A Place to Park my Thoughts

[Haerangil]

i.'ve followed the discussion with much interest.i like the conical hat thing.i've also wonderen what elven hats would have looked like... were they like helmets? i mean were their helmets possibly inspired by theie fancy hats they used to wear?

i agree on almist everything you said about hair.we kniw the elves were very fond of their hair (remember saeros and the fun he made if turin eith his gilden comb). also interesting detail that prisoners hair was shorn.. certsinly meant ti humuliate a culture so proud of their locks.

 

[Rachel]

It also avoids addressing the question of 'Do elves scar?' that would come up with ritual scarification or branding to achieve that goal. Tattoos are art, so elvish 😉.

[Personally, I think Maedhros is a very scarred elf, but arguments could be made that elves heal fully, without scarring.]

That's a super interesting question! Whether or not Tolkien intended elves to scar, I don't know. I can't remember reading any particular passage of text that mentions the issue explicitly, but if anyone else has an excerpt in mind then feel free to post it! However, regardless of what Tolkien intended in this instance, I think it would be advantageous to the narrative to portray scarred elves. It doesn't necessarily need to be shown often, but I think it should be shown to some degree. We could show that elves perhaps aren't as prone to scarring as humans, and that in most cases elves heal completely, except from the most powerfully-inflicted wounds.

Portraying scarred elves would be useful in a visual narrative for several reasons:

1.) To help show the passage of time. Presumably, it's going to be at least somewhat difficult for our audience to gauge the passage of time, especially during the sections of the story which only (or primarily) feature immortal characters (elves, valar, maiar, etc). Therefore, throwing in a scarred elf now and again might benefit the narrative by alleviating this problem to some degree. The scar acts as a visual signal to let the audience know that time/events have passed.

2.) To help show the worsening of the warfare the elves are engaged in. The frequency with which we show scarring could gradually increase after the Noldor arrive in Beleriand and begin to wage their series of wars against Morgoth. During the Long Peace, the only scars we'd show would be old ones that have long since healed. Then, after the Dagor Bragollach, the frequency with which we portray scarred elves begins to steadily increase again, etc. etc. etc.

3.) For symbolic value. In visual media, ugliness/disfigurement was traditionally equated with inherent evil. This parallel is widely considered old-fashioned and personally, I'm not a fan of it.....BUT we can safely infer that Tolkien was super into this concept, considering the fact that there are tons of examples of it in his work (the orcs, Gollum, etc). I think this idea could potentially be well-applied in SilmFilm insofar as the Feanorians are concerned. For example, consider this: After the first kinslaying, none of Feanor's sons are shown to have scars. After the burning of the ships, they still don't have any scars (although it looks as if Amrod won't be around anymore). The first of them to receive actual lasting scars would have to be Maedhros, during his imprisonment. Then, after the Dagor Bragollach and the Nirnaeth, they slowly begin to show signs of noticeable scarring. After the second kinslaying, however, all of the Feanorians who survive are quite seriously scarred. After the third kinslaying, the remaining sons of Feanor are so seriously scarred that if they were to return to Valinor, it would be difficult for old acquaintances to recognize them. You see where I'm going? In this way, scarring could be used to visually represent the Feanorians' state of mind, and the worsening of their scars would effectively mirror their decline from good to morally ambiguous, and eventually into evil.

But just for the record - even if we decide not to generally portray elves as capable of scarring, I still think Meadhros should come back from Thangorodrim looking like he's been run over by a lawnmower 😉

 

[MithLuin]

Maedhros after his captivity is really the point at which 'elvish scarring' becomes an issue. We can, of course, consider having elves who work in forges or with stone have burn marks or cuts...but these would be minor and easily healed.

Maedhros is taken captive by balrogs (after all his men are killed). Balrogs have fiery whips. There is almost no way they don't leave their mark on him. I picture Maedhros with thick knotted ropes of scar tissue on his back for the rest of his life on account of this.

Other captive elves (like Gwindor) could also suffer scarring to show their ordeal visually. He specifically comes back 'aged', but why not scarred too?

I'm not sure what I want to do with the Kinslayings. It's clear that Tolkien very intentionally made sure that no sons of Fëanor were killed by any of the villains - they all meet their deaths at the hands of other elves (or in Maedhros' case, his own). So, on that level, sure, scars from Doriath or the Havens would make sense. But...at the Havens....it's a desperate battle-hardened band of warriors descending on an ill-defended camp of refugees. There is no reason any of them should be harmed there. So how does the remaining twin die? There's a story there, and we should probably work that out. We do know that none of the Fëanoreans escaped the 5th battle uninjured, though, so we can have battle wounds and scars from that.

