Clothing and Garb

[trentonian7]

What kind of clothing do your people wear? Is it influenced by any earth cultures or is it a creation of your own? How would a rich person dress versus a poor person? Middle class? Are there any status symbols in your worlds? Do people wear weapons openly? Do you have ceremonial or religious clothing? How do men as opposed to women dress?

 

[Masronyx]

That depends also on gender roles in your world. How are the women treated? If women are meant to be more behind the scenes or dependent on their male counterparts, would their clothing be more conservative (high neck lines, long skirts, wearing men's clothing taboo?). If the women are considered equal to men, their clothing might be more revealing or allow for more freedom of movement, especially if women are allowed into your world's military/warrior groups, or may be more similar to the men's clothing.
A lot of the above is based on my experience in 18th Century American Revolution living history. I've noticed that the more restricted the clothing for women, the more of a secondary role they take in a male dominated society.

Those are just ideas I'm throwing out there. Not sure if you've thought of those yet or not.

But in my case, it's based on the culture of any of the groups in your world. My main character comes from a warrior society whose clothing an bodily decorations I've based more on the Native American tribes during the 18th century time periods. Two secondary mercenary characters (both women) wear the pants/leggings, boots shirts and jackets of the men of each of their societies, having rejected the women's roles in both worlds. Both women have their own reasons for rejecting the passive roles of their mothers/female relatives.

What kind of religious ceremonies do you have in mind? I think it depends on what religion your world believes in. How incorporated is this religion in the lives of your main character(s) and secondary characters? What about the country/city your story is set in? Is it similar to Catholic mass or a simple Sunday sermon in a country church? How is that religion integral to the plot?

Again just throwing ideas out there. If any of this helps, I'll be happy.

 

[CupofJoe]

What kind of clothing do your people wear? Is it influenced by any earth cultures or is it a creation of your own? How would a rich person dress versus a poor person? Middle class? Are there any status symbols in your worlds? Do people wear weapons openly? Do you have ceremonial or religious clothing? How do men as opposed to women dress?

I start with Climate and then Technology.
How warm, cold, wet, dry is it? How much and fast does that change? Are there seasons?
Can they weave wool, linen, silk? Mixed fibres? Cure leather? Dyes?
Once I have them and a few other sorted out I usually have a feel for what sort of society I am looking at.

 

[Swordfry]

Honestly, I have not developed much clothing in my world for 2 big reasons:

1. I totally forgot about. I am only one week away from being done with worldbuilding and outlining and starting to actually write the darn book. But that's okay, because honestly:

2. My world does not need clothing...much at least. My one race is mostly a coast-dwelling race, and their skin secretes almost a natural sun lotion that protects their skin from the sun. My other main race is mostly a forest dwelling one. Their skin almost resembles tree bark, being dark brown and covered in a layer of thick, slightly bumpy calloused layer. This helps with camouflage and protects them from abrasion on the rough tree bark because they spend a lot of their time in the trees hunting and travelling. Even the ones that live outside of the forests have found that their skin makes for good protection against the sun and other elements. The only clothing anyone wears are very simple things like loincloths, vests, shirts, some shoes, gloves. But honestly I can safely say that most inhabitants of my world are half naked, lol.

So nature provides my races with ample protection, and clothing is really just a luxury except for concealing privates and of course they all need some in the winter. This also fits perfect with my world, because it is set in my "extended stone age" and I just personally think that nearly everyone being half naked adds to the "ancient world" mood, lol.

 

[valiant12]

How would a rich person dress versus a poor person?

The rich have nicer clotes. Pesants dress in practical clothes. Aristocratik clotes are more ornated and less practical.

Middle class?

If I have to dress like a person from my stories, I definitely would pick some middle class clothes. There clothes are more colorful than those of the lower class, but not as eccentric as the clothes of the rich. The clothes worn by the middle class people in my stories are also considerably more practical than those worn by the poor and the rich.

Do people wear weapons openly?

yes

Are there any status symbols in your worlds?

yes bouth women and men wear jewlery.

How do men as opposed to women dress?

Women generally wear more feminine clothes.

 

[SeverinR]

In my world:
Woman's garb:
Human women are more traditional to Euro medieval dress, but have been influenced by Elven dress, which is more user friendly in working in ones occupation. An elf in a elegant dress would be dressed up for a special occasion or a high occupation where menial labor was not likely. That same woman of course would have hunting clothes.
Elvish women clothes, while comfortable to work in, still have a feminine elegance look to them.
If they have enough money, elvish women would have work clothes and elegant clothes for special occasions.
Weapons:
Weapons are excepted, usually knives and daggers, since swords and larger weapons would be expensive and get in the way of work. Armor would be limited to warriors or people that might lead to a fight. Guard, lawman, towns watch, bouncers. Not against the law, just not comfortable to wear armor throwing bags of stuff around etc.

Status symbols...
Don't think so.

Religious garb:
Those that are religious wear items to show this. Clergy usually wear items to draw attention to them. Depending on the religion, some men wear robes, some wear normal clothing with religious symbols on them.

Haven't got into many other races in my world. But the primitive races, such as orc, goblin, would center around clothing that allows them to fight in them, even the females.

 

[ChasingSuns]

Mine are definitely inspired by certain real world cultures, but I like to mix and match different aspects of multiple cultures to get an original look. For example, there's one culture that blends Norse garb with some ancient Chinese and Mongol clothing.

 

[Alpha]

It can depend on many things; the culture of the place, the religion, the temperature/climate. Northern people would wear woolen cloaks and thicker clothes than someone from the south-east. Its a good idea to use real life examples to help make it seem realistic.