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preprecure · 7 days

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Redesign Prompt RESULTS!

Alright, thank you everyone who has voted, the results are now in! Overwhelmingly our winner is Ranmao 🐈!

First of all, I need to insert a few caveats here. Unlike with Victorian fashion, I do not have years and years of studying of Qing dynasty-fashion behind me. So whatever results I show here are the product of a fortnight of reading up and meticulous studying of contemporary photographs. a.k.a. I am merely scraping the surface here. But! I do promise that everything shown here is done to the best of my ability to be responsible as a content provider.

Now without further ado, let us dive into Ranmao’s current design, the blatantly obvious inaccuracies, and how I propose to redes…ign… her outfit while keeping the original intact as much…. as possible???? Heck, this is not even worthy of being called a ‘redesign’, this is straight up designing from scratch!

Hair

Let us start with her bangs. Her bangs are in fact surprisingly accurate, as late Qing dynasty women would wear their bangs in a variety of Bettie bangs trimmed well above the eyebrows. Having sides of the bangs growing longer framing the face was usual too, though they would be cut slightly thicker than Ranmao’s. Though, we don’t know how much hair Ranmao has, so I see no reason to alter it.

Twin braids are very much associated with the “China doll look”, but they seem to have been branded into our image of the “Chinese Girl” because it was the go-to look for unmarried women in Republic China (which is many years later than Ranmao’s time, and also has more surviving images.)

In Ranmao’s time, unmarried girls would either wear the bottom part of their hair down, or have everything tied into a single braid behind them. Girls who preferred a more feminine look would often decorate the sides or the top with flowers or other ornaments depending on their wealth.

Yana’s notes say that the flower in Ranmao’s hair is a Chinese peony, which is also called the Empress of Flowers in Chinese as well as Japanese culture. I could find sources on how the peony was the symbol of the Empress of China, and how one better avoid wearing any type of peonies around the Empress herself for fear of being suspected of disrespect. But I could not find any evidence of such flowers being banned for other people, so presumably it was more an ‘unwritten code of politeness’ rather than fashion law.

Hence, I kept the pink peony design for Ranmao, and decorated them in the way Qing women would have.

Neckline

By far the most interesting thing I learned from this redesign attempt was that the “mandarin collar” - the thing that pops up first in most people’s minds when thinking about Chinese fashion - was in fact not at all common.

In this academic work on Chinese fashion history, Finnane writes that the ‘high collar’ was “not a common feature of costume before the twentieth century.” Instead, most costumes would have had a round neckline.

Finnane, Antonia. Changing Clothes in China : Fashion, History, Nation. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. p. 93

The ‘high collar’ gained popularity in early 1900s in China after the Europeans brought with them the beauty standard for high collars, as well as slim-fitted silhouettes. The Chinese increasingly adopted this type of collar and the slim silhouette (the well known ‘china dress/qipao/cheongsam’), and the relatively many early photos that survived helped engrave this stereotype into our minds.

Sleeves

I do not think it requires any mention, but 19th century Chinese fashion did not include boleros… For many of the original designs of Ranmao I can sort of see where Yana got that image from, but this bolero-look truly beats me.

The sleeves worn in the late Qing period were relatively wide, though they were starting to slim down over time. Late Qing women enjoyed much more flexible clothing rules than earlier Qing women, and the width of the sleeves was in great part determined by personal preference, season, but mostly one’s wealth.

Needless to say, the larger the sleeves the more fabric and embroidery it would require, and thus more expensive. Also, the wider the more it would get into the wearer’s way.

I don’t know how much thought Yana put into Ranmao’s original design in relation to her function as elite bodyguard, but considering how the original has zero practicality and only serves to maximise Ranmao’s attractiveness, I have no qualms about giving Ranmao fairly large sleeves too. Besides, let us assume that Lau is responsible for providing Ranmao with clothes. Illegal money tends to fill the pockets quite deeply, I don’t think he can’t spare a few pounds for big sleeves.

Wider sleeves would expose much of ‘a lady’s precious skin’, as such a more fitted layer would have been worn underneath. (The sleeves under the wider sleeves obviously did not have to be orange-ish. This was merely coincidence that both my redesign and the visual source have this colour.)

Silhouette

The figure hugging silhouette x Chinese clothes was - as mentioned above - not at all a thing in Ranmao’s time. In fact, the accentuation of the “female curves” was considered very inappropriate if not downright ugly in the Qing dynasty.

Finnane, Antonia. Changing Clothes in China : Fashion, History, Nation. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. p. 94

Yana’s notes mention that the thing Ranmao wears is just an European corset and that that is the only thing ‘English’ about her attire.

