neotoma | Snape's clothing...

vimeslady asked what does Snape wear. Since I'm a fiber/fabric/costume geek in my secret identity, I put *way* too much effort into it and gave her a very long answer.

Snape wears a black cloak with a hood; we know it has a hood because he puts it up to hide his face when he threatens Quirrel in the first book. I'd guess it's a 3/4 circle cloak because I have one myself, and not only will the hood completely mask your face, but it is really swoopy. Also, if you gather the the edges into folds, you have 'sleeves' until you drop your arms down straight. Very useful, that.

A black robe (or a green one if he's attending a Quidditch game and Slytherin is playing) -- it's general purpose wear for Wizarding society, and Snape doesn't seem like the sort to wear Muggle fashion. He'd have woolen robes for winter, and worsted ones for autumn and spring -- that means they're all made out of wool, but worsted wool is rather cooler than woolen wool. He might have velvet (wool too!) for dress robes, and possibly linen robes for the summer holidays, but good linen is expensive, and it really depends on whether you think Snape cares enough to spend the money. The style could range from houpelande to monk's robe to something Elizabethean or even later.

A linen shirt as underwear. Three-quarter length sleeves with a slit neckband and a hem that ends almost at his knees. It's to protect his clothes from his skin more than his skin from the clothes -- wool can be itchy, but skin oil ruining the robes is the bigger concern, especially if he only has a few. Given that the students are only required to buy a few robes, it's unlikely that even adults have more than a few changes of clothes; garments and household linens used to be among the most expensive things an average person could own, and I suspect that the Wizarding World still holds to that to some extent. Also, his undershirt has to have sleeves that are not fastened at the wrist, because he shoved the sleeve of his robe up to show Fudge the Dark Mark in GoF, and did not stop to unbutton anything.

Braies as underwear -- loose linen underpants with a drawstring tie. They can be quite loose and baggy (early Medieval) or very similar in shape to modern briefs (late Renaissance). The linen is quite fine and crisp, but might not be bleached white; linen is a soft gray if it's unbleached, or more rarely golden; this has to do with how the linen is retted.

In winter, he probably wears woolen hose -- which tie to his braies -- for warmth. The hose are likely cut on the bais from fabric and fulled (delibterately felting wool fabric to shrink and fluff it) to better fit the contours of his legs.

He wears boots -- possibly dragonhide -- to protect his feet. Given that melting cauldrons and shoe-destroying brews are in the books, he probably has the stoutest, most wear-resitant boots he can afford, and goes through them fast. He might wear soft shoes outside of the classroom or at formal occasions, though *not* like Dumbledore -- who wears purple boots with high red heels!

At night, he wears a nightshirt -- long and gray. It's probably dew-retted linen, which would account for the color. I don't recall if he wore slippers in that scene in GoF, but it's pretty cold in a stone castle at night without them. He should have a dressing down, and might have a nightcap to round out his jammies.

Last of all, his accesories: gloves, scarves, belt, and so forth. He obviously needs gloves for winter, but I don't remember them being used in Potions, so they're not used to protect the hands from ingredients. I like the House scarves in the movies, but they're not in the books as far as I can remember. He'd have a belt to keep things (knives, tools, possibly a small notebook for detention lists) on his person; their robes apparently have pockets for their wands, but a holster on a belt makes more sense, frankly.

He may have a hat, as the students are required to have one as part of their uniform, and thus it's probably common in Wizarding society. It could be a floppy hat, one with tails (liripipe), or something taller and more imposing (I have one like this, without the feathers or shinys-- plain and black would be Snape's style).

Have I fabric and costume geeked enough for you yet?

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Date: 2005-02-16 05:21 pm (UTC)

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