#i also like the contrasting binding on his jacket! and the shape of the pocket flaps

[ladyofmisfortune]

(via Gridllr)

Something Good – Negro Kiss is a short film from 1898 of a couple kissing and holding hands. It is believed to depict the earliest on-screen kiss involving African Americans and is known for departing from the prevalent and purely stereotypical presentation of racist caricature in popular culture at the time it was made.

“There seemed to be something a lot more intimate and having more to do with self-presentation. And that’s unlike anything I had seen from that period when all moving picture images of African Americans were through a white lens and are distortions, misrepresentations, or pseudo anthropological. And this is none of that.”

[palatezones]

Jacket porn in Shadow & Bone, a quick showcase

This is a universe where in at least 3/5 known countries you'll find yourself in an overcoat even when the trees are in full leaf (4/5 if you count Fjerda, thus far 100 snowy), so presumably it's Cold everywhere. Here's Kaz, in his standard outfit:

Homburg, overcoat, jacket, scarf, high-necked vest, shirt buttoned all the way up. He never wears a necktie/cravat, but other people do. He's got particularly sharp lapels on everything he wears, as seen here. A deep break. He is indeed a sharp and pointy character. He routinely wears his overcoat collar flipped up, which makes him look bigger than he actually is.

Here he is being respectable, indoors so no overcoat:

I like the contrast bias binding, which you see on several jackets. Still with the high-necked vest. Still with very sharp lapels with a high, narrow, and relatively deep break. By contrast, his hedonist fashionista savant of a gun arm, Jesper:

First of all, that suit is a tweedy brownish gray with yellow and purple woven in (!). Purple contrast bias binding. Yellow shirt, purple necktie (never seen actually at his throat; he is too cool for top buttons). The break on the jacket lapels is much shallower and wider than what Kaz wears, but also rounded, gentle. I love the same-fabric jacket and vest, which gets you several layers of the same plaid at different angles. He's fairly tall and slim, and this jacket showcases that. When he wants to be imposing, he puts on a dark red leather duster with a profile much more like Kaz's. Here's Jesper's boyfriend, Wylan:

Leather jacket, off-center buckle closures. I didn't get a shot of what he's wearing underneath, but it's a dark plaid shirt, necktie, and collarless be-pocketed vest, all dark and not quite matching. Mostly what you'll notice about him is that he looks like he rolled down a hill in full costume every time you see him: disorganized, everything pulled a bit loose and flapping, as with the buckles above.

Another of Kaz's crew, Inej:

Not everything she wears is asymmetrical, but this jacket predominates. Check out THAT sharp point! The other side is a simple fold-down collar, close at the neck, with that gold contrast all the way around the back. Inej is pointy in some of the same ways as Kaz, although as she gets less pointy over the second season, we start to see her without a jacket at all, wearing a collarless vest and nice swoopy sleeves.

Moving on to Nikolai, a true clotheshorse who also spends a lot of time putting on and taking off layers. Here he is at sea, in an overcoat that is absolutely eye-searing teal onscreen (much brighter than the below):

Besides the cuffs -- I think this is the only cuffed overcoat we see -- it's got a layered set of collar and lapels plus that gold shoulder-board detail. The lapels are simple fold-backs, and as you can see the shape is long and swoopy from a narrow waist. He's opening his coat here (hooks and eyes hidden on the facings), because he's wearing his land outfit underneath, which is ALSO over the top. That gold in the middle of his open coat is guidon braid, as seen below:

Personally I'm a big fan of the close-neck collar on jackets (but not of shoulderboards or guidon braid, both military details that are appropriate to Nikolai's land outfits). Love that hit of contrast blue right at the neck; it's the same on both Nikolai and Alina, so you can tell it's not just a shirt layer peeping out the top. (We do see that, below, in the civilian version of the same cut of coat.)

The embroidered chest and sleeves are a bit much for me, and also the jacket colors are wonky shades of warm mustardy green or brown (Alina's is definitely velvet), which aren't my faves. But the cut is such that you can have a jacket that ends at the waist, or a longer overcoat style with a waist seam and flared skirts, and still have the same look about the shoulders.

Also in the above is the back of Mal's head, and his blue leather many-unnecessary-buckles coat. In addition to the two back buckles there are at least two on the chest as well. The collar is a simple fold-down, tall -- look how high it goes on his neck -- and with that contrast topstitching. Pretty sure this was made for the show, because you don't see topstitching like that on leather very often. Mal is a tracker/hunter, so leather outerwear makes sense, but not with those buckles. He's also got a shaved head and almost never wears a hat, which is ironic in this show that is generous with its hattery. Earlier in the series, Mal wore this overcoat, my fave:

(This is a costume reference photo, I assume. You can see the blue leather underneath, and an orange check buttondown he wears elsewhere under that.) Check out the buttonholes so high up on the lapels: that's something you see in 19th C. men's coats long after people stopped buttoning them all the way up. Check out that deep break! The collar lies nicely flat on his shoulders with its two breaks like arrows pointing inward at his throat.

