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!