Well… I don’t know where the idea that Victorians wore corsets on the outside comes from, but I myself admittedly was fooled by this a few years ago too… I promise you all now however, Victorians decidedly did not wear their ‘bras’ on the outside. I think even now this look is considered rather ‘questionable’ by most people.

Instead, Qing dynasty clothes were mostly cut wide and straight, loosely dangling around their bodies offering maximum comfort and space. You feared Ranmao killing you in her corset? Now tremble before her now blessed with maximised agility.

Trousers

Well… I considered ‘translating’ Ranmao’s attire to 2020 standard like I did for O!Ciel, but that would not be Tumblr-filter approved. Skirts so short they could be mistaken for a belt are nothing too surprising today, but wearing one with a split that deep is probably a bit too revealing even by today’s standards.

By the late Qing dynasty, men and women, rich and poor alike predominantly wore trousers. Long robes (skirts) were definitely in fashion too, but they were reserved for those who could afford to not have much agility. If you were a farmer, robes would not have been your first option. Perhaps the way long skirts were viewed by the Qing Chinese was not unlike the way we see them now; ‘more classy’ ‘more feminine’ and ‘less convenient’, but not the only way to express femininity.

In these pictures below we can see relatively rich women, married and unmarried alike, all wearing trousers.

Ranmao is predominantly a fighter, and as trousers are plenty feminine in Chinese fashion culture, I don’t see why she would not choose to wear trousers instead of a restricting long skirt. Hence I gave her a pair of trousers.

Shoes

Like I said before, “the shoes are correct…” But the anklets definitely are not!

Golden or silver anklets are something that are worn by very, VERY young children in China. Even to this day it is customary among many Chinese people to gift newborn children at least one piece of pendant, bracelet or anklet, for it is believed to bring the child luck. More practically, this piece of jewellery will become the child’s first piece of property then, which can be sold later SHOULD they ever run into a financially difficult situation.

These anklets or bracelets would not be removed from the child unless they have outgrown them, which happens fairly quick. Ranmao who is probably full grown should have outgrown them at least ten years ago. Hence, seeing these things on Ranmao would probably make it look like she is still wearing diapers or bibs.

Chinese people would likewise not have worn shoes barefoot. Instead, they would have worn cotton socks which were mostly white.

DOUBLE HAMMERS

HERE COME THE WEAPONS! Luckily Yana wrote the following note or I would never have guessed what they are for my knowledge about Chinese weapons is next to nothing.

“These are【SUPER】heavy. They are weapons called 双錘 (double hammers) and they in fact exist. I heard these were used by power-type warriors.”

So, I googled 双錘 and it turns out that the type Ranmao is holding do indeed exist! But… only in fiction and theatre.

The hammers that were used in actual combat were either very thin and long, or short and plump. Such hammers were one of the most primitive metal weapons in China, and quickly fell out of favour among Chinese warriors when more practical weapons such as the metal spear, sword and bows were invented. The hammers mostly retained their value because of their weight in heroic tales and myths about legendary warriors and deities.

I don’t have the full details, but apparently according to some legends or myths, one of such big-ass hammers could deal a force of 200kg, and thus 400kg combined. Regardless of this being realistic or not, it sure does sound very cool! It is therefore no wonder this primitive weapon retains its popularity even today.

Nowadays when these hammers are used, they are either the blown up theatrical versions, or the smaller versions for the sake of preserving martial arts.

I had a bit of a dilemma as to which version to give Ranmao, but in the end I settled with the short and heavy ones because I wanted to keep the idea of this small and innocent looking girl wielding solid metal balls. Two cheer-leading sticks would simply not have the same weight, figuratively and literally.

Alright everyone! Did you enjoy my response to your votes? I hope you did ^^ Non-European fashion history really is not my strong suit, so my deepest apologies if I messed anything up.

Pray tell if I did, I am always happy to learn ^^

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preprecure · 12 days

Text

Royal Sword Academy Au

Welcome to the good guys team! Pt. 3-4

Raheel and the animal eared man spent a good five minutes chasing the fairy. The purple eyed boy pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a jar, and using what remaining speed he had, he captured the rogue fairy using the jar in his hands. “Gotcha!” gently shaking the jar around, causing the fairy to shake around inside the jar. The animal eared man walks towards the purple eyed boy, staring at the fairy in the jar in amusement. “I don’t think you should be doing that.” Tapping the glass of the jar. “Look at how dizzy you made the little guy.”

The fairy shakes away his dizziness to glare at the animal eared man, shouting something at him. But no one could hear it, however, sounds similar to a bell chime could be heard from within the jar.

