Faen’miir garb is bright and vibrant, like a field of flowers in full bloom. They love colors and texture and creative combinations of the two in their clothing, and are fond of using organic patterns and curves in place of hard corners and straight edges. They vary in how formal and elegant their clothes are depending on how close they live to the Rose Court, with the more rural Miirfolk’s clothing being considerably more rough and organic looking than the formal robes and gowns of the Court’s nobility and functionaries. The general aesthetic is a spectrum between “high elf” on the formal and urbanite end and “sylvan faerie” on the more informal and rustic end.
Bright, Colorful, Whimsical, Elegant, Flowing, Woodsy, Floral, Organic, Airy, Creative, Faerie, Elven
Faeries, wood elves, and high elves. Picture the elves of Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, and other entries in the high-fantasy genre, blended to a greater or lesser degree with the faerie aesthetic that’s commonly seen in Renaissance Faires. The more elven your look, the closer your character is to the Rose Court or urban areas of the Halls, while the more faerie your look the farther into the rural areas of Faen’miir your character’s origins tend to be. It’s entirely possible to mix the two looks in the same character — they can have formal robes and tunics for formal occasions, as well as more rustic and relaxed outfits that they wear when fighting or doing hard physical work.
https://www.pinterest.com/veilguardlarp/faenmiir-queendom/ (a Pinterest board for garb and aesthetic inspiration.)
You can refer to this page (Faen’miir Color Swatches) or the color block below for a visual reference for the idealized Faen’miir color palette.
The Miirfolk love color; the brighter the colors and the more of them the better. Though they’re partial to green as a base layer with red and blue as the most common highlights, there is no coherent color palette for the national garb other than “bright, highly saturated, and lots.”
A newer trend in fashion is to favor pastels over more vibrant colors, and while some view it as dimming the vibrancy of expression by restricting one’s fashion palette, others see it as a welcome change that will bring even more color options into the nation’s rapidly-evolving fashion scene.
One of the few exceptions to their freedom of color choice is the Rose Court’s dominion over dusky pink: the Court’s signature color of mauve is reserved for functionaries in the Court and servants of Titania. Loyalists to the Queen and low-ranking servants within the royal palace often wear sashes or accessories in this color, but only high-ranking officials are allowed to wear full outfits of it.
Linen, cotton, and wool are all used in Faen’miir clothing. Leather is occasionally used, but isn’t terribly common outside of pieces of garb that need that level of durability. Silk is also seen in clothing, though usually only in scarves or smaller items unless someone is particularly wealthy. Fur is quite common as an insulating layer and decoration in the Winter Hall, but doesn’t tend to see much use outside of that area.
Miirfolk tend to avoid patterned fabrics, preferring to instead use either solid colors with embroidered accents or solid-colored fabrics that have interesting textures or smocking to give them depth.
The base layers of a Faen’miir outfit are a tunic and either pants or a skirt, preferably in bright and contrasting colors. Formal tunics tend to have long hems, down to the knee at least, and long and relatively tightly-fitted sleeves. More rustic or workaday tunics often go down only to mid-thigh, and their sleeves are usually short and/or loose enough to be rolled up and pinned above the elbow if need be. Straight or smoothly curved hems are more common in urbanite outfits, while the tunics of rural Miirfolk frequently have hems that are given texture through scalloping, crenellations, leaf patterns, or similar unevenness.
Tunics are often decorated with embroidery, either floral designs or just elegant flowing curved lines. Miirfolk also like to stitch decoration to their clothes, especially flowers and leaves. These can be metallic, beads, or fashioned of leather or cloth, and are either stitched onto clothing purely for decoration or used as buttons. Rustic Miirfolk have a tendency to add many felted, knitted, or woven fabric leaves and flowers to their outfits, making them appear as if they have a small garden growing on their clothing.
Pants are usually loosely fitted, designed to give a bit of flow to the wearer’s movements but not to be too baggy. Skirts are worn by all genders as they please, and tend to have a fair amount of flounce and volume to them; it’s not uncommon for Miirfolk who prefer skirts over pants to wear multiple layers of skirts, both for better insulation and to give the garment more mass and flow when they twirl.
