"Sink Me! He's been taking lessons--the cravat's a picture."

It has often been expounded upon that when one writes Fantasy, one must have a proper setting for it, complete with history, culture, customs, clothing, etc. Herein I've attempted to show you a bit of Scarlettania's Fashion, with a touch of Gildnoir as the case may be.

How Cecily longed for the touch of silk, brilliant as a butterfly’s wing, or brocade, or ermine. But most of all she longed to feel the feather-light brush of gossamine—the fabric of princesses—spun from dewy spiders’ webs.  How many, many times had she slipped her gossamine gown over her head, feeling its airy beauty and yet never stopping to think how precious a thing it was?

 Gossamine is a fabric I concocted in my imagination. It was intentionally a spin-off of the word "gossamer" and yes, it was intentional to make it a rather fairy-tale-sounding material. After all, we can't expect Mr. Macefield to be too too original, can we? ;) Gossamine would feel very very light, but it would have a pattern over it. Something like a mixture of organza, satin, and damask. :)

I have not yet shown Cecily Woodruff (or Lady Cecelia, if you will) in her own country, but I think that on her eighteenth birthday she will wear a gown much like this:

In stark contrast:

“Treason, is it?” Diccon’s breath caught in his throat as sudden rage surged through him. “Is it not what you are making war to commit yourself? To take a foreign woman as your wife just because she is beautiful and catches your eye?”

Fitz-Hughes’ smile dropped off his face like an autumn leaf before a blast of cold wind.  He smoothed the dark mail of his armored sleeve, stroking discordant jingles from it. “I believe that question is the fifth demerit you’ve earned today, boy. Watch your tongue a bit more carefully—you are trying my patience.”

Randolph Fitz-Hughes' Gildnoir-ian fashion is dark and brooding with here and there an unexpected splash of gaudy gold or yellow. It follows the pattern of his Clan-cum-Kingdom--wild, untamed, sophisticated, opulent. It's a queer hash, you know.

Not all of the clothing of Scarlettania is rich and brilliant though. There are some in the kingdom who do not wear gossamine, contrary to popular belief.

She thought she had better make amends quickly—it would never to do have the inhabitants of a strange castle vexed with you when you had no more of an idea of how to get out of the castle—if it came to that—than a beetle has of getting out of a match-box maze.

“I like your dress,” Adelaide said, feeling shy all at once and vexed because of it.

Dear-Heart gave a short laugh and brushed an even shorter finger across the fabric. “This, miss? Why, it’s nothin’ but flax an’ that bein’ such as has seen better days.”

Dear-Heart, Agnes, and the other women of the working class wear picturesque gowns of simple fabrics: cotton, linen, (or as Dear-Heart says it, "flax") and other materials. The gowns follow the classic "peasant" style of full, light, short sleeves, and a higher waist-line. Warm earth-tones are favored, as well as dusty-rose, deep red, navy, and other deep colors. :)

As for the court-gentlemen of Scarlettania, as well as for Bertram and Darby when the arrive, there is a definite late colonial- early Regency feel to the clothing. Waist-coats are very much "in," as are knee-breeches--at least for the younger boys. Scarlettania is not a fighting country, therefore only the very few knights wear armor. The city men wear fine, embroidered waistcoats, soft, well-tailored jackets, and breeches. The grown men wear cravats, of course, and knee-boots.

Darby glanced down at his embroidered vest, and soft jacket. He had been much delighted over the great golden dragon slithering across his chest in elaborate stitchery—it continued all across the back and around the other side. It wasn’t the sort of dragon he’d seen in Chinese paintings—it reminded him of a snake and a nightmare combined into something infinitely thrilling. And in its head were two emeralds for eyes; these made do for buttons.

His pants he was less pleased with—they were tight and buckled under his knees with bright brass fastenings—he had decided when he put them on that they looked just like the ones George Washington was in the habit of wearing—no wonder he went around chopping down cherry-trees; the pants were enough to make any fellow cross.

So that's that! How about you? What are the styles in your country? :) ~Rachel

Raven-Black and Serpent-Gold

Then the memory of her sixteenth birthday rose in her mind and blocked out the pleasant thoughts with a shadow dark as a raven’s eyes—and there was nothing blacker than that. For it was on that anniversary of her birth that Randolph Fitz-Hughes arrived, handsome and dark and coarse with his raven-black and serpent-gold raiment billowing about him. He had come to buy her freedom with a pledge: The princess of Scarlettania for the safety of her country.

Fitz-Hughes knew his own strength—he had set his sights on the Princess of Scarlettania, and he would make her the Queen of Gildnoir—of his own dark, wild, forested country—if not by her will, by the blood of her people.

~The Scarlet-Gypsy Song by Rachel Heffington 

(Yes, this is the working title of my newest story.) I wanted to introduce you to the villain of The Scarlet-Gypsy Song: Randolph Fitz-Hughes.He is handsome and powerful--the ruler of a dark kingdom bordering the homeland of Cecily Woodruff--her beloved Scarlettania. 

"...Fitz-Hughes began pillaging the outer reaches of Scarlettania, spiraling inward, slowly but surely like a python wrapping its coils around its prey."

Because Cecily would not marry him, Fitz-Hughes has declared war on her country. She will be his bride, or it will mean the death of her people. He is arrogant, ruthless, bold, and swaggering. Of course when concocting a villain, one must stop and consider "Why?"
"Why does he desire Cecily?"
"What is so unique about her?"
And my answer for Fitz-Hughes springs from a very simple cause--one that has been reenacted throughout our world's history time and again: He desires her because she is the one thing he does not have. His lust for power and prestige has been immersed in ruling the country of Gildnoir. There is nothing left for Fitz-Hughes to win there, and so his roving eye rests upon the beautiful Cecily, Princess of Scarlettania. When he has won her, he will have her country under his thumb as well.
I am looking forward to writing more scenes with Fitz-Hughes. As of yet he has just been introduced through Cecily's memories of the events that transported her here, to our world. I can't wait to write him as himself in all his horrible, leering beauty. Ah yes. My pen shall be busy indeed.