#match ups strictly base on vibes only :D

[r26yz]

[forgottenamira]

so our girl amira isn't astairan, and she isn't even varmont, she's kolchean and, as the only kolchean woman i know of so far, its kinda pointless to establish what kolchean fashion might look like, but here i am doing it anyway (as ive said before, i do picture kolchis as a sort of...greek/byzantine mash up with a bit of a turkish flair, so that's def smth you can expect to see her riffing on in her sartorial choices)! ;D tbf to kolchean fashion tho idk that amira's the best showcase of it bc, when it comes to amira's wardrobe, its more a...would an evil pythia wear that? would an evil byzantine empress whear that? would an evil turkish sultanana wear that?

if you answered yes to any of the above, ur probably on the right track, but really there is one and, only one question you have to answer when looking at amira's clothing: does it giveoff lowkey 'if i go up against her ill probably lose' vibes bc in the end, that's amira's signature look. literally every single item amira ever puts on is strictly calculated to project strength and power. ofc, there are many different vestments of power that amira puts on, often mixing and matching, and that's kinda what we'll be exploring here!

ok so some of the power amira is wielding, all calculated to intimidate: emperor's birde, emperor's mother (take that, arthur and guin!), calainon's heiress, high priestess, keeper of the eternal flame (tho lbr its really godfrey who does anything w that ngl), and witch to name a few. some emblems of these things:

colors: red (amira: i was wearing it first arthur back off), black, gold, orange, silver, purple

precious stones: lapis lazuli, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls

sigils: dragon/serpent (in kolchean myth they're interchangable bc they are in greek myth), moon, eclipse, torch, tower, phoenix, raven

materials: samite, linen, bronze, copper, brass, silver, gold

scents: pepper, spikenard, cinnamon, aloeswood, ambergris, musk, frankincense, myrrh, balsam, indigo, dyers’ herbs, lapis lazuli, fustic, storax, pine, ivy, bay leaves, myrtle, rosemary

so you will see the above themes showing up time and again in her wardrobe!! some other things meant to project power you'll see is a lot of v structured/rigid clothing to give off strength as well as fabrics to enlarge her silhouette one way or another so as to appear more visually intimidating, veils and lace and draped fabric and dark colors to give off mystery and uncertainty, lots of metalwork to project toughness, lots of jewelry to show off wealth

while amira wears many colors, particularly those above, black, red, and silver are without a doubt her go-to's, these being the primary colors of house calainon. she is also more likely to don a raven, moon, or dragon image than that of a phoenix, as she wishes to showcase that, while she may wield her husband's power, she is powerful in and of herself and her own family without him, though she will happily clad herself in roderick's smbolism when the occasion best suits, as well

a frequent favorite way of amira's to dress is more or less as follows: with a fairly form fitting gown in the ancient kolchean style, covered over by a rich and often rather boxy or else flowing and diaphonous cloak or surcoat of some sort in the more modern kolchean style, blending both identities of ancient high priestess and modern queen, alike

amira also often clads herself in somewhat militaristic looks, donning ornamental armor, studded with jewels, or even a gown with structured shoulders (shoulder pads) topped with epaulettes, chains, or a jeweled dagger. these are always meant to appear entirely decorative, but they absolutely also function in a crisis

in terms of head-dress, amira often wears precious metals (and sometimes stones) in her dark hair or smth to elevate the eye and make her appear even taller and, in this, generally accompanies the look with a veil of some sort, usually black or black-based

in summary, amira's goal is never to look good, per se, just to look powerful (which usually does look pr damn good lbr ;D)

anyway, you can find her pinterest section [ here ] for much more specificity!

OOC | Fashions???

so as you know, i usually start my lore posts on either of my rulers, but since this is a fashion post, this one's posting to my queen of fashion's blog ;DDDD anyway, i wanted to chat w you guys abt ur thoughts re: astairan fashions in general? i mostly talk abt rosie and her court fashions here, since her bio says she's a trendsetter etc and ive never really talked a ton abt that, so over a year in, i thought it might finally be time hahaha but yeah! i know, kate, you have a lot of thoughts abt aria's gowns and such, as well? and, lizzy, you've talked a bit abt brigit's style being kinda counter-culture, too? and in decorating, at least, we've talked abt more simplicity and nature being drawn into astairan aesthetics, etc, vs varmont, so i feel like that may also apply to their sartorial selections? idk! id love to hear more abt all ur thoughts on all of this!

