#sotok

The Dviric

The Dviric came from the northeast, a group of people just narrowly escaping the then-forming Saldigan Empire. They eventually formed an empire of their own in the land of the Idrinics as well as further south and inland (many Idrinics kept to the northern coasts), but to begin with they assimilated into local Idrinic cultures for the most part.

In Sons of the Summer King, while the Dviric empire is long gone, the Dviric people are the dominant cultural-ethnic group in the region. Most of the current/"modern" fashion is some combination of the three main settled groups. However, I've been thinking a lot about Dviric traditional clothes/what they were wearing before they came to the Idrinic lands as well.

There were a lot of long coats/surcoats for both men and women, as well as decorative aprons and shawls. Much of their clothing was in bold, dark colours like brick red, dark green and navy blue, copper, black, and gold, and heavily patterned or embroidered. They also incorporated plenty of jewelry and ornamentation into their clothing, often as a status symbol.

Red was worn predominantly by Saldigan nobility, so at first after breaking away from their influence the Dviric deliberately avoided it in their clothing. However, it later came back into popularity and continued to go in and out of fashion for a while.

The inspiration for their clothes came from a lot of sources, including the traditional costumes of Iceland, Latvia, eastern Europe, parts of western Asia, and a few different Balkan countries.

The Gamilars

The Gamilars were the final major group to settle in the region, taking control of it at the height of the Dviric Empire. They came via boat from a smaller western continent, and brought new styles of architecture, clothing and, most importantly, government.

The Gamilars favoured looser silhouettes than their predecessors, as well as richer, more vibrant colours - especially shades of teal, orange, gold, and emerald green. They wore a lot of intricate and delicate jewelry, usually in geometric or nature-themed motifs.

Patterned fabrics were also common, and outfits in a mishmash of potentially clashing tones a popular fashion statement. The warmer climate they came from (and that of the parts of the region they inhabited the most) allowed for lighter, flowier fabrics. Generally they were more "flashy" than the existing civilizations of the region.

A lot of my ideas for their clothing came from pre-raphaelite style fashion and a combo of Art Noveau and Art Deco patterns and jewelry.

Present Day

So what's really fun is that, while all these cultures had a distinct look and feel, the latest major migration - Gamilars arriving - occurred roughly 500 years before the start of the book. So since then there's been quite a lot of merging and variety in clothing style. For our main characters, who are mostly Dviric in ancestry and were raised mostly in keeping with their people's traditions, their clothes take on a somewhat muted version of their historical costumes.

Long coats and over-layers are still very much in fashion, as are sleeveless garments worn over underlayers. There's also a lot of side-lacing that tends to happen. Clothing is durable and more likely to be on the heavy side than on the light, as these characters live in the north where it gets quite a bit colder. The colour palette usually consists of greens, browns, blues, and golds - the warmer and brighter tones tending to be Gamilar influences.

Generally the characters specifically in the location I'm writing about don't wear a lot of jewelry, but woven and leatherwork belts, pins, and buttons are common accessories. And yeah, they still love their knitting.

Anyway, that's that! This took me way too long to make. Hopefully soon if I have the energy for it I'll get around to painting some of these so you can have a glimpse of what they look like in my head. Bye bye for now!