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Arwen's daughter
Half-elven
Oct 21 2008, 5:03am
Post #1 of 37
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Did You Ever Notice... The Fellowship Cloaks?
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Since this is a piece of clothing worn by nine characters over three movies, I hope you won't mind if I devote an entire post to it.
The cloaks given to the Fellowship at Lothlorien are grey wool half circle cloaks. The wool is a very special type of wool from one flock of sheep called Stansborough Gotland wool. It is a natural grey color that hasn't been dyed but they did use two different greys from the flock to add a little variation to the color. The green we sometimes see on film is the result of digital grading in post-production. The wool was provided by Stansborough Fibers, and they also sell an official Fellowship Cloak, as well as many products made with the same wool. LOTR used over 1000 meters of fabric from Stansborough.
You can see that there is a pattern woven into the wool.
The shape of the cloak is a half circle of fabric with a hole cut out for the head. Two diamond shapes are sewn together along the long sides to form the hood. Two of the short sides would be sewn to the neck of the cloak and the other two would form the top of the hood. These pictures are not to scale.
The advantages of this type of cloak are that you get a lot of fabric in the back but almost none in the front. It sits cleanly at the shoulders and shows off the costume underneath. The disadvantage is that the fabric behind you has nothing in front to off-set the weight and the cloak tends to pull at the neck.
Gandalf gets a different sort of Lothlorien cloak at the beginning of TTT. His is a 3/4 circle or full circle of fabric to hide his white robes.
The cloaks are held at the neck with a heavy clasp which is covered by the Mallorn brooch. When Pippin removes his brooch you can see the clasp underneath. This keeps the weight of the cloak off of the more fragile jewelry piece. The Noble Collection offers a replica brooch that is close but not quite exact. This was the only piece of jewelry they used a mold to reproduce multiple times. 60 brooches were made for the films.
And there's a bit of movie magic in these cloaks. What's wrong with Sam's backpack here?
Where do the straps connect back with the pack underneath his arms? The answer is, some of these cloaks have small slits, about 6 inches long, to allow packs, quivers, and shields to sit on the shoulders without ruffling the cloaks. If you're wearing a cloak and pack like this you would have to remove the pack and cloak together and would almost certainly need help with it.
Find out more over at AlleyCatScratch.
So, any thoughts?
Did You Ever Notice? is a roving discussion taking a look at the details in the films one costume at a time. It follows neither a schedule nor any particular order. Look for it when you see it. You can always find previous discussions at my Costume Discussion Archive.
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stormcrow20
Gondor
Oct 21 2008, 9:08am
Post #2 of 37
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My favorite "look" for Gandalf
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These cloaks are gorgeous, and the brooches really compliment them wonderfully. I like how you can see right through them in some scenes, yet they appear to be warm and cozy. Exactly as they are described in the books!
"For each they had provided a hood and cloak, made according to his size, of the light but warm silken stuff that the Galadhrim wove. It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be; and yet if they were moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, dusk-silver as water under the stars. Each cloak was fastened about the neck with a brooch like a green leaf veined with silver."
I've even found the fabric used by Toy Biz for the cloth elven cloaks on some of their figures, and bought a couple yards to make one for each plastic member of the Fellowship. Alas, I have not found the time to make them, nor the skill. Having no clue on how to sew doesn't help, but I'll attempt it one o' these days....
This is by far my favorite variation of Gandalf's costumes. I wish he had worn his elven cloak a little longer. How he looks in Fangorn and Edoras before his "uncloaking" is an image straight out of the book for me.
I had never noticed before, but judging by the photos you provided, it looks as if the pattern on Gandalf's cloak is the same as the others, doesn't it? What a great detail!
As always....thanks a million for this, Arwen's daughter!
Happy Halloween!
(This post was edited by stormcrow20 on Oct 21 2008, 9:16am)
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SirDennisC
Half-elven
Oct 21 2008, 3:35pm
Post #3 of 37
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simple enough but I could not figure out the construction for the life of me. I thought maybe there were darts in the sides around the shoulders to make them so open in the front. Thank you for the diagrams.
