Hogwarts Uniform and Harry
So, if we're going to talk about the Hogwarts uniform and Harry's attire, we'll need visual aids! First, the comparison image!
We'll tackle the Hogwarts uniform first. I wanted to keep the essence of what we know from canon. Namely, there's a hat, it's a black robe, and there are pockets. Problem is, that doesn't really give us much to work with. I mean, a sari is also a kind of robe. Contrary to what my fics tend to imply, I don't actually hate the idea of robes. I think they can be absolutely gorgeous, and a lot of the time they're culturally important styles of dress. What I hate are the robes we get in the books, an attitude that usually filters through into how my characters view them. See The Monster Club's Harry and Blaise. They're... flavorless. Just black robes, nothing else, no note about how they're worn, nothing.
So, where do we start? First, the base. It is loosely styled after the houppelande. I say loosely because it doesn't really look like one in the comparison image, but if we flatten it down-
we can see it looks a lot closer to an unadorned houppelande. Houppelandes were primarily a late 14th-century to 15th-century clothing item, so it might seem a little odd to choose it as the uniform. Well, keeping in mind the worldbuilding surrounding Pellaras and the fermenting beliefs that led to its founding, the houppelande part was adopted as the style as a means of distinguishing themselves from non-magical people, yet another way of making a separation. Notably, the houppelande evolved into modern-day academic gowns, which is another reason for the choice. The clothing became that of academia, so it also signals that Hogwarts is a learning institute. I decided to deviate from the all-black uniform in the books for similar reasons. While monochromatic clothing was fairly expensive, just on the basis of how much of that dyed cloth you'd have to purchase, purple was also incredibly expensive, historically speaking. While magic would allow the duplication of the dye or the fabric, non-magical people wouldn't be able to do that, so, to them, it would still be expensive. The integration of purple is one of the means by which the Pellars tried to show their perceived superiority prior to the Statute. Sort of "Look at how blessed we are, such that we have the richest of dyes in the clothing of our schoolchildren" logic.
As for the mantle, it's not really a mantle, but names would differ on purpose, and I prefer how it sounds over Rationale, which it's sort of a... circumcised version of.
Rationale
Hogwarts mantle.
See what I'm getting at? Anyway, Harry can tell when a group is made of Ravenclaws later in the books, which sort of implies there's a differentiator, so that's what this is! Color corresponds to house, and there are insignias for whichever subject the current HoH teaches, though that part was added onto the mantles after all the founders were gone (the mantles were a method they used to recognize their students.) But wait! There's more! Rationale (which are also called superhumerale) are specifically a type of religious clothing, which is purposeful! You see, modern-day Italy was... fairly Christian (which might be a bit of an understatement) at the time of Hogwart's founding, but Spain was under Muslim rule at the time, with Christianity allowed. Essentially, this is all down to ole' Sally Slyth. I'll be doing a section about him, but the rundown is that Salazar (which is a surname, not a forename) is a Spanish name in origin. Sally Slyth's grandpaps (a wealthy merchant from northern Spain) left Spain when the caliphate rolled in, jumping ship to Italy. He married, had a son who had a son who went to England to start up a school. Sally Slyth, being very Catholic, wanted to incorporate part of his faith into the uniform, and boom! The mantle.
The hat is a bycocket, the sort of hat Robin Hood tends to be given in media which is... ehhh, Robin Hood's timeline doesn't really match up well, but it is very British and I wanted to keep the idea of a pointed hat while adding in an element from the actual landmass the series takes place on.
Now we get to Harry! Overall, his look is very much inspired by the following quote from Diodorus Siculus.
The way they dress is astonishing: they wear brightly coloured and embroidered shirts, with trousers called braccae and cloaks fastened at the shoulder with a brooch, heavy in winter, light in summer. These cloaks are striped or checkered in design, with the separate checks close together and in various colours.
The breeches, the cloak, the brooch, the elements are fairly clear. The design for the brooch won't be revealed until later, even if it's on the current comparison (if incredibly small) so just think something along the lines of a fibula brooch. As for the cloak, I just don't really like check patterns, as they're hell to draw. The main part to note is the tunic.
So. The designs. They might be accurate, but they might not be. Thematically, however, they are specific. Of course, the use of vines in the bordering is to keep that wildlife, and plant motif going that you see on his lyre, and in his reliance on the rhythms of nature. The waves are kind of related, but also different. I can't really explain it right now, as it's sort of a spoiler for something I have planned for Annals of Aneirin, but there is a figure in the four books closely tied to water and bards. Ultimately, however, Harry's visual design doesn't have as many ties to worldbuilding as the uniform. No, Harry's look is meant to make him stand out. I make a big point about it in the author's note for chapter 2 of Carmarthen's Choir, but Harry does not fit. Everything about him is out of place in either world, and I really wanted to make the divide even clearer in the clothing language. The Hogwarts students, the Pellars, it's all very robe-based, very early modern period. Harry though? He's a bard, so he styles himself the way he understands the people of the time would have. Unintentionally, he sticks out, he marks a stark contrast between Pellaras' ideals and his own by the sheer virtue of rejecting how they look, by choosing a look that keeps to what he believes he should be, instead of simply acquiescing to the majority.
The other characters that he'll ally with are going to be in similar positions. Whenever possible, they opt for what they want, instead of what the greater whole chooses. They mark themselves as odd, as visibly different. Those visual differences, though not mentioned much, are something I think are important, they're visually emblematic of their collective goal.
What that goal is, I won't be saying here, but rest assured you'll find out fairly soon in the story.