Some Sketches from the Drawing Board

No, they're not particularly good sketches.

The Designer and I was playing around with new designs and I fancied actually doing some concept art of the things we were discussing in watercolours and all that.

To the left is a sort of highwayman's coat. It certainly isn't original (inspired heavily by a page in Jack Cassin-Scott's The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Costume and Fashion) and the Costume Mercenary has the vaguest of recollections of seeing a version in shiny black leather at a live roleplay event.

The rather elongated nature of the fashion figure is making the perspective of two collars a little strange, but the principle of the coat is that the second collar can sit flat and collar-like as well as become a button-up mask.

It is likely to be made in charcoal wool with dark silver buttons, or another similarly dark colour that isn't black. (I'm developing an odd aversion to plain black coats.)

The mess of buckles and straps and lacing that is masquerading as a padded jacket to the right is our new design. It owes a lot the fact that our two most popular items so far is the Steampunk Coat and the laced gambeson. The Designer and myself have nicknamed it "sausage wrapped in bacon" (the idea of combining two good things to make one, theoretically better, thing.)

The Designer had intended to draw out both sleeves on the same diagram (so as to save himself some future effort) but I was rather taken with the idea of an asymmetrical garment. (I can't say I'm taking fashion cues from Arya's baffling cloak in the Eragon film, but it's the only example of asymmetrical fantasy clothing I can think of right now.) Of course, the problem is that you'd want the right side to have a shorter sleeve (for greater mobility- assuming most people to be right handed) and the left side with the longer sleeve. However, due to the way it fastens, it would actually look more balanced if the sleeves were the other way around.

So, what do you think?