(Disclaimer: Years ago, I did write a fanfic in which I catalogued Maedhros' scars at the end of the First Age, so I've obviously given this topic some thought and have opinions - but they are simply opinions, not really based on the text. As far as I know, Tolkien never commented on whether or not elves scar.)

 

[Anastasia]

I am on season 2, session 14 (including the special frame narrative episode)

Hello all,

The good news is I managed to listen to two episodes this week. The bad news is that my weekend has been particularly crummy, and as a result I do not have anything costume-related to share.

I think the question of elves scarring is a really interesting one. It seems to me that everyone agrees that they have to at some point, but I think the question is, do we think of their scarring as a symbolic device or to we think of it as a natural product of living (as it is with humans)?

If we think of it more as a symbolic device, then we would not show much scarring unless it was indeed to reveal a fall, character flaw, or narratively important event. The downside of this is that it could not be so easily used as a means to show the passage of time.

If we think of it more as a natural product of living, then it can do all of those things, but also show the passage of time through the addition of less narratively important scarring. The downside of this is that the symbolic impact of scarred elves would be slightly lessened.

From a practical perspective, the addition of scars to otherwise un-scarred actors means the use of special effects makeup, and covering up scars on actors who have them would require extra time in makeup, or the clever design of costume to cover them up. Also, the scars would have to be tracked for continuity (but that is totally normal and part of the job description). Now, we're not actually going to be making this, and professor Olsen specifically said he wanted to imagine an adaptation "untrammeled by reality" so I'm not sure how much this is going to affect our decisions on scarring.

That's all for now, sorry I don't have more to contribute this week.

 

[Haerangil]

well i don't recall scars ever mentioned explicitly anywhere, but interestingly quenya has a word for scar, i think it's nirwe. that doesn't have to mean that elves scar as they could have seen scarification on animals but it's interesting. i guess if you lose a hand even as an elf it would leave some sort of scar... so i guess they do scar, at last if they get extreme injuries.

p.s.
one thing I've found

No searing scars of sundering years
could blind those eyes bright with welcome,
and wet with tears wistful trembling
at the grief there graven in grim furrows
on the face of Flinding. 'Father, ' said she,
'what dream of doubt dreadly binds thee?
'Tis Flinding go-Fuilin, whose faith of yore
none dared to doubt. This dark, lonely,
mournful-fated Man beside him
if his oath avows the very offspring
of Hurin Thalion, what heart in this throng
shall lack belief or love refuse?

it#s only lost tales of course, and the overall context is doubtful..

 

[Anastasia]

I am on Season 2, Session 15

So, I decided to change tactics with regards to the elven costumes. Instead of thinking of them from a the perspective of general blocks of time and/or place, I have decided to start thinking episodically. This has proven to be quite helpful this week, since I was able to think of the progression of the costumes of each culture one step at a time.

This week I focused on episode 5. I used what I hope is the latest script outline to get a feel for it.

