I’ve been struggling to find a satisfying glamour for the last leg of my Black Mage’s journey to level 80. Like I mentioned last time, my latest fancy has been to make something work with the tights from the most recent Valentione’s Day event, but that hasn’t really gone according to plan thus far. Before that, I soured on the previous Black Mage glamour fairly quickly, since it felt altogether too heavy to me, and as a result I’ve been floundering a bit.

I still needed to figure out something, though, as in addition to needing something better for Black Mage, I needed to get my Red Mage and Summoner out of black and into something with at least a little more color. The trouble’s been that outside of ideas I’ve had that have not gone well (like the Valentione’s Day tights), and my mind has been largely blank otherwise. About all I knew outside of colors was that I wanted something lighter than the Rebel Coat from before.

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Glamour Components (Requirements: BLM/RDM/SMN 60, Female)
Weapon: Weathered Aeneas
Head: Reading Glasses (Ul Brown)
Body: Replica Sky Pirate’s Jacket of Striking (Dalamud Red)
Hands: (Augmented) Shire Philosopher’s Gloves
Legs: Guardian Corps Skirt
Feet: Scion Healer’s Highboots

I got to the final product shown above in a roundabout fashion. While browsing through my retainer, something made me stop on the old Evenstar Tights, which got me thinking about Alahra’s sort of classic red-and-black color scheme again (which is, of course, the best fit for Red Mage, and works well for casters in general). I decided to see what I could do using those colors as a base, tossing on the Gloves of the Black Griffin and good old Y’shtola’s boots as a starting point.

Of course, the Black Griffin gloves in particular have something of a sinister bent, what with the claws and all, which had me at first considering pieces like the Bonewicca Whisperer’s Jacket. That might have worked well for Black Mage, but I knew it was going to feel rather off for Red Mage, so I kept looking. Eventually, I decided to cast off the gloves once I landed on one of the game’s more recent additions: the Replica Sky Pirate’s Jacket of Striking.

The jacket’s a piece I’ve long loved, and it threads a couple of useful needles in this case. For one, it looks phenomenal in red and black while having a bit of a swashbuckler vibe to it, which is perfect for Red Mage. For another, it’s also somehow also sort of scholarly and refined, which is my preferred go-to for Alahra’s caster glamours (and why I loved the Shire Philosopher’s Coat from Heavensward so much). While I also experimented briefly with the equivalent Scouting jacket, I liked the overall colors of the Striking one better.

That gave me the foundation I needed, and the rest of the choices came swiftly. Casters don’t have many good long gloves for this sort of look, but they do have the Shire Philosopher’s Gloves, which are long enough to de-emphasize the somewhat puffy sleeves of the jacket. The Scion Healer’s Highboots were an easy choice, too, to maintain the red and black theme. The only point of contention was for the leg piece, which came down to either the Guardian Corps Skirt or the Shire Philosopher’s Hose, with my love of a good thigh gap winning out handily here. Alahra’s glasses, of course, hardly need explanation at this point (though I’m sure the Duelist’s Chapeau could have worked, too).

Now, of course, I’m looking ahead to the launch of Patch 5.2 next week on the 18th. While I might have another glamour or two to post before then, it’s more likely that things will be quiet here on the blog front for a few days, since it always feels a little strange focusing on old items when we have so many new ones to look forward to soon. I’ll be back soon after the patch, for sure, if I don’t sneak in another post before then, though!