#all my european shows are mysteries and heavy costume dramas

[ellieellieoxenfree]

the problem with being this prickly and oversensitive is that i can't find anything to distract myself with because everything i think about starting is just making me feel worse

[friendlybowlofsoup]

oh SWEET in that case - if you feel like it, could you share some of the aesthetic/period influence for this story? I have no idea what the general guidelines of xianxia (?) fantasy’s clothing aesthetic are, all my defaults are european fantasy!

Of course, though this post would go on forever if I talked about all of my aesthetic inspirations, so I’ll just focus on clothes for now!

Huge disclaimer going forth though: 

GotRM isn’t true a xianxia, as I take my inspirations from many different places, not just Taoist/Buddhist/Chinese folklore, so bear that in mind. Also, the descriptions of clothing/architecture is purposely a little vague in the narrative to allow reader freedom. You don’t have to adhere to the aesthetics I’m about to show you, this is mostly just what I think of while I’m writing.

This is long, and therefore under read more, because pictures are included, and because fashion and aesthetics make me weep.

((If you want I can make another post about things like architecture/atmosphere or even influences from media/folktales. Or if you want more fashion stuff too, that’s cool! Just send me another ask ;)))

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ANYWAYS CLOTHES

Lots of Chinese historical-fantasy dramas (be it wuxia or xianxia) will often costume their characters with very “floaty”, light-colored clothing, with long sleeves that can be used to emphasize movement as they perform their crazy actions while in flight/combat. 

In particular, you might be familiar with the daxiushan, which is the outer robe with characteristically long, gaping sleeves (in the picture below, it’s sheer, but these can be solid in color too):

Or the dachang, which is an open, heavy robe (almost like a haori but heavier and longer): 

Or maybe the pibo, which is the thin, long scarf that you often see wrapped over, then under, the arms. Usually these are worn by divine/celestial/noble characters, as a symbol of grace and beauty:

The inner robes, or standalone robes, tend to vary wildly. Here’s some popular styles off the top of my head though:

Yishang/ruqun (blouse tucked into a waist-length or chest-length skirt, usually with “left over right” crossed collar, though feminine styles might also have a parallel collar):

Zhiju (Long, draping, one-piece robe):

And my personal favorite, the Yuanlingpao (round-collared, usually worn with trousers underneath. Allows for dynamic movement.):

For actual historical periods, most costumers of the genre will point to the Tang/Ming/Han dynasties, and also sometimes Sui. Lots of sleeves in these eras, and layers!

BUT NOW THAT’S JUST XIANXIA/WUXIA FASHION

I’m not nearly as well-versed in other cultures, but I have been inspired by Japanese kimono:

Yukata + haori: casual wear, mostly worn in summer. The haori is the jacket, the yukata is the robe inside.

The Furisode (draping sleeves, also with really pretty designs hng):

Hakama (Long pleated skirt/trousers worn over a basic kimono):

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Bonus:

You can find all sorts of really neat hair accessories if you look up kanzashi hair pins, but my real love is veils and mysterious hats.

Min He, for example, wears two kinds of veils, one that covers her whole head (weimao/mili) and one that just covers her mouth (miansha):

And there are plenty more out there too~

This post got pretty long, and I’m not sure if it’s coherent, but looking around these styles should help with figuring out the general aesthetic! If you need some more help, here are some tumblr blogs with A++ content in terms of this kind of fashion

@ziseviolet: has a master list of fashion styles and they do excellent historical/cultural write ups.

@hanfugallery : hanfu just translates to clothes, and they post a really nice collection of all sorts of hanfu styles, not just the ones I mentioned!

@tokyo-fashion: more modern fashion styles, but really good to look at for inspiration and references.

[soundsgoodfeelsgood]

Thursday 14th may, day 66

NOTE: i actually wrote this as a presentation letter to a guy on Slowly, but i really liked how it turned out so i thought “hm, might as well post this”. Here you go.

So here are 10 maybe-not-that-interesting facts about me. 

1. My name in italian literally means "clear" and yet i have the same expression capability of a 5-year-old. It takes me forever to express myself in my native langue and I find it easier to speak in english, which can be quite a challenge when talking to my friends as you can imagine. Actually nobody calls me by my name, people usually refer to me by my surname, even my closest friends. (that's Cili if you where wondering, like red hot chili pepper) 

2. In just a month i'll be graduating from high school and in september i'm going to start med school. I don't actually know why i'll be attending it since the very last thing i want to be when i grow up is a doctor. I have really, really low empathy so i don't think i could ever pull that off. Whant i want to be when i grow up is a resercher in neurosciences. There is nothing more fascinating then the human brain. I find utterly...disarming how everything we are, everything we do, all of our thought and movements are decided by how some tiny-iny particles of living matter interact with each other. The human body is the most beautiful of mysteries and everything it does is the result of a tiny miracle. I worship science. I love to find all the science that surrounds me and learn about it. And while i'm quite a thinker the subject i hate the most is philosophy. The only two authors i ever sincerely liked are Plato and Popper. The rest is garbage. 

