where did you come from

i designed Dimitri first, with an eye to establishing the patterns of Faerghus fashion. this outfit would appear after the battle at Gronder Field, when he can be convinced to put on the fancy kingly outfit Rodrigue brought for him. the shades of blue are various saturations of woad dye, which is a plant that thrives in cold and cloudy environments.

Dedue's outfit is largely inspired by historical Scandinavian looks. i wanted him to appear somber but practical, in natural-dye shades and a mostly wool fabric composition.

in my academy-era designs i noted that i really, really wanted to make his design less "palette-swapped white guy" and i am keeping that up with his new hairdo.

with Felix, the real challenge was keeping his most recognizable design elements while keeping him away from the extremely modern textile design of three houses. since these are meant to be "hanging around base" designs, i had to remove his armour, but he gets to keep the profusion of belts since it really can't be felix fraldarius without them. his slit mantle is thrown over his shoulder on one side to make it easier to fence - you know, just in case he has to duel someone for an insult - but also to show off the extremely rich blue lining.

Mercedes was a fun challenge, in which i got to design a much more middle-class outfit with fewer bells and whistles than the extravagant gowns many other girls in this game wear. the hat was ironically the most difficult part to design and went through about twelve iterations before i landed on the sort of french-hood-adjacent veil and cap she has now.

Sylvain is admittedly bragging with this look. while the colours are reasonably cheap to make and maintain, he has so so much cloth and fine fur for the lining of his mantle (worn in the same style as felix's). he has a sword at his waist as a status symbol, but also an emergency dagger stashed up his sleeve just in case. in case of what? he'll never tell.

i opted to make his hair curlier partially because of fashion reasons, and partially because claude in three hopes notes that his own hair is "naturally curly" and his hair is drawn with far straighter lines than sylvain's own. he also gets what my dear friend rk refers to as the "fuckass goatee" because. um. well it's because he reminds me of flynn rider from tangled.

for Ingrid, i wanted to make her outfit practical for message running in cold Faerghus skies. the look i landed on is what i've decided is a variant of the Galatea Pegasus Knight uniform, with a few personal touches to allow for her status. the cloak is a combination of sheepskin leather (wool turned out for warmth) with a weatherproof wool outer layer (the green part) embroidered with the corps' sigil.

i did remove the bows and braids from her hair since right now she's prioritizing practicality, and take away her makeup. i've always been angry that most if not all of the tomboy characters got makeup after the timeskip.

my boy Ashe! his outfit is fun colours, but heavy emphasis on practicality again. i really wanted him to be able to move freely as a skirmisher, hence the shortened coat and small hooded cape. the oak-leaves on his cape clasps are a nod to their meaning in heraldry, which is strength and endurance.

More Freckles For Our Boy.