Jabrosky
Banned
Some of us might regard clothing as an aspect of character appearance which we don't all like to emphasize, but I for one think a few mentions of it can help establish the setting (or build the world, if you will). I believe that the clothes people wear can not only identify their native culture, but also hint at how that culture developed and how it works today. Which is to say, you are what you wear.
Take for example the amount of clothes, or lack thereof, that your characters wear.
One of the traditional functions of having clothes on is to keep warm, so naturally cultures situated in hot climates will tend towards skimpier outfits year-round than those in cold ones. Contrary to popular presumption, walking around in loincloths isn't a sign of technological or social "backwardness", but rather a most comfortable choice of costume in hot environments.
Exhibit 1: Soldiers from ancient Egypt, Northeast Africa.
Exhibit 2: Soldier from ancient Mali, West Africa.
These guys didn't come from so-called "savage" tribes, but from large centralized empires with plenty of monumental architecture lying around, or what we call "civilizations". On the other hand, plenty of smaller-scale societies we would stereotype as "tribal" put on more clothing, because they lived in cold parts of the world. The correlation is with climate rather than "civilization".
Figure 3: Viking warrior, Northern Europe
To be sure, there are exceptions to this rule, especially for lighter-skinned peoples who have to worry about sunburn as well as heat exhaustion. That's probably why extensive skin covering has been such a big thing in the Middle East, even way before Islam. And on the other hand, people from hot climates can put on more clothing if they want to show off their fashion sense, or have been influenced by other cultures where more clothing is the norm. See this modern African lady for instance:
Figure 4: Young woman from somewhere in Africa, though I know not where yet.
(As a minor aside, MS really needs to up their image-per-post limit. I had to cut way more illustrative examples than I wanted)
Take for example the amount of clothes, or lack thereof, that your characters wear.
One of the traditional functions of having clothes on is to keep warm, so naturally cultures situated in hot climates will tend towards skimpier outfits year-round than those in cold ones. Contrary to popular presumption, walking around in loincloths isn't a sign of technological or social "backwardness", but rather a most comfortable choice of costume in hot environments.
Exhibit 1: Soldiers from ancient Egypt, Northeast Africa.
Exhibit 2: Soldier from ancient Mali, West Africa.
These guys didn't come from so-called "savage" tribes, but from large centralized empires with plenty of monumental architecture lying around, or what we call "civilizations". On the other hand, plenty of smaller-scale societies we would stereotype as "tribal" put on more clothing, because they lived in cold parts of the world. The correlation is with climate rather than "civilization".
Figure 3: Viking warrior, Northern Europe
To be sure, there are exceptions to this rule, especially for lighter-skinned peoples who have to worry about sunburn as well as heat exhaustion. That's probably why extensive skin covering has been such a big thing in the Middle East, even way before Islam. And on the other hand, people from hot climates can put on more clothing if they want to show off their fashion sense, or have been influenced by other cultures where more clothing is the norm. See this modern African lady for instance:
Figure 4: Young woman from somewhere in Africa, though I know not where yet.
(As a minor aside, MS really needs to up their image-per-post limit. I had to cut way more illustrative examples than I wanted)
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