Desert Rose - Emeridir of Gladden

For nearly three years, I've been staring at the same old pieces in the wardrobe. I've also been relying on the same gear combinations, altering colors here and there or adding different pieces to distinguish any given outfit. What I've been trying to do in recent weeks is break that habit. Instead, I look at the skins available to me and force myself to use one piece that I've NEVER used. As ugly as I thought the robe and cloak from the 2014 Spring Festival were, I decided to give them a shot. Quickly, I found the robe to be a dead end. The cloak, however, was not. It became the focal piece of this ensemble.

Unlike the atrocious and busy cloaks from the 2014 Summer Festival and 2014 Farmer's Faire, the Trellis-weave Cloak can be integrated into an outfit without pairing it with the matching robe. Originally, the cloak was dyed turquoise to compliment the almost wintergreen border. Initially, I couldn't quite find gear to match it, as the undyeable green shades were impossible to match. I eventually worked my way down the list of dyes, beginning with navy and ending with steel blue, ultimately settling on walnut brown. I noticed that color provided more combination options than the others did. By the time I finished, it was an intriguing amalgamation of light and heavy armor.

As the name and cloak suggest, this is a very earthy outfit. Browns, golds, creams, subdued greens...an unusual combinations of colors for this blog. Normally, I love to spotlight either something insanely bright and cheerful or highly saturated.

I must admit that I've grown unusually fond of this outfit. Oddly enough, that's also the most ironic statement I can make. As I've promised, I did say I'd give advanced notice as to when Material Middle-earth will no longer be updated. I'd say there will be either two or three weeks left of published content. Two, because I have two scheduled entries left. Three because I had a suggestion/request made on Twitter for an outfit by @AraeElimraen. I will try to honor it, even though she's made it clear I'm not obligated to do so.

Shoulders: Westemnet Battle Pauldrons of Power (Turquoise, T9 Metalsmith recipe)
Back: Trellis-weave Cloak (Walnut brown, Spring Festival barter reward)
Chest: Lesser Voice of the West Robe (Turquoise, Adventurer's Quartermaster at Harndirion - Minstrel armor)
Legs: Lesser Arrow of the West Leggings (Turquoise, Adventurer's Quartermaster at Harndirion - Hunter armor)
Hands: Westemnet Battle Gauntlets of Power (Turquoise, T9 Metalsmith recipe)
Feet: Westemnet Battle Boots of Power (Turquoise, T9 Metalsmith recipe)