Guest: The Citadel by Argendauss

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Argendauss' reputation as a captain of Free People precedes him. His is most renowned for his versatility - his fellows can always rely on his blade, shield and morale-boosting speeches. To stand as a citadel against waves of enemies, he is properly equipped by armour made of steel and gold, which even the most precise blows with a spear cannot pierce.

Argendauss said about this outfit: "The inspiration for the outfit was the Shield of Endless Heroics, a drop from the Erulian Campaign of skirmishes. It has this sky blue coloring to it that was a challenge to match, but I found that the Cloak of the Silver Star and Head-Cage played very well with it. The chest piece I've chosen even has very faint lines tinted light-blue running across the center of it, though those lines look more silvery in the screenshots I'm submitting. For the rest of the outfit, I have silver and gold. I had to do gold because Head-cage is gold even when dyed white. The pieces from OD all have this fantastic metallic gold coloring which I was happy to incorporate into the outfit."

Chest: Breastplate of the Rallying Shout, white dye (Moria level 60 captain purple set; shares appearance with T6 crafted Armour of the Galadhrim)
Legs: Lesser Defender of the West Leggings, white dye (Ost Dunhoth warden level 65 set)
Head: Head-cage, white dye (Drop from Grand Stairs, Igash)
Shoulders: Lesser Cry of the West Shoulder Guards, white dye (Ost Dunhoth captain level 65 set)
Hands: Stoutheart's Gauntlets, white dye (Moria level 60 captain purple set; shares appearance with T6 crafted Gauntlets of the Galadhrim)
Feet: Officer's Boots, white dye (T6 crafted; available as T6 crafted heavy armour under different names)
Back: Cloak of the Silver Star, white dye (Store)
Shield: Shield of Endless Heroics (Drop from Erulian Campaign skirmish raid)

Guest: Galadhrim Sentry by Cúlinwen

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

"I had never known anything but the Golden Wood; the lands beyond the edges of Lothlórien were closed to me, just as the borders themselves were closed to any outsider who dared to venture under the eaves of the forest.  The wardens of Lórien were ceaseless in their vigilance, their eyes keen and their hands swift and silent on the drawstrings of their bows. They were the guardians who kept this hidden land safe, who preserved its sacred and changeless nature as if to defy the passing of the ages."

  ~ Cúlinwen Amarath

This outfit is gentle and practical at the same time. You would never spot the sentry before lying on the ground with an arrow pierced through your heart. That is if you would be the enemy of course - elves of the Golden Wood welcome friends and cherish them. However, those who mean harm to the forest are tracked down and driven away, by all means necessary.

Chest: Scout's Weathered Leather Tunic, grey dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Dunland Marcher's Leather Helmet, default dye (Dunland quest)
Shoulders: Gwir-palvais, grey dye (Drop from Isengard instance cluster)
Hands: Fingerless Gloves, grey dye (Yule festival)
Feet: Threadbare Boots of the Dunland Healer, grey dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Plain Cloak, grey dye (Outfitter vendor)

Hard work pays off

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Khamrad has spent whole his life digging in dirt, searching for treasures, or even small chunks of shiny metal resembling gold. Most of the time he ended up with simple copper or iron, counting coins from day to day to afford some food and shelter. Often he had to sleep just under the night sky, dreaming of being wealthy one day.

When he's heard about the Low Lands Gold Rush, all the friends, family and fellow wanderers tried to talk him out going there. Hundreds of dwarves, hobbits, elves and men alike digging inch by inch of soil which was said to be full of gold chunks of palm size, usually to find only pieces not bigger than a poppy grain. However, Aulë smiled upon Khamrad and right the first digging site he visited contained the biggest treasure ever found in Low Lands! He was able to afford a good goat to carry all his wealth, gems for all lady dwarves of his family and a new fancy garb to be welcomed as worthy dwarf at home in Thorin's Hall. "My whole life's hard work has finally payed off!" he rejoiced. Let's hope he uses the gold wisely.

