I've been doing some light research on historical Chinese clothing for my version of Clan Lavellan based on my own heritage, and one thing that I noticed and love is the amount and variety of colors and patterns used. It feels very 'alive' for a lack of better words, it has a lot of character.
Another Tumblr post I came across recently brought up the current trend of color disappearing from the world. Our color pallets have become much narrower and dull. (Maybe that's why I like tie-dye so much XD)
A lot of the time, you can look at traditional clothing and name which region it hales from. With modern fashion, that's not the case a lot of the time, with it feeling rather homogenous.
Link to said post: https://www.tumblr.com/coldmaxine/692852331579047936?source=share
That is a major factor that drew me to your Dalish Redux series, but I didn't connect the dots until recently. The Dalish clans wouldn't feel homogenous, Clan Lavellan wouldn't be a straight copy of Clan Sabre, etc. So much can be told just by looking at them.
I feel the lack of color is something that plagues a lot of modern fantasy, the lack of color creates a lack of diversity. A lot of information can be gathered by appearance, and when everyone shares color pallets, a lot of subtle world-building is lost.
Like if we were to take the designs of Dalish Elves vs City Elves in DAO and II, they have some attire differences, but if you were to remove the Vallaslin, it would be rather hard to tell them apart.
This isn't to say the City Elves should have drab fashion, but their vanilla appearance is so boring.
Absolutely agree! Color and pattern are both instrumental to the development of textiles and arts and a fantastic resource in historical study. I mentioned before that patterns tend to be designed with some meaning at hand, That is something that I try to keep in consideration when making patterns for the Dalish. The base design that the og concept artists were going for seem to be aligned with the art deco movement as well as natural themes. In that sense, I decided to create abstract patterns to represent some of the in game plants that have been given Dalish names and/or have been said to have significance to the Dalish. We also already have the Vallaslin, which I use very often for reference since it is an already canon resource with significant symbolism.
My best advice on subtle worldbuilding, particularly in textile as that what Iām studied in, is natural resources. China is famed for its silk, Egypt for its linen, and Peru for its alpaca wool, etcetera etcetera. Not only that, by the richness of resources and availability play a significant role in how clothing develops.
As an example, the Ancient Egyptians loved color, but werenāt technologically advanced enough to be able to strip their linen of the fibrous outer layer, which made it extremely difficult to dye. As a result, there was a lot of white clothing supplemented with opaque stones, the most popular being carnelian, jade, and lapis lazuli. Those gems arenāt native to Egypt, but because we know where they can be found, we know who the Egyptians traded with and what was being swapped between cultures. We even know where dye moves around from based on what is and is not native to the regions using said dye. For example, there is a rare, tiny purple species of mollusk know as Murex snails. The dye was so rare and popular that only royalty was allowed to purchase it, and thus Royal Purple was born.Ā
Basically, try and think of cultural costume design as the natural cause and effect of resources being introduced to a society. What do the Dalish have from before the fall of Arlathan? What resources are available in the area that a specific clan is from? Based on the reclusiveness of the clan, would they have more resources from an established trade with other clans/merchants? Obviously you donāt need to go nuts with specifics, but limiting resources is a great way to give a culture character and thoughtful design.
There have been more recent attempts to really flesh out fantasy designs in more modern properties (for better or worse), but overall, clothing tends to fall back on more traditional,Ā western Europe aesthetics. Part of the issue is that costumes are designed with silhouette and flat color in mind rather than pattern, which would come later when the costume department actually gathers the fabrics.
City elves should definitely have developed their own unique styles based on where their alienage is (if they belong to one) and access to materials. A city elf likely wouldnāt have the time to be making their own clothing and gathering their own resources, so what would they be able to afford based on where they live?Ā
I will admit to being somewhat guilty of the lack of color in the modern world, but in my defense, Dark Academia is a look and half of my closet is rainbow brite colorful but I have no where to wear those outfits because I have no where to go and I live on my computer :,D Thanks for the ask!
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