#SOME of his bullshit plans. not to a great extent but they figured he Wasnt Doing Something Good.

[normal-thoughts-official]

when do you think magnus first started wearing makeup?

GREAT QUESTION ANON i hope you know that i would die for you

i think magnus developed most of his fashion sense (and use of it as a form of expression) when he went to England. I mean before that he was with asmodeus doing fuck knows what and i dont think he was encouraging magnus to do a lot of self expression lol. i mean he wanted to keep Magnus on a leash, so he would be close to him and obey him and asmodeus would become King of Edom and yada yada yada evil plan, you get it. so i think before england magnus wore, i dont fucking know, black robes or something.

but then!!!!! he yeeted asmodeus back into edom because hes a king and decided to live his own life, and fucked off to England because??? unclear. im gonna go ahead and headcanon it was because of ragnor, whom he met while he was still under asmodeus’ abuse and who helped him get away from his chains, because i do what i want. anyway. for a while, life was all about trying to unlearn whatever asmodeus had been telling him about his nature and his purpose in life and figuring out who he really was and what he really wanted, because it be like that post-abuse (also lets not forget there was the abuse from his stepfather and the traumatic relationship with his mother). so it makes sense that Magnus would experiment with clothing and makeup at that time, because that’s how you express yourself to the world, its part of identity-building and it also works as an armour of sorts - Magnus dresses to look elegant, powerful and put-together, approachable but never vulnerable. this use of clothing as armour is pretty much canon, too - when he was struggling after the whole bodyswap plotline, the first thing he did was change clothes and makeup, to look happier, whole-er. Fashion, to Magnus, is self-expression, while simultaneously being a way of protection (and to some extent, hiding); hes trying not to be ashamed of who he is, to own it, to allow himself to be and not be confined by anyone else’s expectations, but hes also trying to protect himself from others, because when he was at his lowest point, his vulnerability was weaponized to manipulate him, and he doesnt want that to happen again. and then he meets Camille and it does! haha! im fine

i think that interpretation that England was the defining point for Magnus’ fashion sense is also supported by, well, his style in general. while the asian influence in his clothing is present - with the abundance of silk and the longer shirts that resemble some of indonesian traditional clothing, not to mention the brocade patterns - i think its surprisingly western? with the pants, the vests (which are very english), a lot of the military-style clothing, the makeup itself which is 100% western style… i think his influence was mostly British. but, obviously, he would want to reflect his origins and cultural upbringing as an indonesian man into his clothing - there was quite an asian community in England at that time and also he had his memories from his time in indonesia. we also cant forget that asian fabrics and style were kind of hot in Europe at that time and also influenced their fashion as a whole, and also that when magnus was born the dutch were already settled in indonesia and therefore the clothing style was (forcibly) changing to conform to european beauty standarts, so theres all of that.

as for the makeup - yes i do remember the question was about makeup im sorry i get cARriED AwaY - it was actually pretty common for men to wear makeup in both Indonesia and England up to the 20th century, so this wasn’t really, like, scandalous or anything. men wore makeup, no biggie. although i do believe that Magnus got his products from Asia, because 1- theres no way Magnus would wear that white powder bullshit that the english did, that’s disgusting; 2- its more suited to his skin tone anyway; 3- to the surprise of absolutely no one, the english sucked, and their makeup was very bad for both the skin and health as a whole. literally when i looked up makeup in the 18th century for this ask the first thing that came up was an article on how europeans were dying left and right and going bald due to lead poisoning caused by their makeup????? and they knew it was the makeup but they just. didnt do anything about it, i guess. and then died. which sounds about right

so yeah anyway Magnus is not an idiot, knows his natural products (hes a warlock!), and was born in indonesia where he knew for a fact makeup wasnt killing ppl and making them bald so theres no way he was using the english stuff. he either made it himself - which is actually pretty likely, now that i think about it. he brews his own shampoo - or he got them from Asia, which was only a portal away anyway (im saying Asia but i know, obviously, that there are thousands of different cultures in Asia and just indonesia speaks over 700 different languages. however, from my research on this, the asians had been trading makeup, fabric and other beauty products amongst themselves for centuries before the europeans even knew they existed. so i think its safe to say that there are products from all over the continent in both magnus’ collection and in each culture’s traditional use of makeup). But i like the idea of Magnus making his own stuff because that is great, beautiful, i love Magnus creating stuff and mixing potions and making his shit, hes such a genius and hes so creative and this seems to me like a space where he can be as free and wild as he wants, not to mention its something he can use to help people, but when he brews his shampoo and makeup its something that he does for himself and Magnus doesnt do a lot of stuff for himself. so yeah, im gonna go ahead and say Magnus makes his makeup. god what a time to be alive im so thankful i got this ask

and then around the second half of the 18th century the english suddenly decided that makeup wasnt for men actually and that men shouldn’t wear colorful clothing, only boring ass suits and no corsets, and Magnus was like “lmao! sure jan” because, like i said, clothing and makeup are an important part of his identity, might even be some sort of foundantion that keeps him balanced - he gets to choose what he does and what he looks like and what he wants the world to think of him when they see him, instead of being defined by what other people are saying about himself. it helps him feel secure and free from his abuse and like he has a grip on himself. so he’ll be damned if the hottest random gender binary rule of the west is gonna stop him from wearing what he wants, fuck you. this is the one thing in magnus’ life that is about him, not about penitence, not about proving himself, not about helping others, but about him and who he is, and he cant give that up