Ambrose gives you a stern look. “Do you know this fairy?” looking back at him with the most obvious ‘no’ expression your face could muster you respond “Don’t know em, never seen em a day in my life.” The elderly man looks confused. “But you could understand him without a fairy translator.” Well now you’re confused too. “What? What’s a fairy translator?” He shows you the item the fairy had shoved in his hands.

It’s a rather…odd yet pretty looking object, it’s hard to describe how it looks. But it almost resembles a bell or a teapot in a sense. It doesn’t have the snout of a teapot though, however it does have four handles instead of one. The teapot-bell-thing has intricate floral details engraved into it, as for what type of metal it’s been engraved into the bell-pot looks like it’s made of silver.

Looking at the object, then the elderly man in confusion you finally reply “And??” He sighs to himself before answering you. “Well, in order for fairies to be understood by other fae and potentially humans, they need a translator.” This is the part where you’re supposed to nod your head and pretend like you understood all that. “I literally understood none of that. Like I get the premise but…this affects me how??” You respond.

The old man nods his head in mental notation, “We’ll discuss it later.” Before glancing at the purple eyed boy, who’s shaking the jar with the fairy in it while the animal eared man watches in amusement. Ambrose looks back at you, “And you’re sure you’ve never seen that fairy before?” You nod in agreement as a response. The elderly man looks conflicted, taking a second to himself to think before speaking. “I suppose I should help him find his homeland and send him back.”

The fairy starts tapping on the glass shouting something at the elderly man and everyone in the room. But no one can hear nor understand it. The purple eyed boy giggles to himself “I don’t understand a word he’s saying!”

Ambrose has left your side and walked up to the boy asking him to hand the jar over before standing in front of the glass mirror, and announcing something to everyone in the room. “I officially declare that the entrance ceremony has come to a close. Dorm leaders, please escort your students to their respective dorms.”

looking around the room he realizes “Does anyone know where the dorm leader of Rosemni is?” A tall man raises his hand from a corner of the room “He’s over here, headmaster!” He has a very preppy voice. “He’s not asleep again is he?” The blonde haired boy from before asks. The redhead boy from before looks worried “Well that’s not good! This is a very important event!”

The man with a preppy voice chuckles, “Apologies everyone, it seems the dorm leader didn’t get enough hours of sleep last night.” He waves over a brunette with blue tips before whispering something to him and turning back to the crowd, flashing a smile. “All students of Rosemni are more than welcome to follow me to the dorm!” With that, everyone begins to disperse into groups and leave the room. Leaving you, Ambrose, and the fairy that's still in a jar.

The fairy glares at you from without his jar. “If you make a jar joke about this I WILL come for you!” It takes every fiber of your being to not make a jar joke right then and there to spite him.

Ambrose looks at you with an apologetic expression. “I’m deeply sorry Y/N, as much as we’d love to have you here, a magicless student is no place for a school that focuses on honing one’s magical abilities.” You shrug, not really caring that you have to leave. You were fine with whatever happens to you, as long as it gets you out of this dream.

The elderly man’s expression switches from apologetic to cheerful “But not to worry! The Glass Mirror will safely get you and your fairy friend home.” He steps aside, and motions for you to come forward. “Now, please step up to the mirror, and visualize the place where you came from.”

You Step up to the glass mirror “I can’t wait to get out of this weird ass dream…”

Ambrose faces the mirror, the jarred fairy still in hand before speaking. “O’ Glass Mirror please return this soul to where it belongs!” The glass mirror does not respond. You both stand in silence for a minute or two. Ambrose awkwardly clears his throat, “Um…G…Glass Mirror? Please return this—”

“No such place exists.” The mirror responded, cutting off Ambrose mid sentence. The elderly man clears his throat again before speaking, “Pardon?” The mirror, not missing a beat. “No place exists in this world.” Silence. The elderly man is confused, “But how can this be? My, today is just full of predicaments.”

Putting a hand to his chin “In all my years working here, something like this has never happened. So I’m at a bit of a stump on what to do…” the elderly man looks at you, seeming to come up with something. “Could you please tell me where you’re from?” You shrug in response before answering, “Sure. I’m from—.”

Ambrose takes a minute to digest the information, thinking to himself before responding with a sad smile. “I'm sorry, I’m afraid I am not familiar with such a place.” You look at the man in disbelief “Are you sure?” He nods his head with an apologetic look, “I’m very sorry, I’m usually acquainted with the origins of every student who has ever come here, and yet...I have never heard of your homeland.”

