Troublesome Items II: Clanweave Robe

Oh, how happy I was to read that the Rise of Isengard cosmetics included some new and exciting separates.  I was thrilled!  And several of those pieces are fantastic.  That said…then there’s the Clanweave Robe.

Ohh, Clanweave Robe.  How wide-hipped you make my female characters look.  How disproportionate, how stubby.  What an awkward length you are!  How annoyed you make me!

I’ve seen a couple of people do neat things with it.  Freyjuska of LOTRO Fashion did a marvelous job with her Lady of Rhûn outfit.  She managed to make a stumpy, wide legpiece elegant.  And here’s my offering:

I’m a little teapot…

Hark! That lady over there gets to wear PANTS!

I went with an olive-and-violet color scheme to take advantage of the skirt’s hem detail, as well as the brown and violet hues in the chestpiece.  Violet shoes help to make the skirt seem a little longer.

So what’s YOUR solution?  Have you come up with an outfit for the Clanweave Robe (and other items of identical appearance bearing different Dunland names) that pleases you?  Share!

Troublesome Items I: Long Elven Robe

Some cosmetic items just make me scratch my head.  Every once in a while, I’ll post one of these conundrums and ask you what you would do with them, after providing a couple of examples of my own coping mechanisms.

First up is the Long Elven Robe, a brightly hued robe purchased (if you dare!) from the outfitter in Celondim.  In its undyed state, the robe is knee-length, white, with neon green flowers and an unfortunate wide band across the rear end, as well as a sea blue under-robe and a violet layer beneath that.  Plus a violet belt with a center detail.  It is, in brief, a whole lotta look.

To make matters more challenging, dye only changes the underlying white of the over-robe, meaning that you’re stuck with the neon green, the sea blue, and the violet no matter what.

First idea:  Embrace the madness.

You want color?  We’ll give you color!  Don’t make me turn this swan-boat around!  This isn’t really that colorful, but I liked the neckline where purple, red, green, and blue all collided.

Yeah, I'm wearing a gold day pack. What's your problem?

Just get it off me already. We like to blend with nature, not shout at it. SIGH.

Second idea:  Bring it down a notch.

Sea blue dye on the robe makes it far less garish, and a plain cloak and plain quilted shoulder pads of the same color bring down the visual chaos quite a bit.  Simple shoes dyed Rivendell green blend with the leggings to keep it sleek.  It isn’t a dramatically different look than the one above; I just can’t go full-out crazysauce.  This one does hide the strange horizontal butt-panel, though, and I think that’s a big improvement.

I get to wear a circlet here. I dig circlets.

I would like to change into some green flowing thing made out of leaves now, please.

Finally, lest you think Hithien always looks this way, here she is in her normal guise:

This is me when I'm not a rodeo clown.

Here’s another option with the robe, by the talented Starry Mantle:  Elven-wise.  Maybe everyone likes this thing, and the conundrum bit is just me!

That said, now it’s your turn!  What would you do?  Links to your blog, or links to flickr or photoshop are just fine.  Help all of us with this Troublesome Item!