[WIP] Dunmer Noblewomen Overhaul : III

» Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:36 am

Being a huge fan of hairsticks, hair ornaments and traditional hairstyles I have always thought that TES games are somewhat lacking in this department: to me, nothing represent the uniqueness of a culture better than female fashion! In Morrowind, there are several ashlander hairstyles - with feathers and bugshells, but I wanted to make something for the Houses' noblewomen too.

I'm going to modify all female dunmer with "Noble" class (both those who belong to a House and those who doesn't), some males dumner (no new hairstyles for them, only new robes) and also some high-ranking female House members with classes other than "Noble".

I've created 96 new hairstyles (15 base models + variations with different details, accessories, color, etc.)

I took inspiration mostly in traditional Mongolian, Manchurian, Chinese and Japanese hairstyles. I didn't attempted to recreate them: that would be boring and - considering that this is TES world, not ours - unrealistic (like "breaking the 4th wall" effect). Instead I used the RL historical examples as a starting point - I mixed and matched and added many fantasy elements.

If you think that these hairstyles are "too much" please note that they are not for adventurers or workers - they are for the nobles, and they serve the same goal as all upper class fashions in all cultures throughout the history: they show that a. this person doesn't perform any physical labor - since in such get-up that would be simply impossible; b. this person owns slaves or has servants since this attire can't be put on without help. Besides, almost all hairstyles I made are smaller and less elaborate then their RL prototypes.

There are also 30 new robes: 4 for each House, 4 - exclusive for Vvardenfell noblewomen, and 4 - for other Morrowind provinces (since I'm going to make TR addon). You can see them all on the screenshots below along with hairstyles examples (though some of the robes will probably be modified before the final release):

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6520/31340145.3/0_127a7c_fae76a50_X5L - heavily inspired by traditional https://www.google.ru/search?q=Mongolian+(Khalkha+region)+hairstyles&newwindow=1&safe=off&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIoO203PX0xgIVR1UsCh2jFwqT&biw=1920&bih=965 for married women

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6001/31340145.3/0_127a7a_8b5d216d_X5L - also somewhat a variation of the Khalka hairstyle

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6213/31340145.3/0_127a7d_1813ce98_X5L - yes, I do love horned hairstyles! You may have guessed this already. :smile:

This one is influenced by medieval European fashion. The Telvanni hairstyles set is the only one which hasn't been finished yet.

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5109/31340145.3/0_127a7b_27165667_X5L - a mix of https://www.google.ru/search?q=Qing+dynasty+female+hairstyles&newwindow=1&safe=off&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIg7-pl_b0xgIVwgYsCh0Fwg43&biw=1920&bih=965 and https://www.google.ru/search?q=Japanese+Edo+female+hairstyles&newwindow=1&safe=off&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMI5aLFqfb0xgIVyNYsCh3fEQDQ&biw=1920&bih=965 fashions.

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3312/31340145.3/0_127a79_874e9a4d_X5L - traditional http://lilsuika.deviantart.com/art/Noble-Manchurian-Women-of-Qing-Dynasty-Hair-441887064 (which is probably the most iconic image of the Qing dynasty female fashion).

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/15532/31340145.3/0_127a7f_1770a642_X5L and https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3106/31340145.3/0_127a7e_c1577ab2_X5L - these hairstyle are mostly pure fantasy with some Indian elements

Many new robes have variations with face masks, and I'm going to use also veils by NioLiv. Considering Morrowind ashstorms, various kinds of face masks should be very common among all classes of the society including nobility. Probably, in many Vvardenfell regions (especially in the Redoran lands) a lady would never leave a house without a veil. (Actually, I think that face masks should have been added from the start by the developers: poor outdoor NPCs in Ashlands - how do they even breath?!)

The hairstyles are for the MacKom's heads.

» Sat Jul 25, 2015 1:24 pm

This is really cool. I think the more expensive clothes in Morrowind could use some more diversity for both males and females and I really dig what you're doing here. I can't wait to see what else you come up with!

» Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:05 am

I realy like these! Some in-game screenshots would be great.

» Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:42 am

These do look really great. Your vision for their appearance is intriguing. I would definitely use something like this.

» Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:53 am

These look fantastic! I've always thought Mongol hairstyles in particular should appear more in fantasy settings, they seem so perfect for it (see Queen Amidala's wardrobe in Star Wars, which is easily the best part of The Phantom Menace. Mongol hairstyles and kokoshniks... I do love me some kokoshniks )

That said, one minor criticism/concern... is the robe texture on the leftmost Telvanni example set in stone? I ask because, as someone who can read Japanese/Chinese, those are very obviously hanzi/kanji, just rotated to different orientations. For me, it was a bit immersion breaking, since when I clicked the image the first thing I tried to do was read her robe :teehee: Obviously it's not a deal-breaker if you intend to keep them that way, but even if you planned a variant that omit that one texture, I would be very appreciative. Of course, I could always just do it myself in the CS later~