THE PACK Message Boards

Berserker wrote:Beyond the practical reasons for wearing no clothing, and aside from the effects of animalistic instincts, there may be another, more symbolic reason.

If becoming a werewolf is a state of both a return to nature and escape from modernity, then there might be a certain elation to the idea of eventually desensitizing oneself to nudity: like hunting and eating raw meat, it's a daring and willfully beastlike behavior from a civilized mind. This act would be a conscious move towards freedom from the confines of human civilization and a transition to a natural state: freedom not only from clothing itself, but from the social and psychological conditioning that it represents.

Just one of the many components of the transcendence of werewolfism.

There's also the likelyhood that the Human clothing either wouldn't fit or it would look silly.

I do suspect that in certain situations that a Werewolf would wear something... like a cute She-wulf with a bow on her tail? Clothes can convey a lot of information.

RedEye wrote:

Berserker wrote:Beyond the practical reasons for wearing no clothing, and aside from the effects of animalistic instincts, there may be another, more symbolic reason.

If becoming a werewolf is a state of both a return to nature and escape from modernity, then there might be a certain elation to the idea of eventually desensitizing oneself to nudity: like hunting and eating raw meat, it's a daring and willfully beastlike behavior from a civilized mind. This act would be a conscious move towards freedom from the confines of human civilization and a transition to a natural state: freedom not only from clothing itself, but from the social and psychological conditioning that it represents.

Just one of the many components of the transcendence of werewolfism.

There's also the likelyhood that the Human clothing either wouldn't fit or it would look silly.

That fits under the "beyond the practical reasons" disclaimer. ;)

I can't remember where this was at but on a internet site they said if you did a spell on clothing they could fit you even after the change. but by the size of the werewolf the clothes would either rip off, fall off or the pereson would strip down.

A Were wearing nothing is only natural. If the Puritans are offended, duct tape copies of Cat Fancy to their faces (Purr-itans, woo). Seriously...a loincloth, plus a bikini top (or four or five, depending on your interpretation of the Gestalt...) for the femmes to prevent being sprayed with a cold firehose and sent to the pound for indecent exposure would probably be the most comfortable stock-issue hyuman flesh-coverings.

I say fur is good enough, but I'm probably just not to keen on paying the tailoring bill for jeans with a tail-hole, to be honest.

Yeah, hope you have extra stuff and remember where you put them when you hide them under a rock, bush, tree, or cave!!!!!

yeah, but i've heard if you did a certaint spell your clothes fit to your design but that sounds like a bunch of bull@$%@!

yes indeed it does.

ABrownrigg wrote:during a shift, there ARE NO CLOTHES/ or, clothes come off during.

We've pretty well kicked this horse to death, but I'll drop my $.02 anyway. I'm still really hoping for one shift scene in which a new werewolf has a "WTF?!" moment and with gratuitous ripping sounds, ends up looking something like Goldenwolfen's "Shift Happens" picture. Rippage is cool. Some things are always classics.

Wow, this topic came a very long way...

Anyway, it depends on the clothes.

Morkulv wrote: Anyway, it depends on the clothes.

Naah. Forget what would realistically hold together during a shift. In Freeborn, for purely dramatic effect, I still think there should be a scene with a newbie who shifts through his clothes.

I don't believe the clothes would shred to bits. If say, the werewolf was wearing tight clothes when they shifted, then the clothes would tear in all the appropriate places. The key for this NOT to happen is to wear loose clothing. Maybe even pick out some clothes in the store, go in the changing room, lock the door and shift and try the clothes on. XD

Yeah. Even if your werewolf went from 5' 4", to 8' 10", most clothing would probably mostly hold together (and be excruciatingly uncomfortable -- especially for a male). I meant in the context of a movie. I still think a shift scene in which a werewolf is wearing clothes, for purely dramatic effect, they should get shredded (ala AWIL).

Uniform Two Six wrote:Yeah. Even if your werewolf went from 5' 4", to 8' 10", most clothing would probably mostly hold together (and be excruciatingly uncomfortable -- especially for a male). I meant in the context of a movie. I still think a shift scene in which a werewolf is wearing clothes, for purely dramatic effect, they should get shredded (ala AWIL).

Is it just me or do people think it's just easier for shredding to get away by Rule of Cool if it's a scary (AWIL) or intense (Jacob in New Moon trailer) movie, and exactly the opposite when it's anything but?

If so, brb headdesking

Yeah... and?

Uniform Two Six wrote:Yeah... and?

"And" that arguably makes me the only one who even bothers to put decent threads on a bloody she-wolf that ISN'T a ribbon on a tail or a dollar-store sneaking catsuit.

While I agree that most clothing wouldn't shred; if the physical change were great enough the seams would give in most garments.

As for the shreding; can you imagine that suddenly your clothes were not only painfully tight but that they were pressing your fur the wrong way. Given how both dogs and cats respond to having their fur forced opposite to its normal growth direction, I can imagine a Werewolf shredding his/her own clothing just to stop that "wrong way" sensation.

