White Tower Fashion

[Kaznen]

Something I thought about today.

 

In the 3300+ years the WT has been around have the Novice and Accepted dresses changed styles at all. Now, obviously they would have had to been replaced at some point but but has the style of the dresses changed to match a modern fashion.

 

We've seen some AS are fashion slaves and in KoD we saw the past styles of dresses AS wore breach "modern" ideas of decency.

 

Just wondering.

[didymos]

I'm sure there's been some change, but they're about as basic as a dress can be so there can't have been too much. Why does it matter?

[Moon Sedai]

We've seen some AS are fashion slaves and in KoD we saw the past styles of dresses AS wore breach "modern" ideas of decency.

 

I imagine that AS did not always use the white dress Novice/Seven banded skirt/sleeve Accepted formula (The Ajahs have not been around forever, you know).

Someone somewhere in the history of the AS/WT made that call.(Could be the school uni formula existed before the WT was built, who knows).

 

What I suspect is that while the dresses are often used/handed down to new Novices/Accepted as the years come on, sometimes they must be replaced because of wear and tear, bad stains, whatever.

I imagine a tiny part of the prohibition of Novices to channel for chores is to teach them stewardship of their wardrobe. It would not do to wear a stained white novice gown when summoned to serve the Amrylin, after all.As anyone who has ever had white clothing/carpeting could tell you, it's a pain in the neck to keep absolutely clean, and I doubt that AS use bleach. And a novice who has a stained dress has probably been up to no good and needs to see the Mistress.

Now, as to the cut, style of the dresses, I imagine that the style of the dresses change VERY infrequently, every several hundred years or so. Because of the aforementioned replacement of novice/accepted dresses.

The occasional novice/accepted has probably required a new set of garments to be made as well. (An exceptionally tall, large, or tiny woman).

 

 

I think it is possible that AS would change the student wardrobe if it becomes obvious that the dress of the wardrobe was no longer decent.

[Kaznen]

I'm sure there's been some change, but they're about as basic as a dress can be so there can't have been too much. Why does it matter?

Because with ToM less then a week away I'm trying to do a dialouge that doens't touch on it at all.

[graendalzooescapee]

and I doubt that AS use bleach.

 

 

You're right about white clothing being a pain (Romans hated their togas for this among other reasons), but pre-modern people did have bleach. It just wasn't chlorine bleach. Or very pleasant. They used pee (usually horse, sometimes human).

[Kaznen]

In NS Mo thought about using bleach to get a spot out of her dress, and wasn't looking forward to it.

[Moon Sedai]

Okay, so maybe i was wrong there.

[Cut Strand]

You're right about white clothing being a pain (Romans hated their togas for this among other reasons), but pre-modern people did have bleach. It just wasn't chlorine bleach. Or very pleasant. They used pee (usually horse, sometimes human).

 

"Get your whites whiter yellower!"

[Nooska]

Actually the ammonia does bleach, so it is get your whites whiter by yellow :P

[Demiandre]

As I see Aes Sedai evolution through three thousand years I really doubt they would care to change the designs of novices/accepted dress. If they need to replace some, they do, but keeping the same style. I even suppose they have a contract with seamstresses for those clothes. Why change? It's so cool to keep tradition ; )

[NetSlider]

I'm not touching this one with a 10 foot poll. I'm not too crazy about AS right now and if dresses come into picture I'm gonna loose it. I mean, they are the most stubborn, arrogant, full of themselves people in the world!!! They care about dresses more than about a lot of other things. So if you ask me I'd say yes, they probably changed in every other month or so. After all, it's not like they have more important things to do! Oh, that's right, they do! But wait, they'll be like - no! They will adjust those things, and change them, and don't even get me started on cuts and such.....:deep breaths:

 

I told you...I'll stir clear of this one....

[Kaznen]

I'm not touching this one with a 10 foot poll. I'm not too crazy about AS right now and if dresses come into picture I'm gonna loose it. I mean, they are the most stubborn, arrogant, full of themselves people in the world!!! They care about dresses more than about a lot of other things. So if you ask me I'd say yes, they probably changed in every other month or so. After all, it's not like they have more important things to do! Oh, that's right, they do! But wait, they'll be like - no! They will adjust those things, and change them, and don't even get me started on cuts and such.....:deep breaths:

 

I told you...I'll stir clear of this one....

Someone read ToM

 

Anyway, in the time the Tower has been around spinning, weaving, and sewing technology has improved. I don't see the WT dress them as peasants but even peasant fashion has changed with time.

[Frostmuse]

The big unknown time where most "ancient traditions" would have been born would be somewhere after the tower has been founded and around long enough for the people who founded it to be dead of age - no more AoL influences - but before the most recent ~500 years or so. The oldest-living Kin would probably recognise most of the Tower's inner workings, including the rules for Initiates. Possibly in or around the time when the testing ter'angreal started seeing their current use. Nobody had an instruction manual for them - the Face Your Fear one was worked out by trial and error, so there's a strong disconnect between the founding AoL-remnants and the new era Aes Sedai. At some point, a "dude, this thing kills" ter'angreal became "everyone goes through it" device, and I'd say the rest of the Novice/Accepted culture came around the same time.

 

So somewhere around 1000-2000 years of white?

[Celes Chere]

Convenience for Mr Jordan maybe? You can't get much simpler than a straight neck-to-toe pristine white dress. =P

 

Aes Sedai seem to resist change quite strongly, so I guess it follows that their "uniforms" wouldn't change that frequently either. Plus, seeing as fashion tends to change over generations, maybe their super-long lifespans mean that official Tower fashions change more slowly to reflect the times.

[Kaznen]

There were always novices and accepted. The ter'angreal for the tests weren't discovered until around the Trolloc Wars. And they always wore white and the ajahs existed since the first Amylrian was chosen (It's in the BWB).

 

And novices and accepted act as WT pages. If they are wearing too simple and out of date dresses when they approach visiting dignitaries they would lower the WT image if they don't look "well dressed."

 

And don't get me started on the evolution of cloaks.

[MierinWru]

I wonder if Mesaana would've blown her cover had she suggested changing the novice dress colour to "black".