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Ebou Dar - The Fashions of Randland

Women - Women tend to wear pale dresses and bright petticoats. The dresses have a deep, narrow neckline or an oval cutout beneath the throat to show marriage knives, which can tend to be quite risqué; they are also sewn up on the front or sides to expose the brightly colored petticoats underneath. Necklines and cutouts are trimmed in lace, and the sleeves end in longer lace that nearly covers the wearer’s hands. 

Men - Men wear long vests and tight breeches. Well off merchants or noblemen wear brightly colored vests over pale, wide-sleeved shirts; they wear small coats with a gold or silver chain strung between the lapels as capes. Men also wear earrings.

Marriage Knives - Women who become engaged and therefore are promised a marriage knife will wear the choker necklace; for nobles these chokers will be made of woven silver or gold. The knives themselves are worn attached to the necklace hilt down and are decorated with stones or gems. Commoners use colored glass in red or white, while nobles use pearls and fire drops. White stones indicate sons; red, daughters. If the stones have a black setting, the child is dead, if the setting is red, the child died in a duel. If a child is of age (16) and refuses a duel, the mother will remove the stone or gem from the knife. The sheathes of the knifes also have special meanings. A knife sheathed in white means the wearer is widowed and not looking to marry again, while a blue sheath means the widow is looking for a new husband. 

The Festival of Birds - Ebou Dari get their scandalous on (as most do) for celebrations. Everyone wears feathered bird masks for the occasion. Men wear feathered coats to match their masks, and women wear feathered dresses that tend to be of a less modest cut than usual. Performers wear scant feathers that barely cover anything to decency. Also, the more scandalous the feathered clothing, the richer the person tends to be, apart from performers.

Wise Women - Wise women are identified by the bright red belts they wear over their dresses.

Guilds - Ebou Dar has a guild for everyone, and different guilds are identified by differently colored striped vests. Members of the Fellowship of Alms can be identified by a brass ring on their little finger

(If I have missed or mistaken anything, please feel free to send me a message explaining and telling me where to find it in the series!)

Atha’an Miere - The Fashions of Randland

Men - Sea-Folk men are barefoot and wear dark breeches of an oiled cloth held up by bright narrow sashes with ends trailing to the knee. Men also will wear heavy gold and silver chains for necklaces. High ranking men wear silk breeches and sashes.

Women - In sight of land, women wear the same dark breeches and colorful sashes as the men, accompanied by “blouses as brilliantly colored as their sashes” so as not to shock those living in sight of the harbor. Away from land, however, the women’s dress is identical to the men’s and they doff their blouses. Windfinders and Sailmistress also wear a necklace with a small metal box filled with a strong potpourri.

Piercings - Men and women alike wear earrings to show their rank on the ship. The more earrings one wears, the higher the rank, twelve being the highest. In addition, women can have nose rings, and a fine chain with medallions connecting the nose ring to earrings. These chains can also connect the earrings to one another. The number of medallions, like earrings, show rank and also show qualities of the wearer. 

Tattoos - The Atha’an Miere tattoo their hands with symbols to denote individual qualities and clans.

(If I have missed or mistaken anything, please feel free to send me a message explaining and telling me where to find it in the series!)