1. marcusl

    marcusl New Member

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    Need help with naming this piece of clothing

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by marcusl, Mar 28, 2011.

    Hello everyone. This is a pretty obscure question, I guess, but I need to know the answer, so I hope you guys don't mind.

    Okay, so, in this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVJdev77Gw

    If you jump to 0:36, you'll see there are these feathery things attached to the singer's arms. Is there some kind of proper term I can use to describe that?

    Thanks people. I really appreciate the help.
     
  2. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    Call them wings, and just describe how they're attached. Looks like they join to rings or something on the back of her hand, and hang down from the back of her dress? It's more like a cape that's attached to her hands than anything.
     
  3. Terri

    Terri New Member

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    I've never seen anything that resembles this except wings. *shrug* Just do as Melzaar said & describe them as you can.
     
  4. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    Technically, I think it would qualify as fringe. It's the type of fringe and what it's made out of that make it look like wings.
     
  5. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    Yeah, but being poetic and stating it as something the reader would instantly understand, it's best to just go for wings. If you said "fringe" I'd have to read the description and if it wasn't pulled off right, I'd still not really know. Wings is what they're meant to look like on the clothes, and so should really be the first word the author uses to explain them to the reader, even if the second word is "fringe" or whatever technical term.
     
  6. Ellipse

    Ellipse Contributor Contributor

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    I'm certain there is a proper fashion term for it, but you could describe it any number of ways. The simplest description I can think of is it could be a shawl with the fabric cut in a way as to resemble feathered wings.
     
  7. Lothgar

    Lothgar New Member

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    Lothgar, dressed to kill in a white formal gown and sporting a unique, customized capelet, decorated with a flourish of white feathers and attached at the wrists, to make it appear as angelic wings spreading wide when he raises his arms, dances out onto the stage, with a twisting and swirling entrance.

    To the tune of swan lake, ballerina Lothgar twirls, leaps and tippy-toes his way into the hearts of the artistic world...all the while, not looking nearly as sissified as you might think for an former Airborne Ranger, sporting a "Death before Dishonor" tattoo on his arm. :)
     
  8. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    Now that i would love to see lol
     
  9. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    i've been a clothing and costume designer/maker and what that is doesn't fit any 'name' of a standard clothing element... it's simply superb costuming...

    just describe it in your own words and don't try for any applicable 'proper term'...

    if i were to do so, i might write something like:

    feathered panels were attached both at the shoulders and to bracelets at her wrists, imparting a graceful wing-like appearance to her fluid arm movements...
     
  10. marcusl

    marcusl New Member

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    Thanks heaps for the replies people! I'll make use of those suggestions for sure :).
     
  11. katica

    katica New Member

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    I like your explanation. The other ones sound too flowery. Yours is the only explanation that actually causes me to think of what it is when I'm reading it.
     
  12. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    Or a feathered boa attached to the dress and wrists looks like wings. To me it looks like an elaborate boa like they use for dancing with wrist loops sewn onto the dress,
     
  13. katica

    katica New Member

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    I like your explanation as well. =)
     

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