Some thoughts on wizard fashion...
Apr. 12th, 2004 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
donnaimmaculata...Or: What sort of underwear do they wear?
Nah. I'm not going to talk about Snapey's pants or Sirius' black silk boxers. (Or was it Draco's?) But there is something that vaguely annoys me as one of the things that don't really make sense within the universe Rowling created. (And because I am dodging work, as usual.) So: Traditional wizard wear consists of long robes worn over underwear, right? No trousers for student!Snape, nor for old Archie nor for Albus himself (so we assume, though I really don't want to dwell on this particular image). Old wizards also tend to wear long hair and beards. Obviously, Rowling based her conception of wizard style on a very traditional image of wizards and witches, pointy hats and all. However, Molly Weasley, who comes from a traditional wizard family and is only marginally acquainted with Muggle culture, does not accept Bill's long hair as an aspect of proper wizard fashion. It is Percy, with his nicely trimmed hair and his horn-rimmed glasses, who is the ideal son. It is one of those inconsistencies that annoy me, because Rowling obviously screwed up the internal logic of the HP universe: Her Percy is the standard Head Boy/bureaucrate nerd of the Muggle world, not of the wizarding world. Percy is the personification of rules and old wizard values, which, however, differ from those in our world. Wizards like Percy don't assume Muggle fashion (short hair and jeans). They wear old-fashioned robes and grow a beard.
As to the old What-do-they-wear-under-those-robes? question: It is my personal convicion that, though the older generation as well as more traditional wizards like a healthy breeze around their privates, the younger generation tends to wear trousers. Even the Weasley children wear jeans when not in school (they have to change on the train) (on a side note: Harry and Ron change on the train while Hermione is in the same compartment, which leads me to the assumption that they merely pull on the robes over their Muggle-style clothes) - and they come from a traditional wizard family with no real knowledge of the Muggle world. As to the adult generation: While Snape, presumably a pure-blood who has spent all his life either at Hogwarts or in Voldemort's gang, is a healthy-breeze candidate, Remus, who is a half-blood and moves around the Muggle world dressed like a Muggle (OotP) would surely appreciate a pair of trousers now and again, especially if it's cold or he's in danger of having to run away very quickly, which is much easier when not wearing a dress. And then there's Sirius, who used to ride a Muggle motorbike. Even if one's not an outspoken supporter of LeatherTrousers!Sirius (I'm not.) (Ew), it stands to reason that he wouldn't ride a bike wearing merely his robes, if only because of the aesthetical aspect (hitched-up robes; hairy calves). Besides, there's the fact that Kreacher was snogging Mr. Black's old pair of trousers in OotP. Subtle hints as to Father Black's affinity towards Muggle things? Or merely another of Rowling's lapses in logic?
Nah. I'm not going to talk about Snapey's pants or Sirius' black silk boxers. (Or was it Draco's?) But there is something that vaguely annoys me as one of the things that don't really make sense within the universe Rowling created. (And because I am dodging work, as usual.) So: Traditional wizard wear consists of long robes worn over underwear, right? No trousers for student!Snape, nor for old Archie nor for Albus himself (so we assume, though I really don't want to dwell on this particular image). Old wizards also tend to wear long hair and beards. Obviously, Rowling based her conception of wizard style on a very traditional image of wizards and witches, pointy hats and all. However, Molly Weasley, who comes from a traditional wizard family and is only marginally acquainted with Muggle culture, does not accept Bill's long hair as an aspect of proper wizard fashion. It is Percy, with his nicely trimmed hair and his horn-rimmed glasses, who is the ideal son. It is one of those inconsistencies that annoy me, because Rowling obviously screwed up the internal logic of the HP universe: Her Percy is the standard Head Boy/bureaucrate nerd of the Muggle world, not of the wizarding world. Percy is the personification of rules and old wizard values, which, however, differ from those in our world. Wizards like Percy don't assume Muggle fashion (short hair and jeans). They wear old-fashioned robes and grow a beard.
As to the old What-do-they-wear-under-those-robes? question: It is my personal convicion that, though the older generation as well as more traditional wizards like a healthy breeze around their privates, the younger generation tends to wear trousers. Even the Weasley children wear jeans when not in school (they have to change on the train) (on a side note: Harry and Ron change on the train while Hermione is in the same compartment, which leads me to the assumption that they merely pull on the robes over their Muggle-style clothes) - and they come from a traditional wizard family with no real knowledge of the Muggle world. As to the adult generation: While Snape, presumably a pure-blood who has spent all his life either at Hogwarts or in Voldemort's gang, is a healthy-breeze candidate, Remus, who is a half-blood and moves around the Muggle world dressed like a Muggle (OotP) would surely appreciate a pair of trousers now and again, especially if it's cold or he's in danger of having to run away very quickly, which is much easier when not wearing a dress. And then there's Sirius, who used to ride a Muggle motorbike. Even if one's not an outspoken supporter of LeatherTrousers!Sirius (I'm not.) (Ew), it stands to reason that he wouldn't ride a bike wearing merely his robes, if only because of the aesthetical aspect (hitched-up robes; hairy calves). Besides, there's the fact that Kreacher was snogging Mr. Black's old pair of trousers in OotP. Subtle hints as to Father Black's affinity towards Muggle things? Or merely another of Rowling's lapses in logic?
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Date: 2004-04-21 02:34 am (UTC)Where do you get that Fudge is a pureblood supremacist? I didn't see that *anywhere*.
Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore says, when Hagrid is arrested, that Fudge has always paid too much attention to the "so-called purity of blood". And while I am the first one to admit that Dumbledore is not always right in his moral standards and his choices, it is still clear that Rowling uses him - throughout the books - for the clarification and explanation of background information, which she has and the reader needs.
Whereas Percy is an overachieving nerdboy because he does truly assume the Muggle Accountant persona, assuming that's what the higher-ups want, rather than only paying lip service.
Ah, but, the Ministry members - of all people - follow the traditional wizard fashion and have no idea what Muggles really look like. That much is obvious from the way they dress at the Quidditch World Cup, where Harry points out that the campsite manager is the only real Muggle around. The Ministry wizards wear ponchos and kilts. Rowling makes a point throughout the books to emphasise the differences between Muggle and wizard fashion: from the weird people in emerald green and purple cloaks appearing in the streets in PS to, indeed, the fact that the Ministry wizards, even those who are occasionally in touch with the Muggle society, have no idea what to wear.
Mr. Crouch is an exception at the World Cup, but this is due to the fact that he follows rules. The rule is to dress up like a Muggle, and he fulfils it flawlessly. While the normal wizards don't.
But half the fun of fandom for me is forcing it all to make sense despite that, and part of what's so endlessly inspiring about the wizarding world is that it usually *does* allow consistent interpretations.
However, Rowling leaves many plotholes which are clearly recognisable as plotholes. Or maybe not so much plotholes as smallish plot inconsistencies. It doesn't reduce my pleaure when reading the books, but it annoys me sometimes when I try to fit it into a larger context, for example when writing fic.