I have a thin grey sweater made from New Zealand Marino wool which I thought might be the fabric from the cloaks, but now I know the real source of the fibre... I love wool products.
Thanks for this.
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Elwen
Lorien
Oct 21 2008, 3:35pm
Post #4 of 37
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The flow and beauty of the leaf was just perfect. I remember seeing FotR for the first time on opening night and the gift scene wasn't in, so the cloaks just appeared. That leaf pin was one of those lovely little details that was there for the fans and I loved it.
I fact I loved it so much that I sprang for the Noble Collection version. I wear it fairly often, although more so in the winter when I use it to hold my grey wrap closed. I love seeing the recognition on a fellow fans face when they realize what it is. A little Ringer in-joke in it's way.
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Jazmine
Tol Eressea
Oct 21 2008, 7:11pm
Post #5 of 37
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Was once seriously tempted to buy one, but decided I couldn't really justify spending the money, when I probably wouldn't wear it! The fabric is beautiful though!
*Jazminatar the Brown*
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Oden
Rivendell
Oct 21 2008, 7:19pm
Post #6 of 37
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The cloaks were always one of my favorite things
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from the books. As a young kid reading the books, I always wanted one of the "magic" elven cloaks.
Sometime between TTT and ROTK movies I ran across the pattern you showed in your post and decided to make one. Couldn't get my hands on the appropriate wool so decided to make it out of some other grey/green fabric.
After a bit of trial and error, I managed to make my cloak based on the pattern. It really does look very similar to the Fellowship cloaks (except for the color). It fits nicely with the bulk of the cloak material staying to the back. But, as you mentioned, it does tend to be heavy and can pull/choke at the neck at times. Makes me wonder if the cloaks were attached to the actors shoulders somehow in a hidden way to ease up the weight from around the neck. I can't imagine wearing the cloaks for the amount of time the actors did and having them pull at the neck so much.
Or maybe my fabric was much heavier than the movie cloaks.
All in all, I love to wear it. I was able to wear it to the midnight showing on opening night of ROTK. That was a party! There is footage of the party in Ringers: Lord of the Fans and I think I can just make out part of my cloak in one of the shots.
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Eruwestial37
Rohan
Oct 21 2008, 11:42pm
Post #7 of 37
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So much so that my very first ever sewing project was to make one. Then another, and then another, all of different fabrics.
I didn't have a clue how they were made but one day I was fooling around with a bath sheet and discovered that just by folding it lengthwise and sewing one of the short sides together, I got a serviceable cloak with hood! Best of all, it only takes 2 yards of 60" fabric.
Of course then I had to spring for the Official Fellowship Leaf Brooch. I love the cloaks and do wear them from time to time. For Trilogy Tuesday I had my extra heavy duty warm one and it doubled as a pillow in the theatre!
Thanks, I really do love looking at the costumes. I'm afraid cloaks are about as complicated a project as I can do but it's nice to be inspired.
Eruwestial
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weaver
Half-elven
Oct 22 2008, 12:48am
Post #8 of 37
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didn't realize they were so light...
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In that one shot, you can see that you can see through these cloaks; between that, and the pattern, and the shiftiness of the colors, and the fact that the wool came from a special sheep, etc. , well, I would guess these are the closest thing to real elvish cloaks that you can get in the Fourth Age...
Do you know anything about how the weaving was done? Or about the thought process they went through to come up with this particular design and style?
Thanks for the up close look at these -- they are beautiful!
Weaver
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Collatine
The Shire
Oct 22 2008, 1:06am
Post #9 of 37
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Cool post. A couple of neat parts in the book that I loved, one replicated brilliantly in the movie.
1. When on the plains of Rohan, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are sitting, waiting for Eomer's company to ride up, and they blend in so completely that the Rohirrim would have missed them had they not stood up.
