Design Lore- Wedding Gowns of Inquisitor Evanui Lavellan and Ambassador Josephine Montilyet*
*this is all related to my headcanons concerning these characters, please don't take anything I write here as actual canon*
I do not agree that these ladies waited over a decade to get engaged. they were quietly married as soon as Eva's arm healed. This is their blow- out vow renewal ceremony.
This is a very long post. Strap in.
As someone with a background in fashion and design, the fashion choices of characters is always an extremely important facet to me when it comes to understanding who those characters are at their core.
Games are no different, in fact they're probably one of the mediums where fashion design shines the most. You can usually tell exactly what sort of person a character is at a glance based on the design choices made and how every piece of their outfit is styled.
I love Dragon Age, so I figured I'd have fun with this little project and go ham.
Josephine and Eva deserve that much after so much time.
The simple sheath- style dress we see in Cullen and Sera's wedding scenes would not work for these two, Josie in particular.
I was originally designing something from scratch, with hints of Italian Renaissance styles, a little Jacobian, metallics, etc. but then this fabulous 80s Mugler caught my eye.
Swap the colour, tweak the sleeves, fuller skirt, some bows on the neckline, and done!
Eva's I wanted to keep more in line with what was in-game, but fancier. Adding sleeves to this 60s Valentino did the trick, as did the bodice shape of Lady Sibyl's harem pants frock from Series 1 of Downton Abbey.
Colour Palettes and Materials:
Historically women married in their best dresses. For people of means that meant very elaborate, costly things. They rarely wore white wedding gowns, preferring bright or deep colours for their gowns, or most expensively, metallic fabric.
Cloth of gold and cloth of silver were preferred by noblility, and those with the coin for it often made full outfits from these fabrics.
Examples include the wedding gown of Empress Ekaterina II of Russia, and the coronation gown of Queen Maude of Norway (yes, I know it's actually gold lamé, but there are almost no examples of actual cloth of gold left).
As the head of a now-prosperous noble family who dealt with trade, Josie would be familiar with these and many other fine fabrics. Now that she can afford to splurge a little, she'd have a choice of the best. The skirt is cloth of silver with gold coloured satin for her bodice and sleeves.
I took inspiration for the bodice from the the colour of Artemesia Gentileschi's Ester Before Ahasuenus, and the texture of the silks in Vittorio Reggianini's La Soireé.
Eva's gown, while simpler in shape and style, was no less elaborate in construction. The pleats on the Valentino gown remind me so much of Mariano Fortuny's Delphos gowns that were the rage during the early part of the 20th century. She chose a fine light linen for it's construction, in a colour she liked over whatever was more fashionable. In this case a light rosy pink with darker pink as a base for the embroidery panels.
The embroidery is where things get deep in my headcanon (and my feelings), as traditional embroidery patterns are something that I've always been particularly interested in. Both as a hobby, and the historical and cultural traditions and motifs that are tied into embroidery as an art form.
It's an artform historically practiced by women, an industry made and defined by women. Stories, techniques, designs, patterns: passed from mother to daughter, sister to sister, friend to friend, from generation to generation for centuries. The textile tradition of a culture tell the stories the men wouldn't commit to memories, the stories few will ever commit to words. Stories of love and history, changing trends, aesthtics, personal style. Stories of the individuals who wore the clothes.
I chose heavy embroidery for Evanui's gown because as the First to the Keeper, she would know the importance of traditions like these within families and clans. And Clan Lavellan has lost so much. This is her way of represent her traditions, and her personal story on her body on what would be one of the happiest days of her life.
And it's also a way for the women of Clan Lavellan- Evanui's sisters, cousins, aunts, and friends- to show a most cherished member of the Clan all their love and support during this happy occasion.
Poppies for beauty and remembrance, and twining stems and leaves similar to the elfroot icons you see in game. They're done in the style of Hungarian style red work embroidery, a personal favourite of mine.
I lifted a blue version of the flower crown Queen Guinevere wore for her wedding in Excalibur for Josie. With everything else going on in the outfit, a simple mesh veil works.
Eva wears a short veil of dark pink linen with some simple embroidery along the scalloped edge. It's a shortened, simplifed version of historical headwear in the vein of wimples and henins. She wears it with a flower band in the popular face-framing style of the mid-1800s. It's a look that's perfect for elves!
These aren't shown, but I did think of them!
Josie wears Roccoco-style heels like those depicted in François Boucher's Marquise de Pompadour, coloured gold of course. Eva wears something more Romantic, Jacques-Louis David's Mlle Ducreux in pale pink and red would work.
And yes, her shoes are full shoes. She got tired of having her feet cold and wet in traditional Dalish footwear.
While I'm nowhere on her level, the biggest inspo for this little exercise came from one of my favourite illustrators, Beverlie Manson. In particular the paintings she did for Cinderella and Snow White and Rose Red.
In all, this has been far too much fashion, and even more headcanoning for one measley piece of fanart. But I will definitely be returning to these designs sooner rather than later.
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