I was able to enjoy the Treasure Hunt for almost whole day on Sunday on three of my characters. I adore this event - mounts, cosmetics, emotes: what else can a cosmetic junkie wish for? :) I got everything I wanted except for Treasure Laden Pony for my main, hobbit Freyjuska and a Treasure Hunter's Rucksack (damn!). I am especially happy about the "Rich" emote and the Treasure Laden Goat, which I wanted to show off :)

The goat has orange and brown coat and I wanted the outfit to match it (at least a little) and show off the wealth of its wearer. I decided to give the unpopular orange dye a shot, although it usually makes outfits look a bit out of place. I wanted the top part match the goat's coat and golden horns, and the lower part of the outfit to match the treasure bags attached to the goat and its saddle. Any top without the grey undyable parts would work better, but I haven't found such chest piece with golden pattern which would look good on a dwarf. The shoulders are also rarely used, but here I went for them for a funny reason - they clip so horribly on a dwarf that they kinda turned Herald's Armour into heavier one naturally, as if the shoulders were part of it.

Please let me know your opinion in comments :) I'm also starting to list the emotes used, as they are a vital part of the screenshots and you guys often ask about them. I hope it's a welcomed change :)

Chest: Herald's Armour, orange dye (T6 crafted; shares appearance with other T6 medium crafted armour)
Legs: Leggings of the Brazen Call, orange dye (Moria level 60 captain teal set; also available as champion and guardian set parts with very small differences in looks)
Head: Hat of the Stone-student, orange dye (Moria level 60 lore-master purple set; shares appearance with minstrel's and rune-keeper's Moria pieces)
Shoulders: Forged-iron Dunlending Pauldrons, orange dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: Tawarwaith Gloves, orange dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Rusted Boots of the Dunland Berserkers, default/white dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Treasure Hunter’s Pack, white dye (Treasure Hunt event)

Mount: Treasure Laden Goat (Treasure Hunt event, rare drop from Huge treasure)

Emotes:
./rich - first screenshot, drop from Huge treasure cache, also barterable for 300 buried treasure tokens (Treasure Hunt event)
./counterfeit - last screenshot, drop from treasure caches, not barterable (Treasure Hunt event)

Guest: The Lord of Gondor by Aridor Arthain

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

What did our ranger Aridor Arthain find here in the north? Kinsmen long forgotten defending a ruined city against a long forgotten foe. A rising threat that must be stopped lest it march south upon the rear of Gondor. The dirty ranger sheds his greens and browns for the raiment of war. A lord of Gondor, son of Númenor he fights endlessly to aid his kinsmen in the City of Kings. Wearing Heraldry awarded by Elendil he now fights to protect Elendil’s city.

Aridor said about this outfit: "This outfit is Aridor in his full heraldic armor. The blues mark his family’s link to the sea and the golden eagle represents their service to the kings of Númenor. The cloak bares the white tree of Gondor emblazoned on the blue field of the Arthains. The cloak was what really started this outfit. Nearly a year ago I found it and knew I had the key piece I needed for my character’s Gondorian noble look. I’ve spent forever trying to find all the right pieces to make a heavy armor look that avoided all the weird overly spikey armors. When I hit Mirkwood and found Tarchar, I knew I had the next piece. It is in my opinion the best most realistic helm in game. It looks so much like the movie’s helms for Elendil and Isildur that I knew I had to use it. The other armor pieces were chosen from the new RoI cosmetics for their plain steel look. I really wanted to avoid a fantasy look in the armor so these were perfect."

Chest: Hauberk of the Eagle's Crest, gold dye (Store)
Helm: Tarchar, gold dye (Mirkwood barter)
Shoulders: Hydre-axle, white dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: Hydre-folme, grey dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Battered Dunlanding Boots, grey dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Radiant Cloak, Evendim blue dye (T5 crafted)

Joy of wisdom (and jewels)

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Ladriell is a knowledge seeker. She is a scholar and a lore-master, always trying to broaden her horizons. She is still a girl though, and if she manages to buy some nice clothes and jewellery on her journeys to distant forgotten places, she is twice as happy. This is her scholarly outfit she uses when battle is far away, and she is alone in peace to study artifacts and ancient parchments.

