We've all read the Harry Potter books (hopefully...), and we've seen Harry get robes and then (I think) cloaks. Yet in the movie, they wear formal clothing (khakis, vest, white shirt, and tie) with a cloak over it all.

I really don't think of it all that much myself, and merely use the scenario I think best in each situation. In some scenes I imagine them wearing clothes with a cloak, others merely a robe.

What do you think of the situation?

Book:

Book sources imply that it needs changing in to over the head, ruling out any sort of buttoned down front that you could easily slip on. This would render the formal clothes useless, and thus, they cannot exist. This is further proven in OOTP:

Clearly, there is nothing worn underneath these robes.

Movie:

 

Sometimes I imagine them with robes and regular clothing and other times in the modified school uniforms they use in the movie. It all depends on what I'm writing or reading, whatever the case may be.

Edit: I'll probably be lynched for this, but I'm actually passing fond of the uniforms they use in the movies. It's an interesting way of perception.

 

Theres alotta time where I feel they should be wearing something more Wizardy, but its just a movie, they never have every detail of a book.

I would like it more if they looked more like they sound in the books but it doesn't really bother me too much.

 

I prefer the idea of them wearing robes, rather than the fucktard mixture created for the films.

 

When I read the book I thought robes were totally enclosed, with no opening at the front or like the robes you see in movies based in Ancient Greece. Cloaks I see as being like capes with sleeves and a hood, not quite what the movies show, but near enough.

Plus, the Wizarding World does not wear shirts, ties and trousers. I wouldn't be surprised if they went out in nought but a robe at times, though underwear would be appreciated on windy days .

Aekiel

 

Unless we're talking about Archie "I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates" from OotP The fact that he chose a nightgown as the closest Muggle clothing to a wizard's robe supports your description of what the robes look like. I, too, am annoyed at the clothes they wear at the movies. They seem more like students at a regular British public school, than wizards.

 

That's one of the parts that annoyed me most. The scenery JKR created, showed a different, somehow crazy world. Most persons wear robes and cloaks, and usually colorful clothing. Think of Fudge's lime green bowler hat, or McGonagall's emerald green and tartan robes. In the books Snape is the only teacher permanently wearing black.

The movie uniforms are based on boarding-school clichés. That's the way most people picture students of traditional boarding schools. They might have thought to attract a greater audience using this cliché - school-robes would have been cheaper. I wonder how they pull the "Snape's Underwear" scene off.

Other wizards and witches in Diagon Alley and elsewhere are clad in somehow 'historical looking' or just outfashioned clothes, but only very seldom 'crazy'. But the books describe them:

It seems to be bit different with children, the young Weasleys seem to wear Muggle clothes. But there is a reason the elders don't know what to wear when entering the Muggle world.

I think Snape, Dumbledore(Harris), Boggart!Snape, and Hagrid are the only persons fitting the picture created by the books.

 

I figure the robes are something akin to the robes worn by those living in the Middle East. Basically a long pull-over garment down to the ankles with sleeves and a belt. It could be zippered or with buttons, but there premise is still there. You could wear something underneath, like pants and a light shirt, along with regular underwear.

JKR has given some rather specific details about other things in the HP series, has she ever given a statement as to what traditional wizarding wear is?

 

I have always thought of the words "robes" as just a term in Wizardspeak for "clothes." When 'cloak' is mentioned, I see the black hooded cloak, or another color, worn over regular clothes. And the movies have probably fixed that mental image in my head all the more.

 

JKR gets confused as well sometimes.

Though that point can be discussed.

This one, however...

 

If wizards wore the robes we see in the movies, why are they so helpless when it comes to dressing muggle? I think we can draw from canon that robes are the entire outfit for wizardborn folk. Folks from mixed families might wear something similar to what we see in the movie, but I think it would be primarily the domain of the muggleborns. It's gotta be tough for all those muggleborn firsties. After ten years of being "tough" and "manly" now they have to wear dresses... It's a wonder they don't all turn out to be gay (although if you read enough fanfic they might be...).

See, when I think of "robes" the image that pops in my mind is "church". No doubt most of you here have been to at least one Christian church service in your lifetime, voluntary or not. When I read about Dumbledore's cheerful blue robes with purple swirls, it's hard not to remember some of the downright ODD things folks will wear for religion. Long flowing garments with voluminous sleeves, and in the most appalling colors. At a church I used to attend, the choir (~30 people), Pastor, associate Pastor, and Acolytes (5 person team similar to altar boys) all wore robes that were color coordinated to the seasons in the church calendar (for instance, blue and purple would be Advent IIRC, the 40 days leading up to christmas). Forty people in white dresses with red scarves will make an impression (Pentacost, 40 days after Easter).

I hated those stupid robes, there is almost an art in wearing them. You can't move too fast, sit normally, or bend over, but damn are they suited for theatrics once you learn! I was an Acolyte for five years and in the bell choir another three, I know exactly how Snape makes his robes billow menacingly and how to swish a cloak properly. It takes practice moving while wrapped in a small tent.

 

I doesn't make you look "gay" if you wear "dresses".
Of course there is a difference between a long, white or dark colored robe and a light summer dress with flowers on it.
I was an altar boy in the catholic church and there are 4 colors you wear: white for celebrating something, violet for mourning/preparing, red stands for the holy ghost and martyrs, and finally green for all 'normal' occasions.
(Hooray! for being able to choose your own religion with 14. )

 

Certainly not, I was just saying there might be a bit of confusion and adjustment when muggleborn guys enter the wizarding world. Robe and dresses aren't exactly alike but at 11 years old, they seem pretty similar. If wearing dresses made you gay, I'd know a heck of a lot more gay guys. Most of them frat boys.

I'm some fucked up kind of methodist so those colors seem right to what I remember, though we also used blue as a "general" color.

 

Muggleborns should be somewhat familiar with Arab dress as well, so even though they might at first feel a bit uncomfortable switching to robes, it shouldn't _look_ weird to them. Well, at least until they see the likes of Gilderoy Lockhart ...

I remember reading a Jason Isaacs (a.k.a. Lucius Malfoy) interview where he said that they initially wanted him to wear a business suit in the movie and _he_ was the one who insisted on wizard-wear. That alone takes away any credibility that the movie creators might have had.

 

The Movie creators lost all credibility when they didn't dye Radcliffe's hair to black or give him green contacts, And then make it blatantly obvious on every singer gods damned poster for PS.


Sorry, that bit bugs me so much.

But with that being said, I find the teachers robes at Hogwarts in the movies to be my definition of Wizarding Robes.

 

Speaking of awful outfits, the getups they put Harry in for the Triwizard tornemnt! I mean, what the fuck! He was wearing a sports jersey throughout instead of his robes.

And that bastardization of dressrobes that they created....

 

Oh you silly, Wizards don't have bodily functions, if they did Harry would have pissed his pants numerous times.