Fashion in Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag

Ah the golden age of piracy. Oh boy. To quote the main character of the game:

"We're pirates...we take as we please and become who we like." 

This is one of the more difficult eras to do any kind of research on because of all the legends that have built up around it. When it comes to clothing research, the main obstacle comes in finding credible sources. These usually weren't the sort of people to sit for portraits, making the most reliable resources for their appearances engravings. These were-like all depictions-subject to the opinions of the person making them. They also didn't follow current fashion trends.
In summation, for the sake of this post you should read the opening quote as

"We're pirates...we wear whatever we want."

That being said, however, many of the characters wear modified version of standard clothing, so these can be compared to standard 1715-22 clothing. I will be making as many comparisons to woodcuts as I can, but these do not exist for all of the figures in the game.

I was actually really bored watching a play through of this game. I just really didn't like any of the characters.

Edward Kenway

Ok, so it looks like he's wearing 3-4 layers. There's the leather vest like thing on the top, what looks like a white and blue waistcoat underneath, and his shirt and the hanging sections around the legs. As far as those go, I'm not sure what they're supposed to be, so all I have to say about them is: no. Same goes for the leather vest thing. So the only thing on his torso to look at the waistcoat thing, which we can see basically none of, but from what I can see, it looks alright. The boots are kind of stereotypical pirate boots, but I saw a couple pictures of period boots that looked similar.

Mary Read

This is the most well recognized engraving of Read, but let's be honest here, what sensible person would have their shirt that open?...That's all I have to say. I can't really make much comment on her costume.

Charles Vane

The large cuffs on the jacket are nice, but otherwise it just looks like a modern trench coat. The thing I really don't understand are the striped trousers. These are seen on multiple characters in the game, and I wasn't able to find a historical precedent for them.

Blackbeard

Lots of brown. It's not in this picture, but in the game they include him wearing lit fuses in his hat as a fear tactic. Multiple engravings depict him wearing multiple guns, so it was good to see it in the game.

Caroline Scott-Kenway


First off her hair should be up. There's a lot in this dress that is "close but no cigar." The gathering at the sides did exist, as it was-in some ways-a precursor to panniers. The 1710's are a weirdly difficult time to research for female clothing

Anne Bonny

NO. This is some Ren-faire, barmaid BS if I've ever seen it.

Bartholomew Roberts

I mean, kinda? It looks close enough to somewhere in the 18th century to not throw me for a loop, but it isn't accurate, except for the tricorne hat.

Woodes Rogers

It's a trench coat. The man is WEARING A TRENCH COAT IN THE 1710's! The leather(WTF) waistcoat is clearly trying to be regency if anything. The hair is an abomination. The only positive thing is that it looks like he could be wearing breeches.

Benjamin Hornigold

I love Ed Stoppard, but his character's costume is awful. It clearly wants to look like a coat from the American revolution, but there's just too much wrong with it-and that includes the fact that it's 50 years ahead of its time. The kind of weird thing is that the coat texture looks like it's denim-a textile that wouldn't be invented until the mid 19th century.

All in all, Edward's descendants had a better costumed game, which I'm saving for last because it's my favorite. Thanks for reading!

Fashion in Bioshock Infinite

So I rushed through this game to finish it before winter break was over.  Rushed means that I still did all the exploring, and random stuff I normally do in a video game, but I spent more time playing the game than I normally would. I actually wasn't planning on doing a blog post about this game, but I found that once I started looking at historical costumes in video games, I couldn't stop. So here we go. (I'm using screenshots that I took for NPCs(non-player characters), and other image for the more major characters).
The nice thing about Infinite is that it takes place in a single defined year.

Still from Outsidexbox

Best of all, it's a year when photography was around, and we even still have some clothes from it, unlike most of the era's that Assassin's Creed takes place in. Assassin's Creed games also take place over a period of time, meaning that I have to keep an eye out for fashion changes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: WHEN IN DOUBT I AM GOING TO BE LOOKING AT AMERICAN FASHION OF THE TIME, AS AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM IS A THEME OF THE GAME

Male NPCs

Enemies

Overall it's pretty similar. The single row of buttons seemed to be mainly used by British police. It actually looks much more like a military jacket of the time, with the collar, and epaulets

Yes, he is dead, there was no other way to get a screenshot.

