Good point that nomads might not wear big, thick skirts. I do like that the Elvish fashions we saw on the ship heading West were very similar for men and women.
I think how to do fashion goes right into how much one wants to follow Tolkien's exact lead vs. evolving the story for the times. Tolkien's lead (as I'm being starkly reminded of my Silmarillion reread) is that Elvish (and Numenórean) societies are very patriarchal, with a lot of emphasis on women's beauty. It seems extraordinarily rare for a woman to be known for anything other than (1) beauty, (2) what romances she was in, and (3) whose child/mother she is. (Galadriel is only female Elf I can think of who seems significantly known for things outside those roles.) In that frame of reference, it makes sense to me that the Elvish noblewomen would be all dolled up, much as he describes Arwen, for example, in Rivendell in LotR and the men would be more clothed for action (side note: I don't buy Celebrimbor wandering all the way to Khazad-dûm (sp?) in his spiffy evening robe). Tolkien does offer a tradition of Elves having some shieldmaiden-type warriors, but this always seems an exception.
My personal desires--which aren't very relevant--tend toward keeping "problematic" worldbuilding and actively exploring it through characters that challenge it, rather than changing it to be less "problematic." Thus, I'd probably rather see a discussion of how fashion is not fair than see fashion made more fair. (But I agree about the Harfoots: simple survival necessity would reasonably argue for simpler clothes.)
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I think how to do fashion goes right into how much one wants to follow Tolkien's exact lead vs. evolving the story for the times. Tolkien's lead (as I'm being starkly reminded of my Silmarillion reread) is that Elvish (and Numenórean) societies are very patriarchal, with a lot of emphasis on women's beauty. It seems extraordinarily rare for a woman to be known for anything other than (1) beauty, (2) what romances she was in, and (3) whose child/mother she is. (Galadriel is only female Elf I can think of who seems significantly known for things outside those roles.) In that frame of reference, it makes sense to me that the Elvish noblewomen would be all dolled up, much as he describes Arwen, for example, in Rivendell in LotR and the men would be more clothed for action (side note: I don't buy Celebrimbor wandering all the way to Khazad-dûm (sp?) in his spiffy evening robe). Tolkien does offer a tradition of Elves having some shieldmaiden-type warriors, but this always seems an exception.
My personal desires--which aren't very relevant--tend toward keeping "problematic" worldbuilding and actively exploring it through characters that challenge it, rather than changing it to be less "problematic." Thus, I'd probably rather see a discussion of how fashion is not fair than see fashion made more fair. (But I agree about the Harfoots: simple survival necessity would reasonably argue for simpler clothes.)