Back to Nikolai, in civilian gear now, still basically the same cut of coat (it's got tails in back, a squared version rather than a swallowtail). Again with the mustardy green on his necktie and the one visible -- decorative; that jacket can't close -- buttonhole. He's wearing a waistcoat in a different fabric under the jacket.

Note his white shirt collar, which does protrude above the coat collar, by design: but the shirt collar points don't fold down. Jesper and Wylan showcase the other extreme of shirt collar style (uh, not very well in the gifs I got), where the collar points are very long and narrow, not like 70s disco wear but definitely not off the rack today. Note that Kaz's vests are so high-necked you can't even guess what his shirt collar points look like.

And what would the series be without the True Original Evil Clotheshorse, the Dark Fuck Prince Aleksander.

He always wears black, sometimes black with gold or silver contrast details, sometimes black-on-black woven patterns in really dim lighting, yes it's hard to gif well. The "kefta" high-necked long coat, all matchy-matchy with complex embroidery design, is the signature look of the show, but here he is wearing a black hooded cape over his kefta, plus what looks like a black vest and a black open shirt under that, because dude is committed to the bit. Too hot to need a hat to keep your ears warm, but what is the point of being a Dark Fuck Prince if you can't do a swoopy cape move. The kefta doesn't do a lot for me as a basic design element; it's a pretty basic coat design that doesn't vary much aside from color. You do get the occasional fur upper facing, folded out so people can see it, because fur against your neck is not actually that pleasant. But Binbons can accessorize any way he wants to.

[therealityhelix]

Shards of the Nexus: A Genuinely Decent Guy

His badness levels were unusually low for a Riddler of his size.

Song: Peace of Mind-Boston

@captainbaddecisions​ especially, but also @cardwrecks​ and @miasmacaron​

                                                  ?~?~?~?~?

“That's dangerous, you know.” the voice was linen, fresh and thin, the sibilants smeared by the Aeolian harp in his mouth. Leanness contrasting solidity. There was something in his half-gloved hand, nimble fingers hovering over a palm sized technological marvel of unknown function. “Just...lurking like that. It can get you in trouble in this town, especially if you don't know who you're dealing with.”

Cairngorm quartz behind gooseberry glass, watching with serpentine circumspection. And though the generous smile was wide and unguarded, that wary gaze remained fixed, unblinking as she unfolded herself from the velveteen shadow outside his apartment door. He relaxed slightly upon noticing that the top of her head barely came up to his chin, but not completely. His demeanor was open-even his warning was more friendly than threatening, despite the mysterious, capsule shaped device still resting in his palm-yet not so guileless as to drop his guard to a stranger just because she was smaller than him.

Those smokey eyes took her in, avid curiosity and wariness playing a cat's cradle in vain hopes of binding her.

“I don't recognize you.” he said. “How'd you even get in here?”

“I recognize this.”

Her finger traced the sinuous symbol at the shoulder of his jacket, the cipher signature of his cryptographic house. The Detective had worn one too, said it was a seal shared among them.

“Oh.” Disappointment draped him like a heavy blanket. “Come in search of the Riddler, huh? Well, you found him. I don't really do that stuff all too much anymore, but I guess it doesn't really matter to the people hunting me. So, what is it? Revenge? Heroism? Are you an assassin for the Light? Didn't really want to get into a fight tonight, but I can if you make me. Just a warning.”

Hope and sadness, optimism and melancholy. Fizzy sour apple candy dip spread on bitter almonds.

“I am none of those things. Just a visitor.” she reassured him, trying to remember what the Detective had said. A favored son, so bright, so promising. “You are...Whyjae?”

He startled like a squirrel.

“Yes! How do you know that? Just who are you?” the device went into a hidden pocket, no longer a danger to either of them. “Only a few people know me by that name.”

“The Detective told me. Oh, they wanted you to have this.”

She held out the thick envelope the enigmatic being had entrusted her with. She'd taken very good care of it.

YJ accepted the package with good cheer.

“You know Mom? Well, they're not actually my mom, obviously, but...”

“They spoke of a Family.” she said. “But they didn't elaborate on...what did you call yourself? A 'Riddler'? They mentioned that name, but didn't explain. What is a Riddler?”