This is (according to the wiki) another type of policeman-I thought they were soldiers. Once again it uses a military style. It most closely resemble the uniforms worn by British soldiers in WWI(a mere 2 years away). The punches secured to the belt would be used to hold extra ammunition, it was also sometimes be worn as a bandolier. They also are seen wearing Brodie helmets. The wrappings around the legs are known as puttee. The name derives from the Hindu word "patti" meaning bandages. They were worn for protection and support, and were a part of the British khaki uniform from 1902 to 1938.

Columbian Citizens

Both of these men are wearing sleeve garters. These came into fashion in the later 19th century when shirt sleeves only came in a single, extra-long, length. Sleeve garters were used to pull the excess fabric up above the elbow and secure it, keeping the cuff out of the way. Once sleeves lengths started to vary, and buttons or cuff links were used to secure the wrist, they were no longer necessary.

These two men are the same guy (and no; that's not some sort of big twist ending, it just means that they're the same character model, but reskinned-aka colour changed). Both are wearing standard men's coats over waistcoats. They, and other NPCs, wear bowler hats. The felt hats were invented in 1849 as protective wear for groundskeepers. They eventually became a part of popular fashion, becoming closely associated with businessmen in the early part of the 20th century.

Many male NPCs wear these shoes, which seem to be Oxford Wingtip Brogues. I know basically nothing more about shoes.

These men are seen at Battleship Bay. They wear the basic, iconic bathing suit of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The man on the left here-and in the first pair of pictures-wears a boater hat. These straw hats were fashionable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with official "straw hat days" designating the appropriate time for them to be worn.

No comment, it's accurate.
Need I say more?

Misc.

This is Albert Fink, the man responsible for Columia's anachronistic music. From what I can tell, he's in fairly standard evening wear for the period.

This guy is found in the cemetery, near where the Lutece's are encountered. It's possible to find many vintage ads for similar underwear. I thought it was an interesting touch that they put in the game.

This man seems to be wearing overalls folded down and belted around his waist. Many sources put the invention of the garment down to the need for sturdy work clothes.

A couple of workers in Finkton.

Female NPCs

There are a few female enemies in Infinite, but they mostly just wear fitted versions of the male uniforms, with masks rather than helmets.

Columbia Citizens

 These two are seen on the beach in Battleship Bay. All of the female there wear reskinned versions of the same bathing suit. Many bathing suits of the era used a naval theme (i.e. sailor collars, anchors, and ship's wheels), not seen in the game.

These other two wear beautiful Gibson Girl esque hairstyles.

This woman looks like her outfit was taken directly from two illustrations that I found. The long, narrow silhouette was made popular in 1908 by the designer Poiret, with some Edwardian corsets extending from beneath the bust to below the hips. 

 This woman's jacket is a much more modern design. I wasn't able to find any contemporary example of such a style. It's anachronistic, but not so much that it throws me out of the game. Her hat, on the other hand, is quite nice. Straw hats were popular summer attire for both sexes, with ones for women being ornamented.

These two seem to be wearing the same blouse, with the one on the right having lower sleeves added. All in all, it's quite similar to blouses of the time, with embroidery on the front and large, loose sleeves. The one on the right also has a very nice period hat. If you look up 1912 hats there is a slew of similar hats.

Many of the female NPCs are seen wearing this hat. It looks a bit ridiculous, but there are examples of hats completely covered with artificial flowers.

 The thing I noticed about this woman was the design on her skirt. It's clearly made from an old cloth bag. Though I was unable to find any contemporary examples of such clothing, we do know for a fact that in the 1930's women wore dresses made from feedsacks. It isn't hard to imagine that people made similar garments in earlier time periods.

I only saw this woman once in Soldier's Field. Her dress seems to be a simplified version of  many Edwardian dresses. The plunging v neckline with the bandeau part beneath it can be seen in many dresses from the era.

Random lady in a weird dress.

This dress looks remarkably similar to the one on the right designed in 1912 by Lucille, Lady Duff Gordon. I'm not sure how Lady Comstock had it, as she was dead by 1895, but *hand wave*

I'm going to be discussing the main characters in my next post about Bioshock, along with some of the fashion in Burial at Sea.

If anyone out there who reads this has an idea for a gae they want me to take a look at suggest it in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Fashion in Assassin's Creed Bits and Pieces #2

Assassin's Creed Unity

I've been watching a playthrough, and wanted to look at the outfits a bit more.
Note: Most of the pictures are from this video on Youtube.
There's a lot of regency/late 1790's style clothing. So some of my assessment will look at them in comparison to Napoleonic era clothing

Arno Dorian

First off: A 5 o'clock shadow, Arno? Really?

