While we may look at the game as merely a game and the clothes the characters wear merely to be something constructed to make the characters and histories seem more different, I would like to pause a moment and consider the different traditions of tailoring that have emerged in Ferelden. From peasant to noble, warrior to mage, the varying styles that have emerged tell a lot about a culture, and Ferelden is no different in this situation.

Making of cloth

Unlike today, the making of clothes in Medieval style Ferelden would have been far more arduous than it is today where everything is mechanised. People would have had to take the raw wool and spin it into threads, and then using the skeins of thread weavers would have used a hand loom to painstakingly weave the cloth. This takes a great amount of thread, and depending on how thin the thread would be, or how durable etc, the cloth itself will vary greatly, from rough homespun cloth that would be the common fare for peasants, to the fine linens and other cloth that a noble might wear. This is saying nothing of the dying of the clothing, which is in itself a skilled job, and, depending on the colours used, could be highly expensive.

A profession not a hobby

Tailoring, by extension, will not be something that a peasant would be able to do, merely because they cannot even afford decent clothing for themselves, never mind having the resources to have spare cloth to make new garments. This would be a job for someone that has the money and resources, and the clients to buy articles from them, most likely a business built up over generations.

Peasants

A loom of any size is not something that every peasant would have or be able to make. It is a large thing, that takes a lot of wood and skill to craft, and while someone would be able to go to a woodcarver, they would need quite a bit of coin to get one made. Only someone with either a loom handed down through their family or someone with money enough to have one made would be able to weave, making it likely out of the achievable range for the average peasant, but perhaps one with a little resources behind them. However even if they are able to make their own clothing, it is likely to be of the rough and warm sort. We see in many of the peasants they seem to have clothing that is highly patched, reusing the bits of old clothing to prolong the life of their current garments, and especially in the men, the use of leather in areas of high wear, such as on the shoulders and front are commonplace. This would increase the life of the garment, especially for those who labour or were servants, though servants may well have slightly better garments, perhaps supplied by their employer or helped funded by the work, so they do not appear shoddy in the household. This would be especially relevant where the servant is in a high visibility position where a guest might come across them.

Either way, the peasant clothing is highly practical as one might expect, and shows their station in life through the rough fabric, the lack of coin to purchase new items or even the style of clothing that would make their clothing last longer during manual labour.

Nobles

Of course the King and nobles would have access to the best tailor who would likely be tied to his court. Those further down the food chain would have less skilled tailors making garments for less cost, and less finery.

The nobles of course have some of the finest clothing seen in Ferelden, having the resources to hire a good tailor. Good clothing for nobles goes beyond the need to cover themselves and keep out the cold, having to show themselves off to the best light to others. Politics, a skill that all nobles have to dabble in to run their lands requires quite front to be put on, and personal appearance can help or hinder a person. Something like fashion, and those who kept up to date with it could be the envy of others, and someone to look up to, and this could help in the perceived power a person in politics and complex social circles could use. There is also the propensity in nobles to be extremely prideful of their position, and as such not wishing to seem to let their family down by looking shoddy in public. In our history, many nobles would get into serious debt through both gambling, and through the use of tailors to keep up to date with fashions, and there is little reason to doubt this is also the case in Ferelden, especially when the person might lack in the clout politically from other areas..

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