Nights watch uniform

[King17]

Kind of an odd question but does the lord commander of the nights watch wear a different uniform than the other members of the nights watch that signifies his status as lord commander? The reason I ask is cause when bran enters the cave he mentions the greenseer(who was once lord commander) is wearing ebon finery and I assume most members of the watch don't wear finery.

[Aldarion]

It is probably the same style, but possibly of better quality. So it would count as "finery".

[Tucu]

Several NW members that belong to noble houses use expensive clothing. Waymar Royce had his "great sable cloak". Jaremy Rykker had his "heavy cloak was richly trimmed with sable, and clasped with the crossed hammers of the Rykkers, wrought in silver". Denys Mallister are described like this: "Sable trimmed his collar and accented the sleeves of his black velvet doublet. A silver eagle fastened its claws in the gathered folds of his cloak"

[Trigger Warning]

I think they can wear whatever they want so long as it's black. 

[Jay21]

The greenseer's family had some money. I've not seen it stated outright but I think we can infer from descriptions of various brothers that black is the only requirement. Mance tells us it's a strict one.

[TheLastWolf]

On 2/1/2021 at 6:13 AM, Trigger Warning said:

I think they can wear whatever they want so long as it's black. 

Did Dareon wear black condoms? I'll ask the Sailor's Wife the next time (read: first) I meet her... 

Oh wait, this is a medieval fantasy. Probably they used goat intestine skin 

[Yaya]

ARR - i have often wondered about the things about "the black" in general.

the COMMANDER.  it seems he wears a raven.  other than that nothing more than knowledge distinguishes him.  good question!

that leads me to think more on the "uniform" of the Night's Watch.  like the OP poses - what about the differences in wearing "the black" / finery:

On 1/31/2021 at 5:09 PM, Tucu said:

Waymar Royce had his "great sable cloak". Jaremy Rykker had his "heavy cloak was richly trimmed with sable, and clasped with the crossed hammers of the Rykkers, wrought in silver". Denys Mallister are described like this: "Sable trimmed his collar and accented the sleeves of his black velvet doublet. A silver eagle fastened its claws in the gathered folds of his cloak"

 

On 1/31/2021 at 3:11 AM, Aldarion said:

It is probably the same style, but possibly of better quality. So it would count as "finery"

yeah.

in my thinking on it - it's like someone getting kitted out for school or going to camp or playing intramural sports ...
although; in proper sports & teams, everyone wears the same thing so they are all the "same".   TEAM!
why isn't it so that everyone in the Night's Watch gets as good as / the same quality of essentials ( personal or ppe like ) as everyone else in the NW?

in a general sense simplicity seems the basic/base reason - everyone wears black because all colours can be dyed such that they turn black.

& in thinking on that, as the excellent symboligist of our board can expand on better than i, black is either the absence of colour or the totality of all colours.   that is a reason why i think that the "black" is meant to either contrast the 'seven' with their rainbow associations OR to complement them. 

join me in going down my tin-foil lined rabbit hole - maybe the black aligns with the rainbow to thwart the others in the grand scheme of things?  or is the rainbow in a constant fight against the black for some reason? hmmm.
i don't know, it's late,  i like the thoughts this thread brought me    thanks @Noble