Robes and other Clothing

[anakinbester]

No: HPFGUIDX 45736

Steve Wrote:

>I just can't picture any modern kid muggle (especially) or magic 
>wearing Dumbledore/Merlin robes on a daily basis. You simply aren't 
>going to get a few hundred pre-teen and teenage boys to go around 
all 
>day in dresses; wizards or no wizards. 

Ah but see, you can't because in _our_ world that not typical. 
For men here, that is culturally atypical, but if as many people as 
JKR indicates wear robes, then it's not going to atypical, and it's 
not going to be an affront on a guy's masculinity. 

When robes were the fashion, guys wore robe things (yes that's the 
technical word for it -_-;; ). It wasn't an issue, and you didn't 
look girly.
In fact there are different cuts for robes that are inherently more 
masculine and feminine. 

Now, what about muggle born wizards who bring in their sense of 
fashion?
I will admit that I doubt the modern wizard robes are identical to 
Robes worn in the 13th-16th centuries. As a fan artist myself, when I 
drew MWPP in non school robes I tend to have patterns are designs 
that are faintly 70'ish etc. I'm sure there are muggle influences, 
but I always imagined the robe as much a standard of dress as jeans 
are here in the USA. You just accessorize it differently or have name 
brand or cheap knockoffs. Or hand made as also seems to be the case. 

As for muggle children wearing muggle clothes, a suspect to some 
extent they would, unless their parents buy them a whole new 
wardrobe. However, think, most kids join the Wizard World at 11. 
You're going to want to fit in. Witness Harry's worries about fitting 
in and all. I think any kid is quickly going to adapt the norm of 
dressing, to some extent, for the place in which they live. Plus, 
they're being assimilated into Wizarding Culture, so they'd likely 
have an easier time getting over the whole robe=dress=girly issue 
that I think is a major reason why HP fans seem to have an issue with 
the robes. (on artisticalley, the subject of what you drew them 
wearing as been a topic) 


>I've done some research on medieval clothing and find that virtually 
>no one but the extremely rich and priviledge, and monk of religious 
>orders worn the free flowing full length dress-like robes. Even in 
the 
>cases where I did find rich men dressed in multi-layered robes, the 
>main outer robe appeared to be an outer garment. They were still 
>wearing other non-underwear type clothing underneath. 

*nods* And, I fully imagine that wizards wear some loose fitting 
trousers and perhaps some pull over shirts. Just because one guys 
likes a nice breeze doesn't mean everyone does =P 
Ellen has already covered what all can go under/over a robe, so I 
won't repeat it. 

So, having something under the standard black issues robe, doesn't 
bug me; however, I have issues with the trousers and shirts looking 
so very, very muggle modern. 

Why couldn't the movie have based the uniform more on an older style 
of dress? They seemed to have no problems with the costuming in 
Diagon Alley. 
 
>So, I highly suspect that the movie got most of the costumes pretty 
>close. 

In Diagon Alley, maybe. The school uniforms will always be a sore 
point with me. 

Eloise Wrote:

>Someone on this site once quoted the reason for the film's change to 
>(academic) gowns over school uniform being to do with the fact that 
>all those 
>plain black work robes would result in a sea of black which would 
>not worked 
>cinematically.

I can see that as a valid reason to not have pure black uniforms, but 
I does not, for me, justify having a normal muggle school uniform on.
I mean, I've sent plenty of fan art that more creatively dealt with 
the issue of distinguishing houses on robes, and adding color than 
the movie did. 

My personal guess is that they didn't want the clothes to stray that 
far from the norm. Rona and Harry running around in full length robes 
probably disrupts some ones happy little norm of what guys wear -_-

My other issue was, why oh why was Ron in muggle clothes? Harry, I 
can see, Hermione I can see! That would simply be what they packed 
leaving home (All though Harry suddenly found muggle clothes at 
Hogwarts that fit him... I guess magic was involved) 

I know Ron gets a sweater and all, but is clothes along with Fred and 
Georges really irked me, especially since in the GoF, Harry worries 
that about Molly and Arthur because they've never worn anything that 
his uncle would consider normal. 

Apparently they could have just asked their children, because their 
children have a fine understanding of Muggle clothes . . . 
I don't know; to me the Weasley's don't seem the most muggle 
proficient family, as friendly and nice as they are. I just never 
imagine Ron running about without some kind of wizard "oddness" to 
what he wears. 

Sorry *L* sense I draw a lot, and I love fashion and odd clothing, 
this is something I've though on a lot. 
In case anyone cares, I tend to go for a Renaissance style, like what 
I see in the works of Rapheal and then think about ways to modernize 
that. 
For the school uniform I've not got anything definite , but right now 
I'm using a black robe with a gathered coller that has a clasp in the 
color of the house, and then the robe is lined in the house colors.
Under that they wear baggy/gathered pants and boot looking shoes. 
It's kinda a unisex look *shrugs* 

-Ani