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A look into Edeas character design - black, art nouveau and... peacocks???

In this post, I want to talk about the design of Edea Kramer from FFVIII. Be aware that I am working with a translation program!

Ah yes.... *sips tea* another female villain dressed in black with a skin tight dress and deep cleavage.

Have you guys noticed this pattern? And how the color black is always used? Think of any villain from any media.

What are they wearing? What do they look like?

Interesting questions to think about for another post that I think about writing in the future but here and now, I will dedicate my time and love and space to...

THE MOTHER

of all mothers to ever mother herself, Edea Kramer/Sorceress Edea from Final Fantasy VIII.

Ｂａｓｉｃｄｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎ

Edea is wearing a tight, floor length fishtail dress in the colors black to grey. The dress takes on a loose shape starting from the knees downward and splits apart in petal shaped cuts at the end. Her dress shows a plunging neckline and is adorned with black feathers around the collar. Edeas dress is long sleeved and probably includes sewn in gloves that end with her bizarre and elongated hands.

Her head is covered with purple head gear that is decorated with multicolored shells, horns, beads and two round green shields with roman numerals to the sides and on top of her ears.

Attached to her back are what I would interpret or call golden clock hands. The seven clock hands are connected to each other by two golden circular tubes (that is how I would call it) going across. From the clock hand on the left and the right a white transluscent cape is cascading down her back that ends at the floor.

I hope the description was not too poor... I am not the best at describing things...

Ｅｆｆｅｃｔｏｆｈｅｒｃｌｏｔｈｉｎｇｏｎｔｈｅｖｉｅｗｅｒ

Some fashion 101 from me, a fashion designer:

The plunging neckline is seen as sexy and often represented in evening and swim wear because it draws the attention to this area of the body. The v-neckline elongates the neck area of the upper half of your body and also creates the illusion of slimming the upper half as well.

Lets look at U.S. American model Karlie Kloss on the left to really show what I mean.

Karlie Kloss appears thin and long in this outfit because the dress is and has:

all black

skin tight at the upper half

big plunging necklace

high slit at her left side

straight cut of the dress at the lower half

The color black plays games with the viewers mind and eyes. It makes one think that people are thinner when they are not because light colors easily create more color in the folds and this can make you appear bigger.

All the attention gets pulled to her chest and cleavage for many reasons.

One reason is because of the contrast in color and two the wide cut exposing her chest is in contrast to the thin looking covered arms. Her pose also helps this illusion as she is standing with her arms to the back and her chest out.

If the dress was wide and not hugging her body, then it would create the opposite effect.

Look at Kim Kardashian on the right. I think that blazer is not the best choice from a stylist perspective because while oversize is in, she is not a tall person, so clothing that creates an elongation effect and make her appear taller are something I would recommend, if she wishes to appear taller than she is. The color and the cut create a lot of contrasts and make her appear wider, especially in the hip region.

I learned that this type of neckline is recommend for women who are plus size, if they want to appear slimmer that is, or for woman who are short and want to create the effect of elongation.

The elongation effect of the neckline ties in nicely with Edeas long and bizarre looking fingers and her dress having a color gradient from black to grey, which supports that effect too.

I would like to quote a part of a blog entry from clothescolorguide.com about the optical illusion of color gradients.

Optical Illusions and Depth Perception One of the most fascinating aspects of gradients is their ability to create optical illusions. By carefully manipulating color transitions, designers can create the illusion of depth, movement, and even three-dimensionality on flat surfaces. This trick of the eye adds an extra layer of intrigue to gradient designs, making them captivating and dynamic.

This is also amplified by her dress being a fishtail dress.

The bodice of a fishtail dress is hugging the body down to the calves or knees where it dramatically flers out at the hemline. This type of design accentuates the wearers curves and is usually recommended for people with an hourglass shape. There are variations of the fishtail dress that are recommended for people with different body shapes. If you have a pear shaped body, I would recommend a fishtail dress that flers out at the hips instead because this would draw the attention upwards.

This type of dress also adds elegance to the wearer and I have said this before if you know me, the character design of FFVIII is elegant and simple. This is seen by Rinoas neckholder dress or Squalls outfit. It is not something over the top or maximalist. In fact, I think it is kind of opposite to the character designs of FF10. FF10 has asymmetricals, many accessories, many colors, etc. Not so much FF8. Final Fantasy VIII seems more grounded overall, may it be the character design, the world or something else.

