What Makes Garak's Estrangement From His Father Even Worse Is When You Take Into Account How Important

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Garashir be like: what if I forgave you for all your crimes that arent mine to forgive, my crimes arent even my own anyway?

What if you didn't think the crime of my existence abominable?

What if we were Angels cast down by our fathers, sheltered by foreign gods, defending lands we could never call home?

What if i didn't know how to be good? What if i didn't even know how to be myself?

What if i thought myself fundamentally unloveable? What if I loved you anyway?

What if it didn't matter? What if you were my only constant? What if I couldn't have you so i rebuilt my world in your image?

What if my arms remember the shape of you when all i am is rotted away?

Real world influences on Cardassian fashion- Natima's dress and the Edwardian era

So. Something very interesting to me has always been Natimas sleeves.

Yeah. These weird, pleated things. They're interesting because I immediately know what time period is being referenced here, and it becomes more obvious on the Cardassian extra who also wears this dress, as she has a different hairstyle (Natima's hairstyle reads like it's referencing Heian Japan to me).

The hair, paired with the sleeves, comes off as very Edwardian. Risqué, perhaps, by Edwardian standards, but Edwardian.

For comparison, three white dresses from the Edwardian era with pleated/tucked sleeves (the first has the sleeves as part of the main dress, the other two are blouses). The point at the end of the sleeve isn't especially Edwardian, but I have seen a few Edwardian-does-medieval dresses.

Even Natima's skirt, which is incorrectly identified as a straight cut midi by some artists, has a subtle Edwardian reference. This kind of midi with weird cut outs (that her student in orange, Rekelen, also has) reads as very modern to us, and it is. The Edwardians didn't really cut skirts like this- it was ankle to floor length, straight or trained... but they did like using unusually shaped layering pieces and seam lines. These pushed on until we start seeing even more similar detailing in skirts from the 1910s.

(top left is a 1910s example, two right images are courtesy of @chic-a-gigot)

Natima and Rekelen also are both wearing boleros, or dresses that imply boleros, which aren't directly referencing an Edwardian style, but are a piece of clothing from that time.

Natima's dress interestingly, implies a bolero and a style of pleated bodice that was not worn with a bolero, in my experience.

(Bottom right from @chic-a-gigot again)

This style also may have been referenced for Ziyal's gold dress, though the pleats here look more like a Bertha collar.

Rekelen, Natima, and the Cardassian extra are also all wearing undershirts, though this really only comes off as am Edwardian reference for Rekelen; coats or dresses with elbow length sleeves had long sleeved blouses or dresses underneath.

I even have specifically orange examples of this! However, Rekelen's clothes are way less Edwardian than Natima's, and I wouldn't have picked up on the era possibly being referenced of this outfit wasn't being shown off alongside Natima's.

(Right from @chic-a-gigot)

GARASHIR in LOWER DECKS 5.09 “Fissure Quest”

but what if i read one of your fanfics and then went to your ao3 accounts and read all of your fanfics and left a comment on every single chapter of every single one and you got spam emails from all of my kudos and comments and it made you smile, what then? what if i brighten your day with my words like you did mine, what then???

“return to old trek,” but it’s the return of 20+ episode seasons, of bringing contemporary scifi writers to write episodes, of doing social commentary so acute it blasts the “it’s just escapism” argument to bloody bits, and most important, the return of silly costumes and camp

Here's some zooms for anyone who wants the (nonexistent) detail sorry I'm still learning so posting this was a mess

everyone stfu they are sleeping

I hate that the ao3 tag says "Elim Garak". I am not on a first name basis with that man. Frankly I don't think he is on a first name basis with himself