Surprise danced with disbelief. His demeanor changed very slightly, a limeade vodka shot intruding on the inquisitive ebony stare.

“It's what we are. A specific title. Listen. Try to guess!

Always old, sometimes new,

never sad, sometimes blue

never empty, sometimes full,

never pushes, always pulls.”

He intoned the verse like a song, like a spell of his own. It meant something. It was somehow important that she answer this correctly.

But as a witch, she was intimately familiar with the subject of which he spoke. It was an object of special veneration, the recipient of many, many names. Had he known that she would know, or was this a coincidence, a special sorcerous synchronization?

She stared back, holding his gaze, iolites on umber.

“Hmm. I think...

The sister of light

a mirror in the night

Shines like the diamonds

but many times as bright.

Right?”

He lit up like a copper flame.

“Yes. Yes! That's it, you got it!” he grasped her hands, energetic jubilation causing his little brown ponytail to bounce with him. “You came up with that on the fly? How clever! You...You aren't one of 'us', are you?”

She shook her head.

“No, I'm from very far away. My name is Helix.”

“Helix...” the light lisp tripped over the hard hiss of her name. He hadn't once bothered trying to hide it. “That's pretty! I like it!”

She immediately decided to protect this man with her life.

“If there were more people like you, we wouldn't even need all these vigilantes running around. But that is what a Riddler is.” he tapped the side of his head. “Proof of intellect. We all go about it in different ways. Arkham builds huge escape room type challenges. Mom-I mean Detective, will pose very elaborate riddles, but only if you ask. And Swag...well, he usually makes people question themselves, if you know what I mean!”

She didn't, but it sounded interesting.

“Some of us don't really do the more, um, criminal elements that usually come with the title anymore,” he continued. “so don't worry about that with me, okay?”

“The Detective also neglected to mention that part.” she pointed out. “Though, in fairness, we were discussing more the orbital resonances of separate realities, and their effect on liminal spaces.”

YJ looked taken aback.

“I...don't know what that means.” disbelieving tone creaking through that youthful voice.

“you could tell him”

The formless voice slithered into their heads, and YJ was instantly on defensive alert, the forgotten device finding its way into his hand once more, wary aggression in every line and angle.

The visitor was a slate gray, vaguely humanoid thing, devoid of detail and expression, indeed missing a face entirely.

YJ held up the capsule device in threat.

“You get out of here! We've got no time for your weird magic shenanigans. “ he scolded. “Sorry Miss Helix, this is...some kind of being that comes by sometimes and causes trouble. We call them Grays, and I definitely don't have the patience for them today. Shoo, now! Shoo!”

“is she your new friend” the thing thought into their minds. “wouldn't it be funny if she-”

Helix also had something in her hand, and she flung it at the creature like a dart. The gray entity dissipated the moment before impact and did not return.

“What-how did you-they never just leave!” YJ sputtered. “They usually inflict some kind of curse before going. I know it might sound unbelievable, but they wield a powerful magic. Always temporary, but irresistible.”

She retrieved her little projectile to show him their weakness. It was a simple rusty nail.

“It might also sound unbelievable, but I am a witch, and I also wield magic.” she explained. “I know what those things are. They're a kind of fae. They live in the space between worlds, and I walk out there sometimes. I see them.”

“You know how to drive them off?” he asked eagerly. Apparently he was all too familiar with fae mischief.

“It's not a guarantee, but no fae likes iron. I don't even like it all that much. Even with this, they can still overcome me, so don't rely too heavily on it. But it might help now and again, if you happen to be faster than they are.”

She dropped the nail into his palm.

“A witch, huh? A 'dancing with the devil' type witch, or a 'wears a lot of silver jewelry and crystals' type witch?”

“A 'throws garbage at exobiotic entities to make them go away' type witch. There's more than just the two types, you know.”

“Yeah, I do. I've had to deal with a witch before.” he held his hands up quickly. “I didn't hurt her! I mean, she was just a kid. And she technically beat me. But that was the plan, so it went the way it was supposed to, and no one really got hurt. Eh, well that was a long time ago anyway. But I'm familiar with the concept. So you know how to do magic? I bet you and Detective had a lot to discuss!”

She was smiling to match him now, his bubbling energy a welcome contagion.

“Now that sounds like a story! Would you be willing to share more of it? And maybe more about what a 'Riddler' does?”

“Well...I guess so! Why don't we get out of the hall, and I can tell you all kinds of things!”

                                                     ?~?~?~?~?

Artist: Me

Artist: Verticalthoughts(deactivated)

Artist: @captainbaddecisions​