So I think that the dress being elegant is another element to add to the elegant aesthetic theme of FFVIII.

ＷｈｙｉｓＥｄｅａｓｄｒｅｓｓｂｌａｃｋ？

Villains in any media are often times portrayed in dark, pale colors paired with black or simply black. Not even in Disney movies but also in Final Fantasy. Look at Sephiroth or look at Ardin. Both of them are dressed in black while their hair has a cold tone to it.

Why is that?

The reason for that comes from color psychology. Color plays a huge role because of the psychological effects that influence emotions and perceptions; for example, blue often evokes calmness, while red can signify excitement or urgency.

I want to recommend this article about this very topic.

One of the first few lines in that article is that black is the sum of all colors, since it absorbs them.

There is something symbolic and poetic in this because you as the viewer could interpret that as the antagonist being powerful, having power over all.

Black is associated with:

Dominance and Authority -> leading figures wearing black suits

Elegance -> Evening wear, formal settings, et cetera...

Protection -> politicians bodyguards and cars being black

Darkness -> in the dark you see nothing but black

Death and Funerals -> funeral clothing symbolizing mourning and sadness

Mystery

Fear

Sophistication

Evil

Power

If you keep in mind these associations with black and apply that to Edea in the game, then it is only natural from a designer perspective to have her primary color be black (teeheehee... this is contradictory because black is not a primary color... a little joke here)

ᴇᴅᴇᴀ ɪꜱ ᴡʜᴀᴛ?

Authority -> A sorceress who went on to become the ambassador of Galbadia + Matron at a childrens orphanage

Power, Evil, Darkness -> A sorceress with mystical powers under the control of an evil sorceress who mind controls her

Fear, Mystery -> ewoking fear in the people as a sorceress and making them submit due to her mystical powers

Sophistication -> Edea is described as ladylike and refined, being kind and loving...

ＡｒｔＮｏｕｖｅａｕ

Me being a big fan of the artistic style of Art Nouveau made me realize how much inspiration Edeas design takes from that time periods fashion and I get all giggly and happy thinking about it. I am writing another long blog post about the aesthetics in FFVIII, where I will go deeper into Art Nouveaus representation in the game.

I do have to add that Edeas whole look is more inspired by the fashion of the 1920s, which already cuts into the artistic style of Art Deco and you will see how that is further below.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀɪᴢᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴀꜱʜɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ 1920ꜱ?

More photos here

When you think of the 1920s, you most likely think of the flapper dress.

The square cut, ankle length dress that is tied around the hips with a scarf or the fringed dress that is stereotypically worn to dance the charleston or other popular dances of that era.

But that is not everything and it is not that simple...

I found a very interesting website with an accompanied article that I would like to recommend to you. I will quote it from this point on.

The scond part of this article perfectly captures the characteristics of Edeas design and I want to include what the author wrote there:

The author wrote about three popular types of Art Deco fashion. The flapper, the silver screen goddess and the sporty girl.

Reading about these archetypes, it will become obvious which one applies to Edea.

NOTE: The fashion in that decade is not the same throughout naturally. It is more the mid to late 1920s than the early 1920s that you can see in Edea.

The golden twenties

The era women began to be more liberated and began to be more free from societal constructs for the first time, was a time where you had technological advancements (with the help of the women in working class of course).

People began to go to cinemas to watch silent films and on the screen you would see silent film legends like Marlene Dietrich for example.

Overall, people began to spend more on stuff.

Luxuries like jewelry, head clothing with diamonds and other gems and stones inspired by the beautiful outfits people would see on the movie screens and furs of animals like minks was sooo flamboyantly cut. I saw a design that had a mink boa with tassel shaped fur at the ends LOL

Check out Ultimecias alternate dissidia designs:

Let's look at Edeas outfit and compare to the points shown in the authors list

Women began to cut their hair short and started to decorate their head with various head decoration. I remember reading an article about how the author did not understand this change of hairstyle. Well... this is the time women started working in factories so it is only plausible that they had to keep their hair back or else it would get caught in the machinery... ouch...

The most famous headpiece was the bandeau. A band worn across the forehead that has sewn in jewels or feathers.

