The 'classic' Gnome is a model of sexual dimorphism. Males are bearded, weathered and portly, females are braided, voluptuous, and look like they've strayed from Oktoberfest, losing their steins somewhere along the way.
There's nothing wrong with this, but it does to my mind tend towards the same pigeonholing that the more recent insane Rube Goldberg Gnome did -it pushes a character, a stereotype into a demi-human character class. Each demi-human class has that issue in D&D and AD&D - heck, Gygax had cross-referenced tables to further establish their traits and preferences; but it does rub against the more open-ended aspects of the game.
Anyway, this month is about Gnomes, not the Gygaxian world, so here's one of my female Gnomes:
My female Gnomes have more variety in body shape and attire. There's room for the 'hausfrau' model, but also for the wise-old-woman-of-the-woods, the ingenue, the virago, the 'gypsy' dancer, the defender of the hearth. Variety is good. Other than that, the standards still apply (no beards, though) - ears, nose, pointed hat.
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