Re: non-vingan female 'adventurer' clothing?

From: Mike Dawson <mdawson_at_...>
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 03:09:32 -0000

I think the more typical interpretation of long tunics/bliauts/houppelands/togas is to show status. Actually, quite the same status message as a white shirt, tie and a tailored suit give: "Look at me, I can't possibly do manual labor in this outfit, so I'm high status."

Along with long hems, many medieval garments for nobles (but far from all) feature very big sleeve openings making it clear that someone wearing it is not the type of person who chops wood for a living.

Now, it is possible to do things wearing a pretty long skirt-like thing. My fighting clothes include an almost calf-length surcoat, for example, though it is split.

And look at what happened in Japan--the emperor (or shogun, I forget) got tired of touchy samurai who leapt up from their tea to kill each other over some slight, so he declared that every samurai in his court must wear hakama, a really long, loose split skirt that it is very difficult to leap up in without tripping. So what do the samurai do? They learn how to fight while "duck walking"-- moving around without actually standing up by more or less getting on to the balls of their feet and keeping their butts on their heels.

I'll bet there's a myth about someone being saved by hiding in Vinga's skirt. Or her hiding a weapon there to kill some blowhard.

Mike (who knows how hard it is to even feed yourself when wearing an "angel wing" sleeved tunic.)

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