i understand from an artistic perspective why the four nations are color coded but imagine if that was just like...a thing in real life. like if you went to canada and everyone was wearing purple and you just had to live with that.
it was a thing in real life too!! cultures that were very isolated would only have access to dyestuffs native to their area
my favorite example is the aran islands in ireland. they were self sufficient at the start of the 20th century and everyone pretty much wore the same things in the same colors—women wore madder red wool petticoats and jackets, blue stockings, and tartan shawls. men wore several layers of undyed or blue flannel waistcoats and pants. so yeah, some cultures actually do the color-coding!
and also! the colors in atla make sense! most vibrant red dyes are native to tropical regions, and the fire nation is shown to be very hot and humid
woad (blue) is particularly cold hardy so it’s perfect for the polar water tribes
the best greens are usually made of a combination of a blue and a yellow dye so it works for earth kingdom aka the largest nation. more land=more native plant species!
and as for air nomads, since they aren’t agricultural and are all about balance, they would either trade with earth kingdom for their yellows, or use turmeric which doubles as a spice. theyre also vegetarian so they could use their leftover scraps like carrots and onion skins for orange tones
so yeah i know the point of the post was to say this would be really weird irl but it’s totally realistic and i think that’s neat!
#im sorry i just really love clothing trivia
#also certain mollusks can make blues too but i just love woad
#this also explains why the swamp benders in the earth kingdom wear green
