Elizabeth (First outfit)
Her first outfit consists of a blouse, tie, skirt, button up shoes, and a cameo necklace selected by the player(though the bird one seems to be the default). The shirt seems to be an attempt at a shirtwaist, however it follows the line of the bust. True, by 1912, women's fashion was starting to move away from the dramatic pigeon breast look, but her blouse has a modern day fit. The 3/4 length sleeves did exist but-from what I can tell-were not common. I was able to find an image of a shirtwaist similar to Elizabeth's. Despite this, the most well known image of the shirtwaist has a high neck and long sleeves, with a loose front. You can also see little lines on either side, which seem to represent pleating, which was commonly found on shirtwaists. The thing that irks me the most about the blouse is that it's so close to good, but so far away. The necklace is described by official sources as a cameo, but the official reproductions by irrational seem to be made of metal set into black resin. Traditional cameo jewelry was carved out of multi coloured stone or shells, with the top layers being carved away to create a design.
The skirt is too short. If she's old enough to be wearing separates, she's old enough to wear a full length skirt. That being said, pleated skirts did exist, but from what I've seen it seemed to be more common for the pleats to circle the entire skirt, or for inverted box pleats (woman in grey skirt) to be used. Fastenings on skirts were also quite visible, but they were mainly buttons, rather than the fabric belts seen on Elizabeth's skirt. The belts do slightly remind me of the belt detailing sometimes seen on hobble skirts, but I may be reaching here.
Her boots are definitely based women's boots from the period. While the iconic high button shoes were fastened on the side, lace up boots were fastened up the front.
If you want to learn more about shirtwaists, and their involvement in one the deadliest manufacturing disasters in US history click here watch PBS's American Experience documentary "Triangle Fire" (viewer discretion advised, PBS never goes out of the way to be gory, but the subject matter is quite grim).
Elizabeth (Unused White Dress)
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| from ananina23.deviantart.com |
Despite everything nice I have to say, I have one big gripe.
For those who don't understand my rage, Edwardian females (this includes little girls) ALWAYS WORE STOCKINGS that were held up by garters attached to the corset. They never wore socks. |
| WhyTF is she wearing socks?!!!!!!!!!!! |
Booker Dewitt
Striped/pinstriped trousers were common for informal summer wear in Europe, but the style never really caught on in America. This is something that I've seen in multiple media; a character will be wearing an article of clothing that did exist at the time, but was not accurate in the context of the story. I can't speak specifically to the shoulder holster, but the devices were invented in the later part of the 19th century, making Booker's possession of one plausible.
The first big question I had when looking at Booker's costume was: did men in the era actually wear a vest and shirt-sans jacket (looking exclusively at day-wear). The answer is yes. Not in polite society (a.k.a. rich people), but there are photos of working class men wearing vests with their sleeves rolled up above the elbow. Despite this, his vest still has issues. The majority of the vest seen in pictures do not have lapels. Vests with lapels were sold, though the most common design closed high on the chest with straight edges. Booker's vest, on the other hand, has long lapels-at the time suit lapels tended to be short and wide-that, from the sheen, look like they're made of pleather.
The shirt is mostly hidden by the vest, but the part of it that catches my eye is the collar and cuffs. Both are white in the cover art, and the collar still is in the render. Men at the turn of the century would often times use detachable collars and cuffs, as these were the parts of a shirt that wore out quickly.
Rosalind Lutece
One of these pictures is a crop of a full body image from the wiki.
Rosalind and her "brother" Robert were designed to match despite being different genders. While menswear inspired womenswear did exist in the form of female suits, Rosalind's outfits doesn't quite fit the model. Most of the time the jacket part of the suit reached to the hips or below. Female suits also had a variety of collars/lapels, so it isn't much of a stretch to think that suits with notched lapels existed.
Striped/pinstriped trousers were common for informal summer wear in Europe, but the style never really caught on in America. This is something that I've seen in multiple media; a character will be wearing an article of clothing that did exist at the time, but was not accurate in the context of the story. I can't speak specifically to the shoulder holster, but the devices were invented in the later part of the 19th century, making Booker's possession of one plausible.
The first big question I had when looking at Booker's costume was: did men in the era actually wear a vest and shirt-sans jacket (looking exclusively at day-wear). The answer is yes. Not in polite society (a.k.a. rich people), but there are photos of working class men wearing vests with their sleeves rolled up above the elbow. Despite this, his vest still has issues. The majority of the vest seen in pictures do not have lapels. Vests with lapels were sold, though the most common design closed high on the chest with straight edges. Booker's vest, on the other hand, has long lapels-at the time suit lapels tended to be short and wide-that, from the sheen, look like they're made of pleather.
The shirt is mostly hidden by the vest, but the part of it that catches my eye is the collar and cuffs. Both are white in the cover art, and the collar still is in the render. Men at the turn of the century would often times use detachable collars and cuffs, as these were the parts of a shirt that wore out quickly.
Rosalind Lutece
One of these pictures is a crop of a full body image from the wiki.
Rosalind and her "brother" Robert were designed to match despite being different genders. While menswear inspired womenswear did exist in the form of female suits, Rosalind's outfits doesn't quite fit the model. Most of the time the jacket part of the suit reached to the hips or below. Female suits also had a variety of collars/lapels, so it isn't much of a stretch to think that suits with notched lapels existed.
Daisy Fitzroy
The truth is, her outfit is so simple that it could kind of fit in anywhere in a western industrial society. You can tell that it's supposed to be menswear that she re-purposed, the pants are too large, and the shirt is baggy. Her boots look like riding boots from the period, which had laces on the top of the foot, and buckles on the shaft.
Zachary Hale Comstock
Comstock is actually one of the better dressed characters. The only thing that immediately bothers me is the shoulder cape thingy. It might be there as a reference to the Pellegrina worn by members of the Catholic church, but I may be reaching (seriously though, if you look at pictures, you realize that the pope has to have the patience of a saint-joke intended-to deal with that thing). The suit looks like it's a wool weave, and is of a good length, reaching down around the hips. It also fashions higher on the chest, which was fashionable at the time. The waistcoat isn't very visible, but it looks alright. I didn't find large amounts of information on trouser during 1912, but from the illustrations that I've seen it seemed like trousers were mainly straight and not closely fitted to the leg.
I'm going to discuss Rosalind's hairstyle, Robert's clothing, Elizabeth's blue dress, and some of the things I saw in Burial at Sea in my next post.
Thanks for reading.
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