2. Actually, I'm not sure this is in the book... but it's such a good scene it should be... when Sam slides down the range in front of the Black Gate, and Frodo slides down to help him, but resort to hiding under the cloak. Two guards come up, and can't see them. I remember the first time watching it, I was trying to see through the camouflage and then WOOSH, there they are. I don't think that's literally in the books, but it certainly conveyed the effect of the cloaks as they are described numerous times in them.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Oct 22 2008, 1:36am
Post #10 of 37
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Those of us lucky enough to see the exhibition when it was touring got to see real cloaks. There were identical cloaks in two sizes, for the real hobbit actor and the scale double. They were even woven such that even the pattern was scaled smaller on the little one. Next to the cloaks were the two versions of Sam's pack, full-sized and scaled smaller. Everything perfectly scaled: the pans, the straps, even the weave of the fabric of the pack.
Such detail! Who would notice? Having seen these, I tried really hard to see the fabic weave in the movie and the DVD, but can't. Maybe it'll show on the Blu-Ray discs!
The Rohirrim, by Peter Xavier Price
Elizabeth is the TORnsib formerly known as 'erather'
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Oct 22 2008, 8:37pm
Post #20 of 37
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I was thinking of hobbits, but of course the Men and Elf would wear them, too, and need to be doubled by Tall Paul.
Great picture.
The Rohirrim, by Peter Xavier Price
Elizabeth is the TORnsib formerly known as 'erather'
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weaver
Half-elven
Oct 22 2008, 8:37pm
Post #21 of 37
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thanks for the additional info...and another question!
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Not surprised to find out the fabric was woven in a traditional way on classic looms...but was surprised by how the design work was inspired by the NZ landscape.
I love their look but I can't see anything that reminds me of a landscape about them, but then again, despite my nickname, my weaving skills are about on par with my cooking skills and those would make Eowyn's stew look good. (My kid just told someone that he'd rather eat a rock...)
So, if you or anyone can enlighten me as to how these cloaks look like New Zealand I would be appreciative!
Weaver
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OhioHobbit
Gondor
Oct 23 2008, 1:15am
Post #22 of 37
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First I would like to say once again how much I enjoy and appreciate these costume posts. I can’t say that enough. Thank you, Arwen’s daughter.
I found an interview with Ngila Dickson in an issue of the fan club magazine and someone sent in a question about how she went about creating the Elven cloaks. She doesn’t really talk about the design of the weaving as much as the kind of fabric. She said that they went through all kinds of experiments trying to come up with something. They even tried having metal woven into the fabric so that they would be sparkling, but that ended up looking too cheesy. Ngila said, “How you achieve an Elven cloak without having any digital effect element to it at times seemed really beyond us”. She said that they had tried so many different things that didn’t work that she “was absolutely in despair” when suddenly they came upon this special fabric.
That was from Issue 4, August/September of the fan club magazine on page 62. The article is actually the second of two parts of an interview with Ngila Dickson that started with the previous issue.
Movie Technical Discussion -- Index
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SirDennisC
Half-elven
Oct 23 2008, 3:08am
Post #23 of 37
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I knew they went to great lengths for the costumes
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(uh no pun here people, move along) but how delicious a moment it must have been when they found the perfect cloth right under their noses! Thanks for sharing that OH!
(This post was edited by SirDennisC on Oct 23 2008, 3:09am)
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Oct 23 2008, 10:28am
Post #25 of 37
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I didn't know that about the wool!
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Wow... the fact that it's the true colour makes these cloaks all the more beautiful and mystical for me. I knw I really wanted at least one of the scarves, but they're so expensive!!
While Frodo's Shire cloak is my all-time favourite, these are stunning. I love how they made Gandalf's a wrap-around to cover his whiteness :)
I love how the cloaks are fashioned to gather in the back, but the fact that the weight would pull it back and make that brooch dig into your neck/chin could be a nuisance.
This is wonderful! I love your costume posts, Arwen's daughter. I look forward to each and every one of them :)
*warm hug*
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
I really need these new films to take me back to, and not re-introduce me to, that magical world.
TORn's Observations Lists
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