life & style // no. 16 theotherpress.ca Image via thr.com Bringing back the 40s > Fall trends for 2017 Brittney MacDonald Life & Style Editor o matter how many times I do it, writing about fashion is always an enjoyable experience for me. It’s probably because fashion, especially seasonal fashion, is this odd thing that’s ever- changing, but also cyclical. Meaning, though trends seem to always rise to prominence and then quickly fade, they usually tend to come back; either as part of a decade’s aesthetic resurgence, or just as an individual feature within a larger, well-dressed picture. This fall, you can expect to see a little of both. The first thing that I'll get into is the resurgence of a 1940s-vintage aesthetic, because most of the other trends I will mention kind of play into this one. What characterizes the 40s fashion-wise is a long and lean silhouette, the experimentation with gender fluid clothing, and the use of certain fabrics like silk and wool to RPG hook: hi achieve contrasting “soft” and “hard” impressions to accentuate that gender fluidity. The trends I mention in this article will tend to be for both men and women, because unisex is something you can expect to see a lot of going forward in your fall fashion journey. If you've been keeping up with what’s happening in the fashion capitals—like New York, Paris, and Milan—the next feature will come as no shock to you. Large collars have been displayed prominently through many large-scale fashion shows as something that will define the fall season. This kind of relates to the 40s resurgence in that these collars play up both hyper masculine and hyper feminine silhouettes. Large lapels like those found on men’s dress shirts and suit jackets, as well as collars made out of layered ruffles and either real or faux fur—such as ones more traditionally associated with female fashion—will be a big thing. The gendered styles will tend to be mixed and matched, so expect > Tapping into your inner tribal goodness Davie Wong Sports Editor ne of the more common tropes in fantasy RPGs is the tribal theme. Far away from civilization lie villages untouched by the corruptions of greed and magics, or something like that. There are a bunch of ways you can use the tribal theme to your advantage as a game master. First of all, I guess we have to figure out what tribalism is. In its purest form for RPG games, tribalism is a style of living in which creatures live in an organized society without the added complication of advance technology or magic. Often times, tribes are primal, placing their faith in gods to explain occurrences. However, how you use tribalism in your game can vary. A tribe in a standard fantasy RPG world would be a matter of primitive creatures using basic tools. But tribalism in a future-esque sci-fi universe may be similar to how we are now as a world. It all depends on context. Another thing that is important to decide is what races are likely to follow in this tribal pursuit. Is it limited to one or two races? Why? In classic RPGs, the two most likely tribal races are humans and orcs. This is because traditionally, their societies are often guided by religious practices. One of the bigger aspects of tribalism is how significant the tribal culture is in your world. Is it few and far between, or does it run rampant? How often is one expected to run into a tribe? All these things must be considered before getting into the nitty-gritty of tribalism. Speaking of, some of the more detailed aspects of tribalism can be quite tricky. A tribal government could consist of anything, really—but generally speaking, it’s easier if you keep it consistent. Do all the tribes in one area have a strong leader? Or do all the tribes in the area have an elected counsel? Maybe the tribes in the area are led by a priest of the faith they are loyal to? Next, pick something unique about your tribe or tribes that would distinguish them from the rest. Tribes are boring if they don't feel unique. Depending on the world, this could be of a micro or macro scale. If your world is inhabited by tribes, then perhaps groups of them have the same distinguishing factor. If tribes are more uncommon, then start separating them tribe-by-tribe. For example, being to see men’s wear rocking a peter pan collar or fur stole, while women break out the power suits, or vice versa. Next up will be the cuts of things. To achieve that long and lean silhouette that characterized the 40s you'll need to prepare yourself for floor-length everything! As a general rule of thumb, floor-length pants and dresses may not be seen as “sexy,” but they do make you appear taller—and that’s what we'e going for this season. In the 40s it was the goal of women to appear “boyish,” meaning short hair, not a lot of emphasis on cleavage or curves, and to look almost gangly. This gave the illusion of effortlessness. Adapting that to more modern notions of bodies, where we like to celebrate all types of bodies; You can expect to see the floor- length, but done in fabrics that will flow freely around the body or caress it—so that the sexiness you might miss will be in the peeks of curve and body shape, and not in actually showing a lot of skin. This whole long and lean Getting tribal nomadic. If one tribe is nomadic, and another isn’t, it opens the world for your players to explore. Why is the tribe nomadic? Why is the other one not? This leaves options for you to continually shape and create this tribal society. Remember that tribes are complicated. Even the primitive Image via maxcdn-edge.com thing will relate to men as well, so expect longer cut or asymmetrically cut shirts, oversized sweaters, and coats that come to the mid-thigh or even the knee. You'll also want to invest in some layering material, flannel shirts, scarves to elongate your torso, that type of thing. The goal remains to make you appear as tall as possible. You'll need to break out the accessories to really embrace that 40s vibe; Paper boy caps, suspenders, slender dress belts, and patterned socks will all help you master men’s fashion this season. Lastly, let’s talk colour palette. It’s fall, so generally the colour palette will be the same as it always is—warm earth tones, muted reds, oranges, things that go well with a pumpkin spice latte and an almond danish. Because you will probably be seeing a lot more silk used this season, you can also expect that metallic will be in fashion: For example, bronze or metallic green combined with dark browns or creams, depending on the garment. Illustration by Ed Appleby barbarians that raid and pillage have their own eccentricities that set them apart from everything else in the world. Get creative! If the players can guess every detail of the tribe within five minutes of description, you'll probably want to re- evaluate the tribal system’s value in your world.