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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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not too Medieval....
The buttons don't bother me, because I can visualise him using those buttons like a general puts on armour: each button is a little self-defence against the world.
I agree that there's conflicting information in the books (see my comment in Sam's journal) - there are references to both over-the-head, tunic/cassock-style robes and yet references to more modern-influenced clothing. I think the Victorian influence adds a nice touch of modernity without degrading to jeans and a t-shirt (articles I believe do not exist in Snape's world).
And much as I love a man in braies and hose (ye gods, yeah baby), and a liripipe hood, those are just...not Snape's style, IMO. The liripipe is too flamboyant, and the braies are a bit *too* old-fashioned. Much as it's painful to visualise it, I really do think those are y-fronts in his worst memory. Nowadays I think he probably succumbs to the convenience of modern boxers.
Interestingly, while he *must* have slippers and probably a dressing gown, they are notably absent from Harry's description - just the nightshirt in "The Egg and the Eye." I think it's yet another of JKR's indications that Snape is naaasty.
I agree with your fabric choices, sticking to natural fibres, but I would add raw silk, and I doubt that his undertunic is a 3/4 sleeve - it probably tucks up just under the cuff, so as not to get rings, but there's nothing more annoying than a too-short chemise sleeve getting bunched up around the elbow and being utterly unable to pull it down.
Lupin is the only wizard so far who's mentioned wearing a belt (he tucks his wand into it in the shrieking shack). I find that extraordinary, especially if they're all running around in full-length cassocks. So yes, either there are more people wearing belts and we just don't hear about them, or there are lots of robe styles that are meant to open to allow walking (think Tudor or Regency Watoo-back overcoat), or this is another one of those "areas that JKR really never thought through very well" or all three.
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Re: not too Medieval....
Buttons? Well, to point I can see Snape going for buttons as part of a 'clothes as armor' thinking, especially if there is a charm to get them closed easily. I can even see him tying down or button down his sleeves for mucky potions making, as loose swoopy sleeves are a mess waiting to happen, but there is no book-based evidence for it.
As to underwear -- I'd go as far as Victorian/Edwardian, but I think anything with elastic is definitely out for a Pureblood who isn't Muggle-friendly like the Weasleys. I also think zippers are unlikely for much the same reason -- too modern. I'm still going with the hose for winter wear, as I really really doubt book!canon Snape has ever worn trousers.
I'm not so sure about raw silk. Silk is expensive, especially in the quantities needed to make robes, and finicky to take care of; wool is just as warm, and not quite as tempermental or expensive. Especially for someone like Snape, who I always think is hard on his clothes. Dumbledore, on the other hand, wears the most outrageous and extravagant styles, and I can see him in silks as well as wool velvets.
Snape's undershirt could really be any length sleeves, but it simply can't be fastened at the wrist in any fashion, as he really does shove up his sleeve to show Fudge the Dark Mark, and he couldn't do that if he had to tear at a cuff.
JKR may mean to convery Snape's 'nastiness' with his lack of dressing gown and slippers, but I got that Snape had been woken out of a sound sleep and was too busy/pissed to bother. He deos tend towards uncouthness even while he's being very formal, which is an interesting combo.
A liripipe hood might be too flamboyant for Snape as a teacher, but he's still a relatively young man, so don't put him in fuddy-duddy garments just yet. I prefer him in a flat cap or a tall hat, though I have seen people write him wearing a tasseled cap and finding that believable.
Good point about Remus wearing a belt. They must have belts, because robes sort of needed them. JKR is probably just leaving out the 'extraneous' details (I wish she'd leave out the extraneous adverbs) or just not caring. Her world-building is spotty.
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Re: not too Medieval....
As far as silk, I agree that Dumbledore definitely has more outgoing taste than Snape, but Snape strikes me as someone who will spend a fair amount on his good clothes, provided they make him look important without being ostentatious. Raw silk isn't too fiddly - at least, not more so than wool - and breathes a bit better. Probably only for dress occasions, though, as it *is* more expensive.
