Salem vs Roanoke (after Salem Dies)
just a handy dandy way to tell the difference between the two and where the differences stem from.
Salem’s fit is on the left, while Roa’s is on the right.
First off, they both wear the same kind of hat, the same style of dress-shirt with the sleeves folded to the elbows, the same slacks/dress-pants (Salem’s waist is cut a little higher here but that’s...... whatever. they both have slacks with different cuts and will swap them out as needed gimme a break here), same belt (ignore the color difference that’s a mistake), and shoes (not pictured, but they both wear black & white wingtips)
Salem:
Salem wears suspenders, a tie, and a tie clip to actually try and “class-up” his look. He knows he can look pretty thuggish, so these are his attempts at looking more “professional”. They...... just make him look like a professional thug though LOL
Arm garters - Most of the time Salem is fine with just folding his sleeves up, but if he knows he’s gonna get his hands real dirty on a job, he’ll use his arm garters to ensure his sleeves don’t fall down (keeps the blood off ‘em)
Half gloves - sometimes subbed out with full gloves. Worn to keep his hands safe(r) and clean. There’s a story about why he wears half-gloves (mostly) specifically, but the trio is gonna get a whole post about their gloves cuz of like....... symbolism or whatever
(Not pictured) Suspenders - Salem actually wears two styles. One is the style pictured above that goes directly over his chest and crosses in the back. The other are leather suspenders that go wide on the shoulders and chest, narrowing as the waist (sorta like how Tifa wears hers!) with a strap going under the arm to maintain that look. Like these.
(Not pictured) Palette - While Salem usually wears his red shirt with his black accessories, he actually does have a palette swap he sometimes wears. It’s more-or-less the same thing but a black shirt with red suspenders, tie, etc. If he’s in black, he’ll also sometimes class his look up even further by wearing a black vest as well, but it’s an extremely rare occurrence. For whatever reason, he’ll wear his hair loose (but still fluffed up/unruly) rather that in his low ponytail when wearing his vest.
Roanoke (After Salem dies):
Hair - While Roanoke styles his hair the same as Salem did (fluffy/ruffled + a low ponytail) he parts his hair to the other side. This is mostly subconscious on his part. Having his hair fall onto the right side of his face makes it feel how it looks when he looks at Salem. And, of course, when he sees his reflection in a mirror, it looks as though Salem is really there.
Chest holster - A hand-me-down he got from Salem years ago. He actually used to wear it under his usual long-coat (obviously not pictured) because having it on made him feel like his brother. The fact that he wears it and continues to wear it while acting like Salem whereas Salem traded the holster in for his suspenders/tie/arm garters is sorta symbolic of how Roanoke’s “Salem act” isn’t quite perfect - instead of being Salem beat-for-beat which he’s actually perfectly capable of, he’s acting the way he wants which ends up being a facsimile of the real Salem. He wants to be his brother, he wants to act like his brother, and knows he can’t. Not for lack of ability but because he doesn’t have the right to.
Gloves (or lack thereof) - Unless Roanoke is wholly and truly posing as another person, name and all, Roanoke does not wear gloves. This even extends to while he’s acting like Salem. So long as he’s “Roanoke” the gloves stay off.