ok, so as you all know i v much enjoy thinking abt lfr fashion bc!! tis fun heehee since rosie is a bit of a trendsetter, i also like to think abt like...what're maybe some of, like, the ~established style norms~ and how does she break them, if she's setting trends, etc, so!! anyway, from here's imma chat mostly abt rosie's (and eilia's but as a mirror to rosie's) fashions!

i feel like our baseline is obv general medieval/fantasy aesthetic of course and, since historically speaking, queens (whether ruling or consort) were the ppl to set the fashion tone at court and, thereby, throughout the kingdom, i thought id start w @forgotteneilionora 's fashion sense/style and work from there? tbh idk if eilia really ~is setting any trends, but i thought she could at least work as a type of standard, just to get this duscussion kinda going?

obv there're lotsa styles and style cues and honestly i feel like every county probs has its own stylitstic personality and obv each ~person has theirs and so on and so forth (for example, eabha wears a lot of v sort of greco-roman kinda styles which...idk if that's just ~her or if its a calleary thing or maybe a ~their og water nation~ style thing, or some other option entirely) but yeah!

so!! eilia's style is...ngl v deffffff big time a riff on like...~medieval fashion~ in a v indistinct kinda sense ngl hahaha if princess buttercup from the princess bride or lady morgana from merlin or princess isabella from braveheart would wear it...eilionora probably would, too! i think of her as v traditionalist in her dress, but also v elegant and understated as well: she def kinda plays it safe, i think, but she dresses well and is always thinking of her public image through the lens of being a symbol of astaira and therefore wanting to be v respectable etc in the way she presents herself

id say that eilia's biggest contributions to astairan fashion have probs been twofold (with a bonus trait thanks to roderick but i'll get into that in a bit): first, she is super understated in her dress and i feel like, rather than crowns or coronets, she generally opts for a simple ferronieres (aka a sort of...chain or loop that goes over the forebead, often bearing a [ jewel ] or [ jewels ] and, historically speaking, admittedly much more of a renaissance staple than a medieival one but...here we are) as well as a v standard [ medieval silhouette ] of form-fitting bodice with boatneck and flowing skirts below the waist (usually including a long chain or belt at the waist/hips as well), and sleeves that flow outward dramatically from the elbow like [ this ] to various lengths. (the bonus thing she's contributed to astairan fashion is, i think, actually sort of accidental bc i think its just a political statement: and that's a rise in popularity of wearing blue and/or stars as frankly a political statement just bc those're her colors etc and she happened to be queen when roderick took over, so its sort of a symbol now of a free astaira, and since this is all ulatimately a preamble to my thoughts on rosie's dressing standards, i def think rosie does this, too.) another thing eilia does a lot of is sort of...paying a lot of attention to textures: i feel she wears a lot of silk, a lot of velvet, and a lot of diaphonous fabrics as well. you'll def catch her w various transparent veils and such too!

so, w rosie, i think she did a couple things: i think the first thing she popularized, when she first arrived at eilia's court as one of her ladies, was an off-the-shoulder cut, taking eilia's standard cut, but rather than using the standard boat neck, she just...lopped it off altogether like [ this ] bc i do think one of her big focuses when imagining gowns fcomes from thinking in terms of dramatic silhouettes

because of this, i do also think fairly early on she got into sort of...building out dresses w underlayers and with draping and with folding and all sorts of things to produce certain effects, like you'll see on her [ samain/birthday dress ] (and yes this dress was absolutely a splurge -- w the cloth-of-bronze/copper vibes, i imagine it to have been one of @forgottencassandra 's old dresses that rosie took apart and put back together the way she imagined it, since cassandra will often give her some of her old clothes, etc!)

the next trends i think she started actually came from her being inventive about reusing clothes, but making it up in a I MEANT TO DO THAT kinda way so 1) lots of embroidery!!!! i think she did this initially to patch up holes as malconaire became poor and rosie became its seamstress (thanks, valentina!), etc, like imagine if [ these were patches ] how effective that'd be in hiding it as decoration!

an innovation that came even later, from taking one of her mother's old dresses, updating it, and adding literal curtains to form a full skirt (bc again she's imagining dramatic silhouettes), is juxtaposing fabrics like [ this ], taking two toally different textiles that're complementary in one way or another, but also completely different, to make both pop, another kinda riff on eilia's textural choices!

and, 2) more recently, still, lotsa panelling, for when ur reduced to mere scraps and you gotta make a whole dress work outta that! like [ this ].