This is the last of my submissions for the Fashion Week 2012 screenshot contest. I submitted it into Professionally Minded category, as a lore-master outfit. It's certainly not very original (I've seen many very similar outfits and even created some in the recent past), but it's something I see my lore-master Ladriell really wearing as it fits her personality. I also adore the cloak, which has amazing plastic textures in the correct light, and the dress shares this feature. The infamous red neckline of the shoulder piece matches the jewellery on the Anniversary dress, and I also tried to match Ladriell's hairstyle to the attire. I hope the result will please some of you as it did myself when I put it on Ladriell :)

Do you like this outfit? Please let me know in the comments! :) And I promise the next outfit made by me will be something heavier - too many dresses recently :D

Chest: Ceremonial Dress, default dye (Summer festival, white variant - watch out, there are 3 different undyable variations)
Head: Baladeer's Hat, white dye (Moria level 60 minstrel purple set; shares appearance with lore-master's and rune-keeper's Moria pieces)
Shoulders: Gwir-palvais, white dye (Drop from Isengard instance cluster)
Back: Anniversary Cloak, white dye (Anniversary event)

Winners of Fashion Week 2012 screenshot contest!

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Turbine announced winners of Fashion Week screenshot contest today. For me, it was an amazing event which I loved for two reasons - motivation to create my own contest entries and seeing so many wonderful and original outfits of others in such a short time. Many people have awaken their creativity for this contest and came up with new combinations and untypical pieces, which I wouldn't think of using myself and they worked great!

I didn't comment on the finalists on forums, because I was part of the jury for Fashionista's Choice category and didn't wanna reveal my opinions before the results were announced. After today, I'm just an ordinary member of outfitting crazies public :)) and I'd like to use this opportunity to express my thanks and comment on the TOP 10 outfits in Fan Choice and Fashionista's Choice meta-categories.

Disclaimer: These are just my personal opinions and expressions of my own taste. I'm not trying to play a reviewer here, especially as outfits are very personal thing and there are as many fashion tastes as there are people, elves, hobbits and dwarves in the Middle-earth :)

Very good and original outfit - certainly one that would catch great attention. It matches the mount perfectly. I'm a little sorry I can't see more screenshots of the outfit - side view usually don't show much, but I can imagine the rest of the pieces and I think they work pretty well together. The only part I'm not sure about is using sleeveless top for such a massive battle outfit.

I don't really wonder this outfit won the Fan's Choice. It's purely amazing. It's very original - the chest piece is rarely used. The cloak, boots and gloves are a perfect match for the chest & legs combo. If I wanted to find one flaw on this outfit, I'd maybe say that when the Everstout (chest piece) is used, it's almost always paired with the Leggings of the Sun-lands (I did the same terribly unoriginal thing myself and it's still one of my favourite self-made outfits :)) and I would have wanted to see other so well matched combo. But as I don't wanna find any flaws, I say this outfit is just perfect :)

I have a weak spot for this outfit. When Kemendin sent it to me a few months ago as a guest submission, I was left speechless. I love crimson and Kemendin used to it create an intimidating attire for a lore-master with it. He also made his elf look very handsome and manly, which can be an issue with elven stature. Kemendin is also master of screenshoting and this is one of his dark atmosphere shots, which appeal to me a lot. Draigoch armour pieces are used very often recently but Kemendin made them look unusual by combination with other pieces.

Beauty lies in simplicity. This attire proves it. It evokes serenity and peace as well as cuteness (who wouldn't adore the two feathered hobbit hat!). Also the screenshot is perfect. However, if I'd meet the character ingame, I wouldn't probably notice the uniqueness on the first glance - many people wear Extravagant Festival Dress dyed purple and with lower details and distance from character, the hat would be nearly unnoticeable.

My personal No. 1 favourite. I was astonished when I saw this - I don't know who is the author of this outfit, but I suspect it's Cookiereth and enhanced version of the outfit she submitted to my blog last year (her staff seems to confirm that! :). If it's her or not, it's a very original outfit and I haven't seen anything like that except for the two occurrences (Cookie on my blog and the contest entry). I love how exotic this combination looks and how well-matched it is. Boots, "belt", golden details on shirt and shoulders add nobility. Mask, grey chest parts and black skirt parts create feeling of danger. The sabre cat adds to the whole atmosphere. The only downside is the screenshot - I read many people didn't vote for it in the fan choice simply because the homestead's surrounding was... inappropriate for the battle outfit. Unfortunately, I must agree - the outfit would look so much better in Moria, Forochel or for example Dunland. Anyway, despite the contest being called "Fashion Week screenshot contest", I prefer to consider it an outfit competition, because I know how long it took me to take proper screenshots myself (and I'm still not perfect) - so I'd love to see this entry as a winner :)

Charming outfit and a great screenshot - sort of "Lara Croft of the Middle-earth" :) I can see that the character wearing this is a lore-master, but the outfit would fit basically any explorer or scholar, and I would definitely wear it for my woman burglar if I had one :) Very pretty.