Ambrose looks as if he had just thought of something “However!, we can go to the library and look up your homeland!” That’s actually not a bad idea. You nod your head in agreement and follow him out to the ceremony room to the library.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The walk to the library was quite…awkward, to say the least. Ambrose was trying to be polite and make small talk. While you were only responding in one word answers or short sentences, you were too lost in your own head trying to assess your situation to really pay attention to what the elderly man was saying.

But now you’re in the crisp, clean library of Royal Sword Academy. Currently, looking through book after book in an attempt to find any information of where you’re from.

You were about to pick up your fifteenth book before the sound of a book slamming interrupted you. Looking in front of you, Ambrose shakes his head in displeasure before placing the book down beside him. “Just as I'd suspected. Nothing.” Well shit. This is just great. The elderly man folds his hands towards himself as if he was interrogating you, “Now, are you quite sure that you come from this…earth? That wasn't some sort of last minute lie, or perhaps a joke?”

You shake your head in response. The elderly man takes some time to think before responding. “Hmmm…as far-fetched as it may sound, the only explanation is that you've come from another world.” Ya know that pikachu meme face? The one of him looking shocked? Yea, that one. That’s basically your face right now, because there is no way you’re from another planet. I mean it would explain why magic exists here.

If not lost in your own shock you would be hearing the snickers from your fairy companion, who sat beside Ambrose, still confined in his jar prison. Ironic, considering you found a place that was home to fairies during your research, and had the little bitch not been making faces at you. You would’ve told Ambrose about your discovery and happily sent the fairy away.

The elderly man clears his throat, snapping you out of your thoughts and back to reality. “Perhaps you were summoned here from another dimension?” The pikachu face returns. He thinks for a minute before coming to a conclusion, “Did you happen to bring any ID with you? A driver’s license maybe?” Thinking about it for a minute slowly starts to raise panic out of you, the realization slowly setting in as you pat yourself down for any objects. “W..where’s my phone?!” You ask yourself in a panic. your phone is gone. Your beloved phone, one of the few things you always keep on you. Missing. Oh yea, you have no ID either.

Ambrose hums to himself, “Well this is quite the predicament. We can’t have someone with no magic residing in a magic based academy.” Well isn’t that nice! First you don’t have your phone and now you’re going to be kicked out! As if your internal suffering couldn’t get any worse. “And yet, I can’t expel someone without anything on them. That’s just cruel.” So you’re not being kicked out? Yay!

The elderly man snaps to himself as if he just recalled something, “There’s a vacant building on the campus that you can use! It was, in fact, used as a dorm a long time ago.” He’s giving you a place to stay? He’s giving you a place to stay! Your internal panic ceased temporarily. “Although it is rather rundown at the moment…with a proper refurbishing, it should be habitable enough for you to stay in.” The old man smiles at you before standing up and putting away both his and your pile of books.

After putting away the stacks of books he walks over towards you, “In the meantime, I will investigate other ways to send you home.” For some odd reason you’re a bit skeptical of that? You feel like he’s…

“You don’t mind if I send him back home, right?” Ambrose had snapped you out of your thoughts. “Huh?” He’s holding Fiddlellen’s jar. “Oh. Yea, I don’t mind.” The elderly man smiles “Wonderful! You can wait here until I return. Then, I shall take you to your dorm straight away.” He waves goodbye before leaving the library with Fiddellen.

Leaving you alone in silence for the time being.

You waited in the library for about 15 minutes before Ambrose came back to retrieve you. The walk to your soon-to-be dorm was awkward…again. Not because you were lost in your thoughts like last time, you just didn’t know how to respond to most of the questions the elderly man had tried to ask you.

Leading you to now. In front of a building that looks like the shorter version of a princesses castle. Just how rich is this school?! It was very pretty though, you will give it that. The colors blue and white just like everything else on this campus is very prominent in its design. “So…“ you look at the elderly man in bewilderment. “You expect me to stay…here?!” motioning to the castle-like building in front of you.

Ambrose smiles at you in delight, “Isn't it lovely?” He then grabs your shoulders and starts pushing you towards the building’s entrance, leading you inside. The interior is… a lot nicer than you expected. For an unused space they really tried to keep it as clean as they could. Minus the dust everywhere, a few broken items, and the cobwebs. Ambrose proudly puts his hands at his sides, “This should keep you well housed for the time being.” This place is too fancy for you. You feel like a wet cat compared to the castle.

Ambrose claps his hands together, “Now! I shall return to my research to give you time to adjust to your new surroundings,” he checks a watch on his wrist. “It is rather late though so don’t go wandering around the campus!” The elderly man gives your shoulder a quick pat before leaving you alone to do whatever you pleased. Walking around the lounge of the castle, admiring how nice the place looks. “Wow…I feel like I’m going to break something…” your foot hits something at some point, the object making a thudding noise that sounded like a bell chime. “Wait, a bell?”

