Dressed to Impress
(All statistics below are guesstimates. I've never taken it upon myself to stand on a street corner and watch the Landing's fashion sense walk by... though I may try it someday.)
10% of Elanthians don't worry about
what they wear. They've got armor, they've got a shield, they've got
containers, what more could they need?
10% of Elanthians are utilitarian.
If it's useful, it's worn, regardless of what it looks like-- creating the
most amazing mishmash of magically powerful items.
20% of Elanthians own a lot of items
that they like and have never worried about how those nice items fit together.
30% of Elanthians have a Theme-- a color,
an animal, a deity, a profession, a place, something in that vein-- and
wear a lot of stuff related to their Theme.
15% of Elanthians wear everything they
possibly can all at once, whether their collection is themed or random.
10% of Elanthians make an effort to
build a complete, coherent outfit.
5% of Elanthians worry about whether
their complete, coherent outfits are in an order that makes visual sense,
up to and including gold rings and amulets.
The last 5% are recognized herein.
(Well, I ignore misplaced gold rings and amulets... but not the rest of the
order.)
If I seem to be setting myself up as the Judge of Fashion, let me assure you-- I hardly started that way. (If you examine the page here , you will find two different "snapshots" of the inventory of an old character of mine.) Lady Brownyng's wedding pages had a great influence upon my attitudes. I've learned a great deal about choosing and presenting an image in Elanthia through careful selection of inventory through experience, experimentation, and observation.
Many adventurers dress to the nines for fancy occasions-- but how many worry about their everyday wear? What people remember most is the image you project day to day. If that image doesn't matter very much to you, that's okay-- everyone has different priorities. If it does, you may wish to read some of Lady Brownyng's advice as well as examining the outfits on display.
If you see an adventurer that you feel truly has a good sense of taste and style in everyday dress, let me know-- or let me know if you yourself keep an eye on your fashion from day to day. I have no problem with highlighting anyone here, no matter who that person might be, so long as I don't see them walking down the street in mismatched fluff up to their noses.
Some things to watch for are:
1. How many items is the person in question wearing? Anything over six lines on the normal Wizard is pushing it.
2. Do the items make thematic sense? Wearing diamond rings, fluffy bunny ears, and vaalin-banded armor covered with runes of death just won't cut it here.
3. Is the person in fact fully dressed? I'll grant that armor may cover unmentionable anatomy, but any outfit appearing here really should include pants, a kilt, a skirt, or something else in similar vein.
4. Do the items make sense with one another? Someone wearing a cloak clasp without wearing a cloak or a belt buckle without wearing a belt is a bit odd.
5. Do the items appear in coherent order-- that is, are items that should appear at the top of the head at the top of the list, proceeding downward to the feet?
Failure to fit any of these criteria will disqualify someone from inclusion here. Failure to qualify does not mean that a person is poorly dressed-- keeping your inventory in logical order takes a lot of time and effort, and most people simply don't consider it worth their energy. However, this list is the fashion creme de la creme in Elanthia with respect to organization and order.
One of the odder quirks of GemStone III's inventory system is that your inventory will reverse itself whenever you log out and log back in. People who wish to maintain their inventory in proper order typically bounce once whenever they connect to the game so that their shoes won't be "on their heads". After some consideration, I included people I spotted upside-down here as well (after all, we all get bounced sometimes) and ignored the presence of out-of-order gold rings and crystal amulets.
I used to keep all of Dress To Impress on a single page. Now, however,
as I see more people dressed head-to-toe, I have been forced to expand this
page to keep it from being ridiculously large. (I flatter myself to
think that this was in some part something I inspired.) Just click to
find the section you'd like to examine.
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