An example: Clasp your hands and note which thumb is on top. Then reverse the position. It shouldn't make a difference; but it does...a lot!

I'm going to diverge from the beaten to death "to rip or not to rip" debate for a bit

What I'm going to do is to look at it from a different perspective. Let's say that the werewolf is not larger than their human form and is not the "closer to nature" type. What if the person liked being human, but is now a werewolf and just shifted? Not every werewolf is going to be comfortable with going without clothes or going fur suit. Wouldn't they enjoy the comfort of their articles? Especially the just bitten ones. Wouldn't they miss their clothes after their first time? I say yes!

Yeah, maybe the non-bulgingly muscled, not closer to nature, smaller than their human form, more human than wolf, cursed or gifted (depending on the person), shorter lifespan, non-tailed, shorter muzzled, longer timed shifting, clothes wearing werewolves are pretty much deviant and wrong here, but what is exactly the problem with any of these? Personally, the very fact that these traits are all in the minority makes me wonder what the mindset around here really is

I think a part of it is based on the mental capacity of the werewolf. Most flicks don't have their werewolves as able to be anything other then a frothing monster. Few that have shown intelligence (self awareness) of a level to care, are either so enraged, or so engrossed in what they are doing they don't think twice about it.

I think having a werewolf suddenly start trying to put clothes back on would be interesting. However, it might come across as comical.

Silverclaw wrote:So what do you all think about werewolves and clothes?
When they transform should their clothes stay intact but just be tighter? They were tattered pants, shirts ect; change into something else like loincloths; or have nothin on but fur?

I think that's too vague a question, my answer would be figure out your type of werewolf, and in the case of a film, try on different clothes on to your prosthetically festooned werewolf actor, if they can get the clothes on by any means at all, even with lots of help to squeeze into them and not buttoning things up, then they can stay on, if not, then off they come, by seam pop or claw assisted tear. I agree, stupidly tight and/or rags snagging on things would be a particularly annoying to the beastie, but I think flat out ill fitting clothes on a werewolf would be more the case and enough to either wriggle free of, or get ripped off by an irritated critter.

Keep in mind that clothes don't just fall off even with busted seams, zippers and buttons, they'll cling on where they haven't been compromised, and once torn they'll have relieved some pressures on the body and continue to sit there, probably on a werewolf that frankly doesn't give a flying fig leaf how silly it looks, so they have to be thoroughly shredded to fall off a body, otherwise taken off by some other means, probably snagging on things.

As for decency, give me a break, just frame the shot right or don't focus attention unduly, problem solved, if people care more about the film than getting a good peek at whether or not the werewolf's assets are on display,, they might actually enjoy the film , and frankly I'm scratching my head why people care at all about that, yes, we might have strategically positioned obstructions that to an educated or otherwise observant mind (or perhaps an obsessed one) would seem blatant, your loss.

*Edit* Incidentally, the underworld werewolves had nards

The Meeper

From a writing standpoint, clothes are a fun way to play mindgames with characters. Imagine looking for your friend and finding in the woods her torn clothes next to some large paw prints...

I'm going to (unwisely) throw my hat back into this ring, and say that I sort of liked how Being Human (again, the BBC version) dealt with the issue. The werewolf was larger and the clothing ripped off, and when dude came back to his senses, he was invariably in the woods somewhere, butt-naked and trying to get his bearings to wherever it was that he stashed his spare set of clothes. It was sort of neat that they had their character have to deal with the logistics of lycanthropy -- namely that stuff like having extra clothing in anticipation of a shift was something that they had to constantly deal with.

I agree. Those of us who work with biological lycanthropy storylines pretty much have to have clothing become an issue. Those who do magical curses might get away with articles that vanish and re-appear, but I usually find that trick a bit cheesy. Part of the beauty of lycanthropy is that you're ripping and tossing human conventions aside, and ripping through clothing is part of it.

As a side note, ever wonder how werewolf women in movies manage to have makeup magically reapplied so perfectly right after they've shifted human?

Sort of like the scene from The Naked Gun 2 1/2 where Leslie Neilson falls through the skylight and is covered in dust and stuff, and just pats himself off and his hair is perfect again?

Priceless.

Uniform Two Six wrote:I'm going to (unwisely) throw my hat back into this ring, and say that I sort of liked how Being Human (again, the BBC version) dealt with the issue. The werewolf was larger and the clothing ripped off, and when dude came back to his senses, he was invariably in the woods somewhere, butt-naked and trying to get his bearings to wherever it was that he stashed his spare set of clothes. It was sort of neat that they had their character have to deal with the logistics of lycanthropy -- namely that stuff like having extra clothing in anticipation of a shift was something that they had to constantly deal with.

Stashing away extra clothes... that can work. then again, they can also backfire - they can be found by homeless folks, torn up by animals as bedding/nest material, infested by insects...

it depends on fur but defenetly pants and t-shirt that are strechy enough to be confortly to wear.

why wering chlotes?
because i wont running around town naked and if people see you naked they can alert someone.