3) literal actual regional natural motifs!! their jewles are gone...so rosie's bringing back flower crowns and such in a bigggg way! laskdjfkljsdf

i def feel like she partially gets away w this stuff bc 1) she just carries it well and v confidently etc, and 2) she'd already been established as a fashionplate before valentina made them poor but yeah! lkajsdflkjsdkjf

im sure there's other stuff she's done etc but yeah! just some ideas i thought id toss out there!

also she does def wear all kinds of colors, but mostly you'll find her in green and malconaire colors <3

anyway, [ here's ] her pinterest re: wardrobe!

[sunrayyellowhalo]

writing tag game

Thank you for tagging me pooh! @bangtanlalaland 🥰🥰🥰

what is your ideal setting for focusing on your writing?

Ideally, I would love to be in a quiet place like a self imposed nook that I’ve carved out in a library or outside peacefully among nature. Truthfully, I do a lot of writing in my room (which for the most part is quiet lol) Cozy blankets, macrame decoration behind me on my wall complete with flowers, candle lit and lo-fi playing on the computer most times hehe. I live with a relative and our rooms are RIGHT next to each other. SOOO.... I normally do my writing at night when they are sleep and I can just chill, vibe and let the creative juices flow <3 

what is your favorite genre to write?

I am a history buff and a total romantic SO I typically combine historical eras with romance alllmost always? Yeah it’s kinda my thing lol. I’m trying to get more into writing more in the modern era but hey what can I say? I’m an old soul. I like ‘old’ stuff lol. I have always written interracial fiction (brothas do NOT come for me I love y’all too. Don’t start that. LOL) I’ve taken to writing mainly AMBW or Asian Men and Black Women fics because not only am I attracted to Asian men but as a teenager, I did NOT see many fics that I could relate to...involving guys I was attracted to. It was rare then and it’s still in the minority now tbh. So, my motto was if it’s not there then I have to create it. And I did. 

  I’m also um...very sensual so 9/10 my stories will have love scenes in them. lol. 🙈💯 It’s taken a long time for me to transition from a smut writer (listen... ya girl used to be W-I-L-D. I used to write NASSSSSSTTTTYYYYYYYYY SH*T. 🙈 cause I’m a lowkey freak like that-I meannn um...🙈🙈🙈) to a writer of what I call erotic art? Though do NOT get me wrong... some of y’all smut writers GOT THAT TALENT OMG. Y’all be writing SO FREAKING WELL I FORGET IT’S SMUT LOL. *looks at @bangtanlalaland

 I haven’t written smut in so long I forgot what it reads like lol. But I been kinda getting into BTS smuts? Like with Namjoon primarily 🙈. I LIKE ACTUAL STORYLINES OKAY. STORYLINES WITH THE SMUT THANK YOU. (AND FLUFF TOO).

do you prefer to write on paper or digitally?

I mostly write digitally but when I do not have access to my computer, I write on paper. Sometimes, I prefer to write on paper more but 9/10 it’s on my computer. My computer has become my new notebook. I take it EVERYWHERE. 

it’s the middle of the night and you suddenly wake up with an idea. what do you do?

I IMMEDIATELY write the idea down. I’m a very VISUAL person so I have to SEE the characters’ faces first. I try to find who in real life match with how they look in my head. Depending on how inspired and solid the idea is... I might come up with teasers, a self made trailer, self made book cover and even a moodboard. But yeah first, WRITE IT DOWN BEFORE YOU LOSE IT. 

who is your favorite person to write about?

Mmmm.....to be honest I don’t have a specific person I like writing about. All of my characters are original characters, they are not based off of celebrities. 

do you like making your own characters, or do you usually write about real people?

The question above kinda answers this one hehe.  All of my characters are original. Completely made up in my head. 

have you ever written a book, or a story with more than 15 chapters (100k words)?

