forge probably get a kick out of watching 
Dad try and maybe there's something "wrong" with looking too Muggle 
among the older crowd. This actually brings to mind one of my very, 
very few gripes with the wizard world:  how could they not know 
anything about the muggle world, e.g. telephones, electricity?  Sure 
they don't use it, but they live among Muggles. They have to interact 
with them.  They need Muggle money sometimes.  It's like living in a 
foreign country and refusing to learn the language.  But, that's 
another issue . . .

Anyway, to conclude, my vote is on Muggle clothes for kids, robes are 
more tradition now than anything else, in a few years they'll just be 
for sports (uniforms) and dress-up affairs and a few generations down 
the road, Grandma will be saying with a heavy sigh, "I remember when 
people wore robes to church." 

KK