Middle-Earth Clothing
 

I was skimming through the appendixes of LotR along with the book too, and well, I realized, Tolkien dosn't mention Middle-Earth clothing that much, or at least in that much detail. I know clothing is not a big part in novels, and isn't too crucial to the story line, but what sort of clothing did the creatures of Middle-Earth wear? Elves? Dwarves? Orcs?
Let me note, that in seeing the movie, I did get a few idea's as to what they wore, but since fashion is not my main concern in life, I don't know a lot of clothing 'words', so to say.
Oh, and also, if its not too much trouble I would preferably like to know what types of clothing Hobbits wore.
Thank you all so much!

Well, hobbits tend to wear bright colors.. breeches, shirts, overcoats, etc. Elves.. well, they would wear something elegant that suits their persona. Dwarves, I expect them to wear things that are dirty and clunky, and Orcs, armor and rags.

Ooh, I'm wearing the perfect hobbit lass outfit right now! A pretty white skirt with a little blue flower pattern, and a shirt that has the little criss-cross ties on the front! And when I wear my Dr. Marten sandals, I feel exactly like a hobbit! Now, all I need to do is curl my hair and shrink. . .

You should start eating six meals a day, too, Nev.

Good point. Then I would look much more hobbit-ish. Seriously, I'm soo tiny for my age, the dermotologist (sp?) actually asked me how much I weigh because I'm so little! [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

oh yeah? im 14 5'2 and weigh 75 pounds!

Um, you should eat more, NN10. I'm the same age, same height and I weigh something like 94. Looks like you need the 6 meals a day more than I do.

i know. im thin and have a VERY VERY VERY fast metabolisom (sp?). and the ood thing is so many people are fat, maybe i just balance out the universe...

Hobbits are described as wearing chiefly green and yellow.

According to the beginning of The Hobbit, dwarves wear brightly colored hooded cloaks and tuck their beards into their belts.

As for what elves and such wear, I've been wondering about that myself. It probably varies from region from region and Age to Age.

--Belin Ibaimendi

You know, I was just thinking about this... Elven cloaks were discribed as being light, kind of shimmery(I don't know fashion words either [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]) and warm, so for the movie I thought I'd be good to have some of that light, almost see through material that they use over dresses and shirts, in green because it easily blends into things.
Hobbits wear earthy bright colours like Daffodil yellow and grass green. Dwarves wear dark earthy colors except for their cloaks and Men wear... well, regular men's clothes. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I had a sort of idea somehow before the movie actually came out, cos i drew quite alot of doodles and sketches on and in my rough book, mainly of elves.

How do pounds measure up to stone? Cos yeah im real small as well at 13, 5ft and just under 5 stone. How does that measure up?

Aw! Nevfeniel the hobbit!

Hmm. Personally I don't think fashions would change very much, especially for Elves. (with the whole, immortal thing and all. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] They seem to always make beautiful things, so it wouldn't really matter, they would always look beautiful. Personally, I love how the hobbit's clothes were in the movies. I thought it was perfect, except they needed a bit brighter colors in their wardrobe. Dwarves, I could see having hideous fashion sense, very tacky. Hmm. Orcs would just be nasty, probably dark and dirty rags. As for Ents, well, they don't exactly need clothes, do they?

I expect Goldberry would dress much like Elves, in light flowy clothing, and Tom Bombadil like hobbits.

I remember that Legolas wore shoes on Carahdas (never can spell it) if that's any help. It isn't is it? Sorry. I wear elven dresses and they tend to be empire line and have long pointy sleves and a flowing skirt part. (oh empire line means gathered just below the bust) Not quite Peter Jackson's image but it's my interpretation of Tolkien, not his. Hobbits, bright greens and yellows in semi-Victorian style. Dwarves sort of Medieval with bright capuchon style hoods. Elves in anything, long flowing and comfortable if female and Robin Hood-like if not. Goldberry, a 17th century milkmaid, Tom Bombadil a medieval huntsman. Hmm, never use my imagination. It's a dangerous thing.

Robin Hood-ish? good way of describing it actually!
Empire line- "gathered below the bust". U mean like in the pride and predjusice film? Whered u get them all?

Apart from the Hobbits, I've always tended to picture the characters in LOtR's dressed medieval style. Think Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Taylor in 'Ivanhoe'[a prettier film than Prince of Thieves]. Now though, Auriel has made me wonder. Empire style eh? Especially for the Elves? Think Gwyneth Paltrow in the film 'Emma'[mmmmm-delicious]. How's that for an image of Galadriel? [aaarrrggghhh cold water QUICKLY]

hello
 

The term Middle-earth is not, however, used in Tolkien's earliest writings about his created world: writings that date from the early 1920s and which were later published in The Book of Lost Tales (1983-4); nor is the term used in The Hobbit (1937).[8] Tolkien began to use the term "Middle-earth" in the latter part of the 1930s, in place of the earlier terms "Great Lands", "Outer Lands", and "Hither Lands" that he had used to describe this region in his stories.[8] The term Middle-earth appears in the drafts of The Lord of the Rings, and the first published appearance of the word "Middle-earth" in Tolkien's works is in the Prologue to that work: "...Hobbits had, in fact, lived quietly in Middle-earth for many long years before other folk even became aware of them.:smokin:

johnconor; if you are going to lift a mostly irrelevant article from wikipedia , make sure you take the footnote references out. It's just sloppy.

:D

That was a strange one.

I get the feeling that hats were far more frequent in Middle-earth than our modern world. Hats and facial hair.

They were simpler times; they were better times.

taking a pro-hat, anti-facial hair stance...
 

But what became of the shapeless felt bag Sam used as a hat on departure from Bag End but which was never mentioned again? Lost on the road or on the downs?

I'll get my coat
 

Nicely spotted Mith!

some other clothing-related odds and ends...

No shoes for hobbits, hairy feet mandatory (unless you believe Maril ;)), except for some of the Stoors that seem to have worn clogs or boots in marshy land.

The Guard at Minas Tirith wore surcoats over their armour.

Oh, and the Dwarven cloaks had detachable hoods (how does that work?)

The Shirrifs wore caps with feathers on.

Wood elves liked green, Lothlorien elves grey or white.

Cloaks seem popular - hobbits, dwarves, Aragorn, elves, Wizards, etc

Orc clothes were made of some unclean hairy beast-fell (reminded me of horribly scratchy camel-hair coats that were popular in the 70s)

Definitely agree with Eomer that practically everyone would wear a hat (when outside of course), after all 50 years ago in our reality practically everyone did too - little in the way of central heating, shopping malls, cars etc.

With zippers of course!

Anyway, I rather liked the clothing in the films because it made the Elves look angelic, the dwarves dirty, and the hobbits rustic.

I have a notion that elves would wear soft, thin fabrics like silk.

Hobbits would wear bright colours, obviously, but the fabrics would be something comfortable bu not too expensive.

Orcs would wear whatever they could find!

Zippedy doo dah
 

TGEW - zippers :D

makes me think the Dwarves liked their hoodies for suspicious lurking around shopping centres while not appearing on CCTV (Watchers??).

I doubt they had zippers. It seems a little too advanced for the time when the story takes place. My guess is they tied the hoods onto the cloaks. The bottom of each hood had a string on each end and it tied to strings on the cloak.