An extravagant and stylish outfit using non-typical colours - I like that. However, I can't help myself hating the chest piece on females. It damages the feminine body shape so much that the lady suddenly looks like a male elf :( Using gentler top, this could have been a really nice outfit.

Great outfit and I'm very happy it won Professionally Minded category. I love the bright metallic colour of the steel armour (I've tried something like that for my first dwarven outfit - with much less success though). The only thing I don't like is the helm - I would pick another one, but the rest is just perfect and very suitable for a dwarf.

When we were voting for Fashionista's Choice, I gave this outfit full points for every criteria (dye bledning, integration of pieces, overall impression) except for one - originality. I've seen so many outfit using this hauberk - and I can take part of the blame, I use it regularly myself. There is a reason for that - it can be styled in a thousand ways and always look good. Here with the bandana, it works amazing, and if this really was a screenshot contest, it would be the absolute No. 1 for me. I can't imagine how the author managed to take such a great screenshot - it looks like a cut from a movie scene. Bravo!

This is the only outfit I commented on before. I was very surprised when I saw it posted on the forums, as I made exactly the same outfit on the same day Valkrist posted it (only shoulders being different). I remade it a little (really just a little) and submitted it to the Fashion Contest anyway - you can see the result as my outfit to be published today. However, Valkrist looks absolutely gorgeous wearing her creation and the screenshot quality just took my breath. This outfit won Fashionista's Choice category, because we all agreed it's a demonstration of pure elegance. And I'm very happy about our choice :)

Congratulations to everyone who made it to TOP 10 and to everyone who took part in the contest. You guys are wonderfully creative and made me, an outfitting freak, really happy! I'm looking forward to more events like that. Thank you Turbine for organizing it, and my wonderful judging partners Hymne and Devonna for fun we've had while picking winners in our category!

Guest: In the Presence of Saruman by Kemendin

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

The words of Galadriel before her Mirror surface in your memory.

 'The prize of knowledge, it waits, ripe for the taking.'
'A library at the pinnacle of the black spire, secrets untold.'
'Enemies without...and within....'
'How far will your heart take you for limitless knowledge, Lore-master?'

Instance: In the Presence of Saruman

Kemendin shared the story of this outfit creation: "This outfit was born out of a two-fold inspiration. The initial glimmerings came to me when Kemendin first entered the instance "In the Presence of Saruman" while being held captive in Isengard. Wandering around, I was struck by the elegance and majestic colour scheme of the tower, and I felt distinctly out of place in the outfit I was currently wearing. So I resolved to find a new outfit more fitting to the surroundings, to show Saruman that Kemendin is not a Lore-master to be taken lightly. And then, with the arrival of Update 5 and new armour to drool over, also came the Prized Isengard steed. Robe met horse, and with a loud bang and flash of light... okay, not quite. But you get the idea."

This is was also one of Kemendin's entries for LOTRO Fashion Week screenshot contest. I had his outfit scheduled a long time before that, but after he posted the mounted screenshot on forums, I immediately fell in love with it! Prized Isengard War-horse is very rarely seen and even more rarely with such amazingly matching outfit.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments! :)

Chest: The Ancient Master's Robe, default dye (Isengard level 75 lore-master purple set)
Head: Hat of Deep Lore, crimson dye (Moria level 60 lore-master purple set)
Shoulders: The Ancient Master's Shoulder Pads, default dye (Isengard level 75 lore-master purple set)
Hands: High Officer's Gloves, crimson dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: High Officer's Boots, crimson dye (T6 crafted)
Back: Linen Cloak, black dye (T2 crafted)
Mount: Prized Isengard War-horse