View media item 126
The Vanyar and the Noldor in Valinor:
Since the Vanyar and the Noldor are living together in this episode, I decided to make their silhouettes the same, but differentiate between them based on the amount of embellishment on the costume. A while back someone mentioned that they thought that Minoan dress would be a good cultural analogue for this time of peace, so I decided to honour that wish with some of the costume elements. Hopefully it doesn't look too Minoan, because I think that it is very important not to take too much direct inspiration from any one human culture.
I have drawn the Vanyar and the Noldor with quite an obvious difference between them, but I imagine that there would be a bit of a gradient within the cultures, so that some Vanyar would look more Noldor-ish, and some Noldor would look more Vanyar-ish.
The Vanyar:
I am keeping them very simple. The obvious embellishment on their clothing right now is minimal. I would also like to keep the simple braided hairstyles from their looks on The Great Journey, they would not wear hats. I imagine that any jewelry that they would wear at this point would be gifts from the Noldor. Colour-wise, I think that they would start to show a greater preference for white clothing with blue, purple and silver embellishment. I imagine that their shoes would be simple ballet flats.
The Noldor:
At this point in their progression I am imagining that they would choose to show their craftsmanship mostly through embellishment. They have begun to play with fit and structural elements, but these are minimal. At this point they would start wearing hats/fascinators/tiaras, we could take inspiration from the Mesopotamian hats that Haerangil posted. They would also start playing with different hairstyles, I have drawn them with curly hair, but I will let Karita have the last word on this one. The Noldor will not have a preferred colour at this point, because I think that they would just be so excited about all of the colour possibilities that are now available to them. Their shoes would also be flats, but they would be embellished to the same extent as the rest of their costume. Throughout the episode we can incorporate more and more jewelry to show their industrious jewel-making.
The Teleri. Specifically the ones who have made it to the coast. The ones who are still looking for Elwe would be wearing the same costumes as they did in my previous drawing entitled "The Elves on the Great Journey":
The Teleri have not had the benefit of being in Valinor, so their costumes would maintain the same restrictions as before, meaning that they would use simple shapes sewn together. I have made some adjustments based on what I imagine would be helpful for a coastal lifestyle. I have shortened their pants, so that they can wade into the water without getting their clothes wet. I have added cone-shaped hats to keep the rain off. I have added Rectangular or triangular cloaks, also to keep the rain off. Another adjustment I made, which is not specific to the coast, but that I thought would be interesting is that they now tuck their upper body garment into their lower body garment. They would also wear sandals, as discussed in the world building session. I have kept their colour scheme pretty much the same, except I have added turquiose and seafoam green to represent Osse and Uinen.

Something I have been toying with, but that I am still not sure about is whether there should be a difference between preferred embellishment styles for the Noldor and the Vanyar. My idea thus far has been that lacemaking and fine weaving would be preferred by the Vanyar, whereas beading and applique would be preferred by the Noldor. Both would like embroidery, but have differing styles.

MithLuin: I have been thinking about the idea of women having bare arms, and I am thinking that this custom would be a really good one to incorporate specifically into the clothing of the Sindar. My reasoning for this is that you mentioned Luthien dancing with bare arms as one of your reasons, and Luthien lives with the Sindar. When the Noldor arrive in Beleriand, this could also be an interesting way to differentiate between cultures, and show whether or not a particular character is respecting Thingol's ban. What do you think?

That's all for now.

 

[Haerangil]

i like it.it's beautiful and very unlike typical fantasy/sword&sorcery and looks practical and believabal as well.

way before i started at this forum i started to do research for elven clothes, i started off from looking in the text for evidence,then i took tolkiens own illustrations and ended up looking inro his languages for vocabulary.but little of that work actually gave me a deeper idea of what their clothes really look like.

 

[MithLuin]

Yeah, Tolkien very seldom describes clothing in any detail. He gives a 'feel' for a character, rather than an overly observant look at their outfit. The introduction of Strider in the Prancing Pony is iconic, and yet...what was he wearing, really, other than muddy boots?

And yes, I am fine with the 'women have bare arms' thing being limited to a particular culture, not being for all elves or anything. The main Sindar women are Melian, Luthien and Nellas, and later Nimloth and Elwing...and possibly Galadriel, if she adopts the dress of Celeborn's people, so I think that look will work well for them; if Melian doesn't go that route, she can be different because she is queen. 😉

 

[Haerangil]

one thing that stroke me was that there seems to be no elvish word for trousers or breeches... that doesn't have to mean anyrhing of course but shoe,boot,girdle,belt,shirt,tunic,coat,cape,mantle,raiment,cap,hat,veil.. everything else there... and they do wear pelts and fur lined clothes and rich embroudery and jewels interwoven in the clothes silk or wool...

some of tolkien's elvish words are quite evocative.. Elves knew kinds of raiments "they called Fana and Larma. "Larma may be connected to similar words "meaning "area, space, room", "flesh or "lucky event", so it may have referred either to a very wide or perhaps very tight king of clothing, or ,maybe clothing made from a very light clear or transparent material, made to .be worn at lucky events and festivities Fana" meant "veil", "bright shape or" "figure","cloud", "light and whiteness and obviously meant clothing that was very light and bright. Fána also was applied to the bodily forms or shapes the Eälar took, which were to them like .clothes were to the Eruhini

...and the DO have a word for sabots of clogs!

 

[Nicholas Palazzo]

One note on Teleri dress. The male costume is good, but I think he might have a wider, more pronounced belt into which he can tuck the "skirt" for working. For some reason, I keep thinking of Iron Age Mediterranean fishermen here.

