Whenever a new Harry Potter book or movie is released, several of us are compelled to become characters who are residents of Harry's Wizarding World. Part of creating a character is to make clothing that defines the witch or wizard. Usually, the pre-modern tone of the stories means that we are sewing "robes" based upon historical fashions. Admittedly, the movies also influence wizardly fashion design, and the clothing ranges from Hollywood wizard's robes, to robes based upon Renaissance or Regency forms.
For those of us who otherwise are confined to authentic standards for historical clothing, fantasy costuming is especially liberating. We get to use those fabrics which "fit" the character, rather than those that fufill the need for authentic historical representations. Trips to the Denver Fabrics Annex can be especially fun when you're looking for deep purple reptilian embossed polyester, or lay hands on the perfect iridescent pink and green floral acetate.
Our characters do not appear in the stories, although they undoubtedly fill portions of the Wizarding community unseen by the gentle reader. Our venues are new book release parties at the Tattered Cover, or the opening night of a new movie. Many of our Wizarding World friends make Hallow'en appearances, since our somewhat unusual appearance seems to be a little less remarkable at that time of the year.
Mistress Violet Smethwyk operates a shop selling potions of the fragrant and evocative sort in Diagon Alley. You can probably guess that Potions was her favorite class at Hogworts. Her favorite color is of course purple. She is married to Augustus Fordham, notable for his work with dragons. They have a little boy, Evan, who really is too young to be wizarding yet.