Urbanite outfits are topped by a vest, jacket, robe, or gown, depending on the tastes of the wearer. These garments often have split sleeves that can either hang down or be pinned at the wrist and elbow if their insulation is needed. The hems for these garments are frequently non-standard, either leaf- or petal-shaped or asymmetrical. The colors of these garments are usually some contrasting variation of the color of the base layer, i.e. a royal blue jacket over a sky blue tunic, though some Miirfolk prefer to use different colors to provide even more contrast within their outfits.
More rural outfits are usually topped by a vest, corset, or coat of some sort, often in some shade of green. These garments are heavily functional, fashioned to be worn while doing manual labor and exposed to the elements, but Miirfolk still spend considerable time decorating them with embroidery and knitted flowers and leaves in places where they’re not likely to get caught on anything.
Pockets are commonly worked into the hems and interiors of garments, but are not mandatory. Many Miirfolk get by with only a belt pouch or satchel in place of having any pockets.
Hooded capes and ruanna cloaks are common accessory garments in Miirfolk outfits, used to ward off the cold and rain. They are frequently a darker color than anything else in the wearer’s outfit, the better to absorb heat and contrast with the brighter clothing underneath.
The signature garment of Faen’miir is a crown of flowers. The crown can be made of either real or plastic flowers (which, in-universe, are enchanted to remain fresh indefinitely), and can include significant amounts of greenery, but it must have at least two flowers visible from any angle while it is being worn. You must wear this item while you are in-character to identify yourself as a Faen’miir character. The crown can be worn over a hat, wimple, or helmet, or on the head itself; if it isn’t feasible to wear one on the head, it can be worn as a garland around the neck or tied to your gear somewhere.
Some Miirfolk (particularly Aeldings) are most comfortable barefoot, but leather boots and sandals are the more common footwear. Urban Miirfolk frequently prefer slippers over sandals when they’re at home and not walking around outside. Footwear is often decorated with beads or decorative stitching, though this tends to take a secondary priority to durability for boots and sandals that are meant for walking around the wilds.
Jewelry is almost always organic in design, with some sort of animal or plant motif. The exception to this are circular and cyclical motifs, which feature heavily in Faen’miir’s artistic culture and have transitioned to their fashion trends. Wood, chord, gold, silver, bronze, and copper are all used to fashion jewelry, depending on the tastes and aesthetic of the wearer. Urbanite Miirfolk tend to prefer more elegant and simplistic designs fashioned of gold or silver, while rustic ones prefer more complicated ones fashioned of wood, copper, or bronze.
Gems are prized based on brightness of color rather than on rarity or clarity. Brightly-colored glass and lacquered wooden beads are frequently used in place of gemstones by those who can’t afford more expensive pieces, and are admired just as if they were gemstones if they stand out against the wearer’s outfit enough.
A Miirfolk camp is a riot of color, with flowers, banners, and tapestries of all sorts hanging from tents and blowing in the wind. Wooden and copper lanterns glow at night in a glittering rainbow of light, and during the day brightly-colored pinwheels and sun-catchers give the area a kaleidoscopic feel while windchimes tinkle in the breeze. The Miirfolk’s love of nature is on full display with wreaths and garlands of greenery adorning their tents, as well as the occasional potted plant or small statue of an animal scattered about.
When you’re putting together your camping kit as a Faen’miir character, focus on bringing color and brightness to your vicinity. This can involve gaily-colored fabric decorations, an adorable little ceramic bunny statue, a wreath to hang above your cabin or tent door, a chain of multi-colored fairy lights to illuminate your camp’s vicinity in the dark, and more. Try to keep the clearly modern electronics hidden, but don’t be afraid to have a chain of “glowstones” (i.e. Christmas lights) embedded in a garland, a solar-powered color-changing lantern, or a hidden speaker that plays decorum-appropriate music.