 

[Anastasia]

I am on Season 2, session 16

To start, I want to speak on the question that the hosts had about Melkor's transformation when Fëanor slams the door on him. I am of two minds 1) This could be achieved beautifully using on-point acting and special lighting effects, there is no need for him to change semblance necessarily, which leads me to 2) He is one of the Valar, so his clothing is not a garment but is actually how he chooses to make himself visible, so there is no reason that his clothing shouldn't change based on the rage he feels towards Fëanor. My question is, do we want to show this transition here, or do we want to keep the reveal of Fully Evil Melkor for his chat with Ungoliant? What would be more effective, letting him end the episode in his fair semblance but enraged so that we get a good final glimpse of his fair form, or beginning his transition to Fully Evil Melkor now so that we know that this is a pivotal event?

On to responses to comments...

Haerangil: I haven't done much research into the elvish languages, but certainly the words that people use for things can be very indicative of the clothing they might have worn. In fact, for a lot of prehistoric clothing words are all that we have.

Nicholas Palazzo: I was actually thinking that the male lower body garment would be very full pants with pleats at the top, kindof like Hakama, ( I am not very good at drawing, so I take full responsibility for that misinterpretation) and so they could be tied up if necessary. We could absolutely give them bigger belts, we could even have a variety of sizes of belts for different tasks. What I am really interested in, though, is where the heck you found images of Iron Age Mediterranean fishermen, because I want that reference material 🙂 .

Today I focused on Miriel and Indis in Episode 6

View media item 128
In this episode the Vanyar and the Noldor are living in separate places, so I wanted to make sure that their costumes diverged dramatically. I also want to make sure that the divergence happens this episode, because next episode is the wedding of Finwë and Indis, and I want to make sure that the divergence is established before that particular bit of family drama takes place.

Indis:
Her look is basically the look that the Vanyar are going to have from now on. Simple sheaths detailed in blue, purple, and silver with a predominance for v-necks (a nod to Manwe and Varda's costumes). Her little jacket is made out of lace and her white under-dress would have a subtle woven pattern in it with blue and purple embroidery around the neck. She wears a single silver bracelet that was given to her by one of the Noldor while the two peoples were still living together.

Miriel:
Miriel is pregnant in this image, so her silhouette is not exactly what I am thinking about for the Noldor at this point, but the embellishment is. I imagine that the Noldor would be playing with fabric folding techniques, so I imagine that they would be doing a lot of pleating, smocking, and other kinds of fabric-origami. The colours would be much more saturated than what I have coloured in here. I have chosen to put Miriel in the colours of The House of Finwë Heraldic Device. I also imagine that after she gives birth to Fëanor her colours would be much less saturated, almost pastel, to indicate that she has given all of her strength to Fëanor. I took inspiration for her sleeves from Belle from Christopher Gans' La Belle et la Bête, and the smocking on the waist of her dress is flower smocking. I wanted to show here that pregnancy among the Elves is something that is celebrated, so her dress is made specifically to highlight the fact that she is with child, meaning that her "waist" line is above the belly, allowing the cut of the garment and the drape of the fabric to display the belly shape to best effect.

One thing I am not too sure about is how fast I am changing the clothing of the Noldor. I am a little worried that this particular look is quite different from last episode's look, but then again I am showing maternity clothing, so it will be different by its very nature. I don't want to give the audience whiplash, but I also want to make sure that it is clear that now that they are being influenced by the Valar, they are playing with different techniques and their knowledge is evolving very rapidly. I am also walking a very fine line between things looking fantasy and things looking very modern... hrm...

That's all for now.

 

[MithLuin]

There was some discussion of Melkor's transformation at the end of this season here:
https://forums.signumuniversity.org/index.php?threads/melkor-to-morgoth.384/

The consensus seems to be that the transformation begins at the gate of Formenos, but that it's a very subtle change at first.


Hmmm, hakama and fishing are an interesting combination. I imagine that such bulky clothing in the water would be rather unwieldy. Not that I've ever tried to go swimming in my hakama, mind you.


