Muggle World - Wizard Robes

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 117673


Steve (bboyminn) wrote:
> 
> We discussed wizard robes and period costumes in the past, but it's
> been a long time, so here is a suggestion - search Google for
> 'medieval wizard robes' and you will come across an amazing number of
> links (10,000 actually). Like links to- 
> 
> Simplicity Sewing Patters - sew your own.
> http://www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?cat=4&type=19&sec=0&id=59&startrow=1
>  
> Simplicity example - Adult Wizard Robes
> http://www.simplicity.com/design.cfm?designId=10706&design=9753
> 
> Simplicity example - Adult Medieval Robe
> http://www.simplicity.com/design.cfm?designId=10419&design=5925
> 
> Medieval Weapons Arts - Monk's Robe
> http://www.mwart.com/xq/ASP/pid.1127/cat.139/qx/product.htm
> 
> Order Of Merlin - Harry Potter Costumes
> http://www.orderofmerlin.com/generic3.html
> 
> I think the Adult robes in the books are very closee to the classic
> fairytale wizard robes and close to the adult wizard robes in the
movie. 
> 
> However, I think it's reasonable for the kid's school wizard robes to
> have been modified and somewhat modernized over time. So, while they
> do resemble classic wizard robes, they are really just an
> over/outer-robe similar to but not quite as modern as those seen in
> the movie.
> 
> I suspect that clothing worn in the implied era was made of many
> layers because it was very difficult to heat castles and other
> medieval buildings. Consequently, it would have been reasonable for
> the outer wizard's robe that we see to conceal a lighter underrobe,
> which concealed some type of underclothing or tights. 
> 
> I guess my point is that modern wizard kids and the official school
> robes would have been more of an outer covering for the sake of
> tradition and the underclothing would have been somewhat normal by
> modern standards.
> 
> Difficult to say with any real degree of accuracy. This being fiction,
> and fiction being moldable to the author's will and the reader's
> fancy, I can certainly see JKR intending the robes to be a very
> simplified versions of the fancy robes wizards are seen to wear in
> fantasy books and artwork with those magical themes. Since wizards are
> fiction, wizard robes are mostly based on fantasy with just a trace of
> reality thrown in. 
> 
> Other good themes to persue in Google searches would be things like 
> 'costumes wizard robes' or 'Medieval wizard costumes' or 'fantasy
> costumes', etc.... 
> 
> http://www.authenticwardrobe.com/Wizards_Witches/wizards_witches.html
> 
> http://www.silvermane.com/MR/MR-8312.html
> 
> Garb World - Monks Robes
> http://www.garbtheworld.com/pgs/robes.shtml
> 
> I think a somewhat more simplified version of these monks robes would
> be close to what JKR intended the Howarts robes to look like. 
> 
> Just a few fun link for those who are interested.
> 
> Steve/bboyminn (was bboy_mn)

Carol responds:
Great links, Steve. (BTW, we really do know who you are by now. :-) )
I think I'll give up my own search. Just one teeny point: I don't
think the student's robes have been modernized. They certainly aren't
open with Muggle clothes underneath, as in the illustrations and
films. Note that a pointed black (standard Halloween witch style) is
part of the uniform for both boys and girls, though we do see the hats
mostly in SS/PS. But I think JKR wanted her young readers to see the
Hogwarts students much as they'd always envisioned witches, only young
and of both sexes and not evil. Same with broomsticks and cauldrons
and toads and cats, and even the beetle's eyes in the
Apothecary--standard witch folklore imposed on a British boarding
school backdrop, with Dumbledore as a cross between Merlin and Santa
Claus (Father Christmas), at least in SS/PS. But my original idea of
the medieval academic costume of Oxford as a model for the Hogwarts
uniform for students and the more socially conservative teachers
(Snape). It amounts to the mental picture (minus the pointy hats) and
fits with the idea of Hogwarts as an ancient school in which medieval
traditions survive.

Carol, reminding herself that getting up early to catch a plane isn't
*quite* as bad as facing a dragon in the TWT. Really it's not. Really.