Miirfolk armor tends towards either the elegant or the woodsy, depending on the wearer’s fashion sense and the practical demands upon them as a warrior. Light leather and padded cloth armor are common choices for travelers and hunters. Hardened leather breastplates, greaves, and bracers are common for dedicated warriors, and are frequently engraved with either swirling vine motifs or bark-like patterns. Gleaming shirts or hauberks of Mithryl (i.e. aluminum) chainmail are another option for Medium Armor, and are favored more by warriors raised in the cities rather than the more rural towns and villages. Plate armor is the preferred form of Heavy Armor, though it varies in style from the classic “knightly” style (borrowed from Rivermark’s Knights) to the more “classical” Miirfolk style that resembles the elven armor from Lord Of The Rings.
Armor is very frequently dyed, painted, or lacquered to add color to it. Miirfolk of means often use exotic alloys in the construction of their armor, adding brilliant hues to the metal itself. When such displays of color aren’t possible or feasible, gleaming silver steel or golden bronze are still seen as stylish shades for a warrior to wear.
Regardless of what style of armor a Miirfolk warrior wears, they usually prefer to have some kind of garment on in addition to that. Whether it’s a colorful cloak or robe worn over their armor, a pair of long, flowy, and brightly-hued sleeves pointed to their gambeson, or just a brightly-colored shirt or pair of pants that contrast in color against their armor, Miirfolk are always seeking to make themselves stand out, even when going to war.
Miirfolk tend to prefer elegant weapons, preferably with organic or geometric curves to them or decorated by nature motifs. (Search for “elven” or “elf” when looking up weapons online and you’ll find a good selection.) Swords of varying sizes and light hand-axes are the preferred one-handed weapons, while glaives, spears, and greatswords are the preferred two-handed weapons. Bows are common, especially amongst Gloomblades, though the style of bow varies widely based on the preferences and needs of the person wielding it.
Traditional Miirfolk shields tend to be pointed on the bottom and asymmetrical in some way, though there is a trend in modern shield design back towards the classically symmetrical kite shield pattern. Beyond general shape, Miirfolk shield decorations get downright elaborate when their owner has the time, skill, and/or funds to get them painted, featuring complex designs that incorporate flower, vine, and bird motifs, as well as anything else that has a personal meaning to the shield’s bearer.
The more druidic Miirfolk eschew the standard design of shields altogether, preferring something that more resembles a slab of treated wood or bark strapped to their arm than a “proper” shield. While some of the Knights of Rivermark might turn their noses up at such “primitive” shields, the Miirfolk view them as a fashion statement, and find it quite charming when a druidic warrior is equipped with a thoroughly nature-themed kit of armor and shield.
Ferronites tend to wear dark metallic accessories of some sort in their everyday garb as a mark of their chosen calling. Metal armor worn by Ferronites tends to be dark and matte-colored, in stark contrast to the brightly-colored garb they wear over and under it.
Gloomblades have a preference for wearing dark and dull colors in most of their garb, the better to blend into the shadows of the forests they stalk. They are still Miirfolk, however, and so most have at least one brightly-colored cloak or coat that they wear over the top of their “hunting clothes” and which they can quickly shed should the need for stealth arise suddenly.
Oathweavers have a noted preference for blue in their attire, though like all Miirfolk they rarely wear only one color.
Solarians almost universally wear the stylized chainmail form of Mage Armor common in Faen’miir, rather than the more naturalistic style of Mage Armor.
Starlings and Nightingales, true to their monikers, frequently wear garb that has a bird motif of some sort in it, whether that be embroidered birds or feathers on their clothing or some kind of prominent accessory that features actual or faux feathers in its design.
Tenders have an unofficial uniform of pale green robes, adorned with leaf patterns or motifs, worn over the top of whatever other garb they prefer to wear.
Mages from the Winter Hall occasionally wear colorful pointed hats that resemble the Witches’ hats of the Grimmwold, at least in shape; these are usually relatively short and with small brims, rather than the tall and broad-brimmed style of true Hexelgann hats, and they frequently have floral crowns stitched onto them.