I see your concern with 'and suddenly fashion!' after the previous episodes have focused on limited techniques and more utilitarian than decorative. I don't think it's a bad thing, since we want to convey that being in Valinor does change the elves, but I understand your hesitance for extreme whiplash. Míriel is queen, so we can show other background characters in simpler costumes, to ease into this transition. Maybe that would help? I really like how her costume has a matching headpiece and uses the rainbow colors from the standard. And 'fading jeweltones' to show her fading spirit after the birth sounds perfect to me. Smocking on Míriel is also so very appropriate - great choice!

Some modern touches is probably okay, as it helps the audience to connect into the story. But...not too many. So, if something is bothering you as being too modern, perhaps we can find a way to shift it back into a more historical look.

 

[Haerangil]

i like the puffy sleeves of the one dress, it reminds me of the dress edith tolkien wears on one of jrrt s sketches...

what kind of red do you have in mind? i believe it's rather. a light or creme red and not an agressuve dark red tone?

as for melkor, i believe at first he dresses modest, like a servant or one of aule's smith people, but as later he starts to wander around in valinor he'd probably change to the attire of a messenger or a modest downdressed version of a herald.he doesn't have that position, but he may want to evoke that image.

later after he has went rogue, he probably would go secret agent..he would wear practical travelling and wanderer or mountaineer style clithing and he totally should have a hooded blackcloak that makes him invisible...

 

[Anastasia]

I am season 2, session 17

Woo hoo! Only three episodes to go until I have caught up, and then I can start engaging with the other forums 🙂

I've been sick this week, so I've been sleeping a lot and therefore I haven't done much in the way of new sketching. But I've been doing some thinking, which I think will help me to move forward with some ideas. I've actually been having a bit of a creative block so maybe a little break from sketching will be helpful.

First I am going to respond to the responses since I was last on here

MithLuin: Thanks for pointing that forum out. I read through it and I don't think there is much more that I can add to the discussion, I agree with the conclusion everyone came to 🙂
I haven't done anything particularly Fashion-y as yet, but I have definitely been holding myself back from going very haute-couture. For example, I really wanted the Vanyar to dress a bit like the clothes you can see in Blue-and-while-porcelain section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "China Through The Looking Glass" exhibit Link Link Link, but obviously that would have been impractical and a bit too out-there. It gives you an idea of the internal struggle I've been having, though.
I do think there would be quite the variety in terms of the clothing based on the different classes and the work that different elves do, at this point we can even have older elves sticking to the older fashions (as often happens in human culture), so all of that would help. But we are still introducing a whole lot of elves, and a whole lot of elves are growing up, and the passage of time is also an issue. This is why I've been trying to think episode by episode, so that I can imagine whether it would be useful for that particular story to have new clothes at the beginning of the episode or in the middle of it. It's getting tricky, is all.

Haerangil: The colour of Miriel's dress would be in these tones first, and then fade to these tones. I took Tolkien's sketches as being drawn in coloured pencils, which don't tend to produce saturated colours, so I figured the colour he was hoping for would be a bit darker and more saturated than the drawing showed.

MithLuin and Nicholas Palazzo: okfine, no full pants. I've re-drawn the Teleri man to reflect your concerns. 😛
View media item 133
On to what I have been thinking this week:

-In the episode 7 script outline it says that Finwë and Indis' wedding ends up being a modest affair, so are we imagining that their wedding attire would be equally modest?
-I think the costume change will be in the middle of this episode, so that we have a "young Fëanor" look which will be the same as the Episode six look, and then we will have a "Grownup Fëanor" look, which will be a silhouette change. I am still thinking about whether there should be a "Teenage Fëanor" look.
-Thinking waaaay forward, I am thinking of having the fashion at Formenos remain stagnant while the clothes in Tirion move forward, so that when Fëanor is commanded to come to the festival, his clothing will be visibly out-of-date.
-As an addition to this, the clothing when Fëanor is banished will have to look rather structured/armour-ish. I think that this is important only because this kind of clothing style best suits Fëanor's eventual mood, and, if anything, we could take it to an extreme at Formenos while everyone else moves to a possibly softer silhouette. Still thinking about this.
-Once Fëanor grows up, I think we can stop having so many silhouette changes so quickly, because events will be closer together, this will be very helpful for me.
-I am worried about the Teleri and their knitted looks, these could look modern very easily. They could also not look modern, but I am having trouble finding that balance for episode seven.
-As an addition to this, I am kindof back to my dilemma from waaaaaaaaay back, which is that Valinor should be the height of the skill and artistry of the elves, so that having them look a bit modern is OK (not modern in the ready-to-wear-lets-make-sure-we-don't-use-up-too-much-fabric way, but in the haute-couture-hey-we-know-how-to-create-lots-of-cool-shapes-and-colours-and-artsy-things-in-clothes way) but also, this is supposed to be ancient history, so it should look old to the viewers, which unfortunately from a human perspective tends to mean simpler shapes.