The tails of his cravat should be tucked(it is in promo art). The outer coat sort of works. The large epaulets with the elongated looping around the buttons is reminiscent of military uniforms of the day. The waistcoat is odd. It looks like it's only done up with one button, and otherwise is hanging open. Does it not fit? He also seems to have a vest under this that looks like it's made of suede. Then a-I'm assuming standard regency-shirt underneath. Let me tell you, those shirts are a literal pain in the neck to wear. I'm not completely sure about the seams on his breeches, and they seem to be unfastened. I must say, though, I do like the fact that he's wearing them rather than full pants. You can tell he's wearing shoe covers, and the shoes are semi-decent.

His ball outfit, however has fewer redeeming aspects. (I already discussed Elise's outfit here.)

There is a point in the game where he's just running around in this getup which
basically means he was running around half dressed.

You get to see that under it he's wearing a generic shirt, along with breeches(fastened this time huzzah!), stockings, and shoes. On top of that, though, he's basically wearing a badly done regency/napoleonic tailcoat. If we look at it with that standard in mind; the gap at the collar is just plain weird, it should have a second row of buttons on his left. The turned back cuffs do have historical precedent, but their shape is a little wonky. The opening at the front is too narrow, as tailcoats would be open to the sides of the body. On the whole it looks most like a modern tailcoat.

I would also like to draw your attention to the back.

It's not easy to see, but there is a insert at the top that curves up over the shoulder blades. As far as I know this was not a construction method used until the modern times. Actual coats had long panels whose seams started at the mid shoulder blade, and curved toward the spine.

Marie Levesque

She's only there for a few moments, but I had to mention her dress.

Other than the hair, which is much too simple, I give it a pass. The colours are a bit drab, but I can overlook that. It looks like she's wearing a redingote, and fashion plates from the time show women wearing white shawls around their shoulders.

Marie Antoinette only turns up in a co-op mission (so no one saw it until it was patched)
Maybe it's just me, but the dress reminds me of this portrait of Madame du Pompadour (one thing I'm confused about is if the dress in the first portrait is the same as the one in these two.) But back to the game.

It's pretty decent. It looks like a simple robe a la francais, with the tight sleeves and smaller panniers. The only thing that really bugs me is the bodice. It looks like the natural form bodices seen in the late 1870's-early 1880's. In the rococo period bodices usually had more of a flat shape in the front. I would like the neckline to be lower and wider, and the bows on the stomacher look a bit cheap, but overall, I think it's one of the better costumes in this game.
The hair is also pretty god. It looks like a toned down version of her actual hairstyles in the late 1780's. It has the frizzier upper part with the curls coming down around the neck.

Always fun to see the Marquis de Sade. Not as much fun seeing his outfit (the shoes aren't too bad).

Random (Historical) Comments
What if I don't want to help the Assassins? I side with the Templars. Bishop asks if you want to join the brotherhood. My answer: NO.
Outsidexbox actually discussed some of the errors here.
It's really clear that a lot of the cast is Canadian, and trying to do English accents.
All the destruction/floating platforms did not fit with an AC game. This isn't Uncharted.
Why do some of the guards have northern English accents?
At least they finally acknowledged the methods of the hashashin,
I wish there were more historical figures/events.
It was interesting to see the belle epoch and WWII, but the era jumping did not fit with the game.

I saw this on AC confessions.

I had the(admittedly mean, and not very articulate) reaction of "well duh." I feel bad about it in retrospect. But for 3 of the 5, it is historically accurate. I can't really speak to Connor's hairstyle (more on why when I get to the post on AC3), Ezio's is wrong, men in the Renaissance did wear their hair down to the shoulders at times, but it was seldom tied back. For Arno, Haytham and Shay, all 3 of them lived(?) in the 18th century, when it was appropriate for men to tie their hair back in a queue.

Christina Vespucci, who I'm pretty sure is supposed to be Simonetta Vespucci, a famous Florentine beauty, and the inspiration for Botticelli's Venus.

She dresses deccently. Because she seems to be based on a real person who was painted multiple times as having reddish blonde hair, I will complain about her having dark brown hair. Despite this, her costume is quite good. I don't like the random belt under the empire  waistline. I also wish that the sides of the dress met in the center, rather than having a weird open section (more like the concept art). Overall, the silhouette is correct, but I would like to see more volume in the skirt.