“OW!” a voice yelped. Jumping back in surprise you scan around the room to find the entity that screamed out in pain. “Watch where you’re going!” Your eyes land on an all too familiar fairy screaming at you. “Fiddlellen!?” The fairy rubs his head in annoyance, “Yea, it’s me. What of it?” You point a finger at him. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

Fiddellen crosses his arms, “Psh. Like getting sent back home would stop me from coming here! It’s called magic, duh.” Wow. Sass much? You cross your arms in return, “You’re really set on this place, huh?” Fiddlellen looks shocked at your words. “Who wouldn’t be?! This is one of the best magic schools in the world!” He looks really excited about this…”Do you know how cool it would be if a fairy out of all things were to attend a prestigious magic school like this?!”

You raise your eyebrow, interested in what he meant by that. “Do fairy’s normally not attend school here?” Fiddlellen awkwardly scratches at his cheek, “I mean, we do attend school but not with humans, ya know.” Deadpan. No. No, you don't know. Staying silent in hopes of the fairy picking up on your confusion, to no avail. Either he’s oblivious to your confusion or is purposefully ignoring you. You honestly don’t know at this point but from what you’ve seen of him so far they sound like the right answers.

But now that Fiddellen is in front of you and not causing any more problems. You can actually get a pretty good look at him. Short, choppy blonde hair with light green tips, tanned skin, bright eyes with winter blue and white pupils. His heterochromia sticks out from the whole green vibe he has going on. Taking note of his outfit which seems to be a casual teal green shirt with black pants, and slip on shoes with pom poms on the toes. When could shoes have pom poms on them? Weird. Given how small he is you bet he could fit into doll-sized clothes if he wanted.

“Oi! What cha starin at?!” The fairy yells. “Nothing.” Shaking your head to clear your thoughts, you accidentally take a step back and trip on a loose floorboard. Causing you to fall on your butt. Before you could assess anything a drop of water falls on your nose. Looking up you notice a hole in the roof. It's starting to rain. Looking at the ceiling more you notice there are a few other holes in the roof, not a lot but they’re still a problem.

You hear a yelp come from Fiddlellen followed by a small thump from beside you. “Holes in the roof?! I can’t get wet! If I get wet my pixie dust will wear off!” You’re guessing Fiddlellen got hit with some water and had fallen onto the ground. Seeing how he’s shaking his wings to dry them off. The fairy notices your staring and points at the roof. “Fix this!” Rolling your eyes at the fairy’s demand you get up off the floor and dust yourself off. “Fine. I guess I’ll go find some buckets or something…” You leave the fairy in the room to go look for a supply closet that may have a bucket or something that could be used to catch the rain.

Fiddellen follows you from behind, flying right beside you. “Why don’t you use magic to—“ he abruptly pauses, remembering something. “Oh right.” He points at you and tries to hold back his laughter. “You can’t use magic!” But he can’t contain it and starts laughing at you. You glare at him. “Excuse you! If I’m so useless then why don’t you do it!?” Another drop of water hits your nose.

Fiddellen sits on your shoulder, crossing his legs as he looks at you with a mocking smile. “Me. Help you?? Ha!” He bats his eyes at you. “I’m just a wittle fairy, what do you expect me to do about it?” This son of a bitch. Another raindrop falls on your nose. You look up and realize you’re standing right under one of the holes in the ceiling. “Right. I should really find those buckets…” you mumble.

Continuing to walk further in the castle with fiddlellen on your shoulder, you walk into a dark hallway in search of the buckets. “As nice as this place is. It does not have to be this dark.” You mumble. You attempt to find a light switch, only instead to have grabbed something squishy. “Wait, squishy?”

Looking at your hand you realize you’re holding a glowing Fiddellen. Wait, since when could he glow? He looks like he’s five seconds away from biting your hand. “Let. Me. Go.” And you immediately do so. Dropping the fairy on the ground with a soft thump.

“OW!”

“Oh! That looked like it hurt! Are you okay?” something from behind Fiddellen asks. “I’m fine than-“ Turning around, Fiddellen sees the voice of concern was no other than a ghost in the wall. The ghost giggles and waves at both you and Fiddellen. “Hiya!”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

RSA Au: Part 1-2

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #twst wonderland #disney twst #twst au #twst oc #twst rsa #rsa au #rsa oc #twst fanfic #fanfic #any feedback helps!#beginner writer

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