Anyway, I may be over-thinking this

That's all for now

 

[MithLuin]

Haha, your comments got me curious what Japanese fishermen wore during, say, the Edo period.

The image search was entertaining!

So legwarmers + grass skirt is apparently a practical option as well!


This photo is Ainu fishermen from northern Japan (and obviously more modern times):

 

[Haerangil]

I like the Caps the men on the last picture wear...

Id also like the idea that the Elves were more progressive in some points... for example they could wear something more like a modern boat shoe instead of a historical model... of course those would not have rubber soles.

What else do mariners wear? practical clothes i guess... would they be wide or rather tight? The knee-highs anastasia drew make sense... I also like the tunik and sash and tackle.Maybe something without sleeves or like a vest?Or a warm mantle/jacket for rough weather? ... a warm woollen cap probably , and something to shield off cold , water and sun... a wide hat maybe, like those anastasia drew... possibly one that could be fastened so the winds don't blow it away...
do they have weapons? Probably nothing else apart from fishing spears, harpoons, bows, working knives or tools similar to cutlasses or boarding Axes. They could have tridents...

 

[Haerangil]

another idea: what about a plaidlike piece of clothing they could either wear as a shawl, cloak or as a skirt or kilt-whatever they need at the moment?

 

[Bre]

All this early fisherman Teleri talk got me doodling:

 

[Anastasia]

I am on Season 2, Session 19

So, First some thoughts on the sessions I just listened to:
Session 18: I think that the hosts were wondering whether Elladan and Elrohir would be identical twins or fraternal twins. My thought is that if they are identical we can show their difference in temperament through costume, whereas if they are fraternal then it may be more important to dress them similarly in order to clearly show that they are twins.
Session 19: Yes to all of the issues the hosts brought up about the passage of time, it has been something I have been struggling with costume-wise since I started to imagine how the clothing of the elves would develop over time.

Now to respond to the comments since I was last here:
MithLuin: Those images are quite funny, but I am glad that they are similar to what I have been drawing. I try to do as much research as I can, but sometimes I wonder whether I am just making things up with no basis in reality...
Haerangil: Those are all things that the Teleri could mix and match. I was thinking that I would reserve the plaid for men.
Bre: Hello again! I am so glad that you have posted that doodle, I have often found your drawings to be inspirational and liked bouncing ideas off of you in season 1.

On to my drawing for today:

View media item 135
So, It's the same episode as my session 16 post, but now with everyone. The ideas from my session 16 post still apply, so you can see how simple the silhouette of the Vanyar is, with embellishment being mostly weaving, embroidery and lace. The Noldor are using lots of gems, and playing with fabric origami and folding techniques (if you do a web search of "fabric folding techniques" and "fabric origami" you will see what I am talking about), and their silhouette is an X-shape. The Teleri are very similar to their episode 5 looks, except now they are beginning to add some simple knitwear. The colour scheme for everyone remains the same as their episode 5 looks.

In my drawing I experimented with the Vanyar having short hair as the hosts had mentioned in one of the early sessions, but now that I look at it I think it makes them look a tad too modern. I'm curious to know what you think.

Now for some housekeeping:
I am going to be very busy at the end of next week, so although I think I will be able to get fully up-to-date on the podcast and start engaging with the other forums, I am certain that I will not have time to do any drawing until just before Easter.

I am so excited to be so close to being up-to date!

That's all for now,

 

[MithLuin]

Session 18: I think that the hosts were wondering whether Elladan and Elrohir would be identical twins or fraternal twins. My thought is that if they are identical we can show their difference in temperament through costume, whereas if they are fraternal then it may be more important to dress them similarly in order to clearly show that they are twins.

Concerning how similar the twins look....it will depend who we cast. The casting session on Friday should reveal that, but in the meantime, the nominations included some actual sets of real-life twins (who thus look extremely similar), and at least one pair of unrelated actors. Depending on who is selected, we can go in the 'dress them in matching outfits' route or the 'color code them so the audience can tell the difference' approach. We'll still have to use their names a lot in the script to help people tell them apart, I think.