Headbands, beads, hair clips, combs, crowns and tiaras began to grow in popularity. Some were simple and some were extravagant with colorful fabrics and long feathers.

It is also interesting how in Edeas introduction scene, her hair grows from an extremely long length to so short that it gets covered under the headpiece completely. I personally interpreted the veins being shown because the headpiece is so tight. Another thought about her hair disappearing is how in many cultures long hair is of symbolic and spiritual importance. Long hair symbolizes power and strength and with her hair disappearing, she looses those qualities to Ultimecia.

Edeas eye make-up is purple, which is a complementary contrast to her yellow eyes.

Purple is often associated with poison (as seen in the Mario Games like Paper Mario Galaxy for example) which could hint at the fact that Edea is poisoned by Ultimecias mind control. The design is bizarre but fits perfectly unlike the headgear on Edeas head.

1920s make-up was about accentuating the eyes in any way possible. Heavy eyeshadows, lashes and the shape of the eyebrows played an important role. Lips had a more round shape in a intense color. Eyebrows were either straight our going downward which created the "sad look" effect.

This also applies to Edea. If you look at her face, her eyes are what catches your attention, especially if you look at her in-game portrait, aside from that bizarre headpiece because of the color contrast.

The skin is light, the eyes are yellow and the lips and eye make-up are purple.

Read more here to inform yourself of that interesting eras make-up!!!

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Now you may ask yourself what all this has to do with peacocks.

Well, well, well... *rubbing hands deviously* my dear reader...

Art Nouveau is inspired by nature. Birds, Insects, Plants.

The peacock in particular was so popular that it not only influenced fashion BUT ARCHITECTURE AS WELL.

I want to quote this article on messynessychic.com about Hector Guimards Metropolitan station design.

Hector Guimard’s Paris Metro Station entrances took the peacock’s fan-tail to the built extreme with fine, sinuously radiating metal work supporting feather-like glass canopy panels while in 1908, Russian jeweller Carl Faberge produced the most exquisite of all his eggs: a miniature enamelled peacock, sitting in a tree inside a hinged translucent egg.

Seeing this metropolitan station for the first time is when I realized how much FFVIII is inspired by Art Nouveau, by the way. The interior design is also interesting because you can see baroque interior in Fury Caraways Manor. That will be another topic for the aesthetics shown in FFVIII.

Exoticism was very big during the beginning of the 20th century and the (blue) peacock being from India was no exception. It was a symbol of that and beauty as this bird carries their self with a certain grace and with colorful and big tail feathers.

A few weeks ago, I had this post asking people if I am the only one who associates Edea with a peacock because of some similiarities.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱɪᴍɪʟɪᴀʀɪᴛɪᴇꜱ?

The fact that Rinoa has bird wings in Angel Wing and Edea wearing black feathers around the collar of her dress made me think that the Sorceresses in the game are inspired by Birds.

Thank goodness I was not the only one who thought this way because my beautiful mastermind of a mastermind of a masters mind theory crafting ffviii obsessed friend @rubybahamut had a theory about this exact same thing YEARS AGO that YOU MUST read about right here !!!!

You could also associate Edea to christianities belief of the peacock, which is the belief that the feathers represent the allseeing eye of god. She was announced to be the ambassador of Galbadia for a short time and what does an ambassador do?

They are ensuring the safety and security of their country's citizens who are living or traveling in the host country -> They watch over people.

To sum up a lot of text in three words: Edea is THAT girl.

The more I am writing this post, the more things come to mind that I could add here but I sadly already hit the image limit... so maybe a part 2 is in order?

I wanted to include more photos of 1920s dresses (like this one) that have asymmetrical hemlines. They could be zig zag shaped, they could have tassels, they could have ruffles and other eccentric cuts.

The influence of that eras fashion is still felt today. You have cartoon figures like Betty Boop and great gatsby themed parties. No wonder they are so popular. No matter what your taste was, you could always outslay everyone in the room simply by that outfit you were wearing.

Love it!!!

And I hope you loved my long, long, long post!!!!

If you have anything to add to what I already wrote here, please feel free to share it with me!!!

I will edit this post as time goes on for coherency and structure.

#my god... it's a sorceress fashion dissertation! 💖 LOTS of fascinating ideas here old and new and it's a very fun read :D #Final Fantasy VIII #fashion #long post

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