YES. YES I HAVE. I’ve written it and PUBLISHED IT Y’ALL! It’s called Accordance. I’ma be a shameless plug and put the link here! GO COP IT Y’ALL! OH AND WHILE Y’ALL AT IT CHECK OUT MY TRAILERS I MADE ON MY YOUTUBE. YA SIS WORKS HARD LOL. 

how often do you get ideas?

Mmm depends on when the creative bug hit me. Since the beginning of this year though, A MILLION LOL. This year been off the charts. I’ve never felt this creative in a LONG WHILE. I LOVE IT. 

do you ever get an idea that you really like but just can’t seem to finish?

Of course!!! Whenever I am close to finishing a work, the writer’s block hits me H-A-R-D. It sucks so much booty man. I be like BRUHHHHHHH. Sometimes, I try to push through and finish and others, I just let myself rest and wait until I am up to 100% to write again. 

what is your least favorite plot?

Hm. I don’t... really have any I think? I’m pretty much down to read whatever I suppose. I just don’t like stories where there is no character development, focusing only/strictly on sex and ones that are extremely fast paced with no appropriate spacing in between. Make it make sense y’all. Thanks. hehe 

THANK YOU AGAIN LOVELY FOR THE TAG! AS Y’ALL WILL LEARN ABOUT ME IF YOU DON’T ALREADY KNOW... I WRITE DISSERTATIONS LOL. Hm....I don’t really have many mutuals that I know of that write?? Not that I think can of! If y’all do, send me a comment and I tag you hehe! Muahz. 😘

[dictacontrion]

Hi Dicta! When you wrote your erised fic, did you know who you were writing it for? How do authors who are friends manage to keep it a secret from each other? What about authors who are friends and beta each other's work, but one of them got the other as the recipient? What if you receive a gift fic and discuss it with another author, do you have to be really cautious to give criticism in case that person wrote it?

Hi anon!!

When writing for @hd-erised​ you def know who you’re writing for, because it’s a gift exchange, so you’re writing specifically for someone else. Everyone who’s participating fills out a sign-up post saying what they do and don’t like, what appeals to them about H/D as a pairing, and leaving a couple of prompts for their gifter. You also say what you will and won’t write or draw. (You can see past sign-ups here). Then the i n c r e d i b l e mods, @gracerene09​, @capiturecs​, and sassy_cissa, do a genius job of matching people based on what they’re interested in writing or drawing and getting (also a very time-consuming and meticulous job, and they do not get *nearly* enough love for that, y’all are supremely generous and thoughtful and generally titans of fandom), and you get a lovely email with a link to your recipient’s sign-up. And then often people do additional recon - going back to read their recipient’s work, looking at their recipient’s likes and dislikes list if they have one, reading comments their recipient has left on other fic. It’s amazing, the love and care people put into writing for their recipient. So yeah, not only do you know who you’re writing for, you’re writing specifically for their tastes and preferences.

Info about who your recipient is is strictly on a need-to-know basis, and people keep it pretty close to the chest, so you don’t necessarily tell your friends who you’re writing for, and that’s normal and understood. For mine, my beta knows, people who I write side-by-side with irl know, and if I have specific questions for someone they might later be able to guess based on that (like while writing about a spoonbill I had some questions about birding in the UK for birdsofshore, and she was able to put that together and guess properly). Also, on your sign-up you designate someone who your gifter can contact with questions, and that person might know if they get contacted, but they’re sworn to secrecy on both sides. That’s a pretty small circle and people really do keep mum about it!  The surprise is fun, and people want to keep that!!

On the receiving end, people do tend to not be very critical of other people’s work, but tbh, that’s a norm I’ve observed pretty widely in the H/D community, or at least my corner of it - people are more focused on talking about what they loved than criticizing things they didn’t like. I don’t think I’ve had anyone say something more critical to me about an erised fic, before or after reveals, than “eh, wasn’t really my cuppa” or “I didn’t love this specific thing.” But (a) that’s pretty normal outside of erised too! and (b) people just genuinely love to talk about fics they loved and rec things to their friends! Which is a good use of energy, and a really nice vibe!

If you get a friend or your beta, it’s time for subterfuge!! I’m not sure I’ve heard of this actually happening, but the plan I’ve heard people throw around just in case is to write a short decoy fic. So like, tell your friend/beta that you’re writing for another participating friend, who you’ve gotten to agree to play along, and send them something short to beta. Then gifts posts and reveals come around, and voila!! Mission accomplished.