This one has been stewing since Tuesday. It took me a pretty big chunk of my playtime on Patch Day to get it done, but my first major goal (after getting the initial stage of the Anima quest done) was to finish Dun Scaith. I already had tokens from Void Ark and Weeping City ready, so that I could get my upgraded Shire Emissary’s Jacket. I’d worked with the non-dyeable version before, as it’s a really lovely model that works really well on miqo’te frames, but the color scheme left a lot to be desired.

Glamour Components
Head: Reading Glasses (Ul Brown) | Body: Augmented Shire Emissary’s Jacket (Jet Black) | Hands: Halonic Vicar’s Gloves | Legs: Lady’s Knickers (Black) | Feet: Scion Healer’s Highboots

The tough part of this one really proved to be the gloves. The first time I used the jacket, I went with my standard Allagan Gauntlets, but since that glamour was more or less just a temporary thing, I never put much thought into that. Obviously, I started with them here, too (since they were what I was using on my last glamour), but I found two problems with them: one, the leather on them is a different type than the leather on the jacket, and two, it turns out that elbow-length gloves cover a really cool insignia on the shoulder.

I spent most of my glamour time over the course of the last few days staring wistfully at the hands category on the Market Board, trying to figure out which pair to use. Right away on Tuesday I glamoured the Halonic Vicar’s Gloves, but I wasn’t sold that they would be the best fit. They’re more grey than black (and our darkest available grey doesn’t match them), and I had hoped to find something more uniform to go along with the jacket.

Outside of the Vicar’s Gloves, though, the only pieces that really worked were “small” gloves (thinks like the Arachne Field Dressing or Strife Gloves), and while there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with those, I wanted something a bit heavier in terms of profile. I was surprised that there weren’t really a lot of options for what I wanted. It came down to the Vicar’s Gloves, the Fingerless Boarskin Gloves, or the Ninja Tekko. All of them had things I liked: the Vicar’s Gloves had the nicest profile (and the silver bits that keyed off of the silver emblem on the sleeve of the jacket), the Boarskin Fingerless Gloves had the best color match in Jet Black, and the Ninja Tekko added just a hint of Eastern flair to a glamour that could have used it.

But they also all had problems. The Vicar’s Gloves weren’t quite the right color, the Boarskin gloves had a patch of black leather that was the wrong color and looked out of place (more than the color of the Vicar’s Gloves), and the plating on the Ninja Tekko didn’t really match anything else in the glamour. So, after some deliberation, I ended the glamour exactly where it began, with the Vicar’s Gloves.

One thing I’m still thinking about is dyeing the jacket a different color. Overall, it dyes fairly well, with all of the black leather straps staying black, and only the very minimal red parts on the cloth going “two-tone.” Using a different color makes the gloves situation even more complex, though, as the Halonic Vicar’s Gloves really only work with black (since the trim on them is at least the same black as the jacket then). I’m going to be pondering, though, as I think ultimately I’d like to try the jacket in a dark blue, dark red, or white. I’ve even considered purple since I’m back to using the Yoshimitsu Nexus in protest against the dreadfully boring Sandungs that are the final step for Ninja’s Anima weapon.

But, Alahra still looks best in black, so that’s going to be a tall order. I’m unlikely to switch the color unless I can find a pair of gloves that are absolutely perfect.