3. I have quite a memory. I perfectly remember stuff that has happened to me over 10 years ago. Like that one time when i was 8 and i was angry at my friend Dave so i started to throw comic books at him. Or how i used to go around my grandma's garden with my cousins dressed up in Sandocan costumes looking for pinecones that we would later smash in order to eat the pine nuts inside them. And how could I not mention when at 10 my friends and I organised a whole funeral for a ladybug that had drowned in their pool? we made this little raft out of a plastic plate, put the ladybug on it with some flowers and plants and then had a full celtic-like ceremony (we even wrote a eulogy). But the thing i remember the easiest are songs. I know hundres of thousands of song lyrics by heart. My playlist has over 600 songs and i can recognise any of them within 5 seconds (no kidding). Also i have the weirdest music taste. I like Queen as much as One Direction as much as early-2000s pop rock as much as indie as much as musicals. I believe music to be the expression of one's soul. Like, there are some songs that literally speak to the deepest part of me and if i didn't know any better i'd think they were written especially for me. 

4. I'm an INTJ like Christopher Nolan, Elon Musk and Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes. I'm also a Ravenclaw even though Pottermore keeps putting me in Hufflepuff.  As for the zodiac (in which i don't believe in but still read) i'm technically a scorpio but because i was born on the first day of scorpio at five past midnight, my zodiac-obsessed friend keeps telling me i'm a cusp which is something i had no idea existed until she pointed that out. As they say, you never stop learning. 

5. I can solve rubik's cube in under a minute. My friend from robotics clubs tought me. Also, i'm in my schools robotics club. Last year we built a piano-playing robot and we're currently second in italy and forth in europe in our category.  This year we were planning on going to the international competitions but then coronavirus happened so...yeah. Still, robotics is one of the best thing that has ever happened to me. Not for the club itself but for the people I met and for all the beautiful experiences and for that one time in october when we sneaked wine into our hotel room and the next morning i was so hungover i slept the whole day while tecnically competing. 

6. I have a thing for alpacas. I don't know why, i think they're cute. I have a mug with an alpaca on it where i store my markers (i also have a thing for markers). One of my dreams is to see them in Machu Pichu (the alpacas, not the markers). I loooooooove travelling. It's the one thing i could never get tired of. I have an endless list of places i want to visit. My goal is to visit every continent before i turn 30 (the earlier, the better). So far i've been to North America (the USA, twice), Africa (Morocco and Egypt) and i've visited most european capital cities (London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Luxemburg, Bruxelles, and many other). As of right now there's Singapore on top of my list, immediatly followed by Peru. Travellig is such a unique experience. Every where you go there's always something new to learn and to discover. Different culture, different food, different languages. I adore languages of all kind. I'm fluent in italian (duh) and english (even tho i make tons of mistakes - i'm sorry), advanced in french and currently learning spanish. 

7. I'm writing a book. Let me rephrase that - I'm writing a trilogy. It's actually a little more complicated than that to be honest. When i started high school i started writing this fairly awful teen-fiction-like novel and than i though to myself: why not make another book where i write the same exact story but from a different point of view and with a totally different style with no reason whatsoever? Five years later, i'm still not even halfway done with a first draft of any of the three books. I mostly use them as a creative outlet, something i do when i'm bored, just for the fun of it. But as stupid as they can be, they're still my creatures and i love them. Even though i'm sort of embarassed of them - no one i know has ever read them. I once tried to show the first few chapters to a group of friends and they still make fun of me for it (but they do it in that friend way that doesn't really offend, you know what i mean?). I just love words so much. I even have a list of favourite words written in my journal. Some exemples are "scrosciare", which is the italian word for the noise of heavy rain falling, and words that are what they mean, like obsolete and cacophonic.

8. if i were to write this last year, i'd tell you i don't believe in friendship. Now, my mind hasn't change that much, i still believe to have no friends in the way i consider a friend is supposed to be. And i know i talked about my friends quite s few times throughout this letter but i usually use this word in absence of something that better explains what i really feel. I'll try to make this as clear as i can. I struggle to make a connection with people. i always feel like people click with each other in misterious ways i have yet to understand. Most of those i identify as my friends are just the people i hang out with. There is no...spiritual connection? It's a little complicated to explain. As if at the beginning of times we were handed some instruction booklets on "human interaction and realtionships" and i lost mine, while everyone else carfully guarded theirs. The word that best describes what i think of most people is afecionado. I don't know where i read it but it pretty much explains it all - someone i feel affection for, but nothing else. I do have a best friend tho. I mean, best friend is quite a big word. I have a human being i feel more connected with in comparison to others. I’ve known him since forever and i hate him. I dont hate hate him as in i want him dead. I love him as a friend, he's a great friend. but i hate him as a human being. He's so goddam perfect it bothers me so much. Have you ever met someone that is just so annoingly good at any thing? well that's him. 

9. I have never fallen in love. Not once. The last time i had a crush i was 11. This is what happens when you are an hopeless romantic who grew up reading love stories and at the same time a creepingly logical human. You have incredibly high expectations. And the only time i kissed someone it was more of a lips-touching-for-a-second kind of experience and we were both very much drunk (it was actually the first out of the three times in my life i ever got drunk, the third being the wine experience in october) When i first met said best friend everyone we knew shipped up ("shipped" as in the fandom term meaning two people should date) and there was a moment this summer when i thought i was developping feelings for him but it was just a second. And i may or may not have dreamed of dating this french guy i saw twice at a drama festival. 

10. I love quotes. I think it's part of the memorising thing - learning quotes by heart. Songs, books, speeches, vines, stand up comedians. I also have a very weird sense of humor, basically anything makes my laugh like bad puns and dank memes. Anyway, i have this thing on my door where i write all the quotes i like. Mostly they're from songs, but i also have two from Dante's Divine Comedy. In italy we study it our third year of high school and my teacher is so obsessed with it that she made us learn over 200 verses by heart.