And regarding the undies, I wasn't suggesting that he goes down to K-Mart and picks up Fruit of the Loom. But I have to imagine that after 60-some years of access to modern underwear, *some* enterprising Wizard - Muggle- or half-born, even - has gone into the wizarding underwear market and "revolutionised" the business. Even if he uses a drawstring instead of elastic, he could probably convince the purebloods that Muggles got it from *him*, not the other way 'round.
It's really a pain in the butt, her gaps in world-building, isn't it?
Yeah... I still can't see the lirpipe - well, okay, maybe a really plain one, not too long on the pipe - but a felted 14th c. cap? (Can't remember the name... the very plain ones with pilgrim badges. Beaver hats?) That'd be okay. But I could see Snape in garters for his hosen. Yup, I could see that.
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Re: not too Medieval....
Dumbldore dresses like a flamboyant gay man in his 70s, in my opinion. Very natty, very colorful, very look-at-me! Velvets and silks and embroidery and flashy shiny bits couched down over eyeblinding colors -- Dumbledore would be tasteless except that it's not. His clothes arejust wierdly imposing.
provided they make him look important without being ostentatious.
I think Snape's dress robes have minimal ornamentation, but are made of very fine materials. Good wool or silk, with figured velvet for accent, and tasteful embroidery at the hem, wrists and neck. Think Saruman's robes in the LotR movies -- they were quite nifty but not over the top the way I think Dumbledore dresses.
It's really a pain in the butt, her gaps in world-building, isn't it?
Oh god yes. Especially since material culture tells you a lot about a society. All I can gather from JKR's books is that the Wizarding World is highly parasitic on the Muggle one.
Even if he uses a drawstring instead of elastic, he could probably convince the purebloods that Muggles got it from *him*, not the other way 'round.
Well... I'm looking at my Medieval tailoring book, and Renaissance braies really do look modern briefs without elastic and with a drawstring. There just aren't *that( many ways to design underpants, I guess.
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Re: not too Medieval....
The basic differences would be: length; the addition/construction/placement of the fly (as opposed to the codpiece); self-supporting (i.e., drawstring tie as opposed to tying directly to the hose or the doublet). I'm trying to remember - braies have the closed crotch, but later Ren, when the hosen climbed all the way up and the shirt provided a bit of "cover", used the codpiece and it tied directly to the hose, didn't it?
All I can gather from JKR's books is that the Wizarding World is highly parasitic on the Muggle one.
Exactly! That's one reason why I think that with so many of the personal conveniences they've already adopted - eyeglasses, jumpers, etc. - underwear's probably high on the list. There may be a few holdouts (like Archie) who insist on a more old-fashioned way of doing things, but I think anyone born 1955 or later was probably aware of, if not used to using, modern undergarments.
If Snape *doesn't*, then it's probably more out of neglect/habit than resistance to something "Mugglish." Though I guess some old prejudices might die hard, but we just don't know whether the average pureblood's stubbornness extended to their own inconvenience.
Anyway, we have now gone back and forth... how many times? About underwear. And *none* of it was fangirl squeeing. "OMG he wears boxers with pink hearts and teddy bears on!" Not.
Yeah, we're just a bit obsessed.
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Re: not too Medieval....
I think this is just traditional wizard costume. How many stories, after all, feature wizards in things with star and moon patterns on in bright shiny colours? I'm sure it's just a cliche/stereotype/tradition of wizards in fantasy novels.
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Re: not too Medieval....
For most of history, men were the one who bought the extravagant clothes -- as a visible sign of their wealth. Women wore good clothes as well, but their clothes tended to reflect their husband/brother/father's style.
Not that Snape's black would have been cheap -- dyeing fabric a good black is surprisingly tricky -- but he's not wearing five different colors at once.
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Regarding the buttons...
While visually interesting, braies seems TOO old-fashioned for Snape. I'm thinking he probably wears some sort of simple linen boxers that would button or tie. I wonder if he wears long underwear in the wintertime? :=)
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Re: Regarding the buttons...
And as above, I have a feeling that some enterprising wizard introduced the concept of Muggle-style underwear, even if it's "modified" to fit the sensibilities of pureblood wizards.
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Re: Regarding the buttons...
I'm not sure if Snape in a union suit is that much better than Snape in hose and shirt...
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Re: Regarding the buttons...