HIGH FASHION IN WATERDEEP: THEN AND NOW (Patreon)

HIGH FASHION IN WATERDEEP
Then And Now

Yes, Realms aficionados, it’s fashion time!

Which is something of a joke in Waterdeep, a busy and cosmopolitan trading city where “anything goes” and practical working dress is the daily rule for much of the population, whereas the nobility pursue their own interests and tastes, setting their own fashions and not caring about what others think or are wearing.

Yet, what of the wannabe-nobles, the wealthy non-nobles who might be aging and no longer freshlt beautiful or handsome, but still wanting to be admired and seduced and thought important and influential? Well, for them, fashion is very real, and even when we set aside passing fads of the moment, there are lasting trends we can see.

So what are they, in what folk (if not sages and historians) call “the High Time,” the 1370s up to the onset of the Spellplague in 1385 DR, and then again in “the Now,” the current Realms time, the 1490s DR?

It should be noted that in both of these time periods, Waterdhavian fashion is echoed, with a mere handful of local variations, in Tethyr, Cormyr, and Sembia.

The High Time

In these decades, feminine fashion in Waterdeep has been trending from ruffles and flounces (pleated and shaped cloth decorations, often looking like flowers, sewn onto the hips and shoulders of gowns, and made of the same cloth as the main garment) towards clean lines and V-fronts, with yokes and shoulder padding holding apart the top of the V, and stomachers, cummerbund-like belts, and sashes covering the waist and anchoring the point or bottom of the V.

At the same time, ankle-length gowns have been rising to mid-calf (to show off high boots, often side-laced or with ornate cutouts), and the cloth they’re cut from has been moving from rich soft blues and flame-orange and pastels to shimmerweave and other satin-finish hues, from soft rose (what we in the real modern world call...

**Please find full script attached in .docx and .txt formats