Academic folklorists use the stories to trace the spread of tradition and societal structure. But most people who collect fairy tales are literature buffs who enjoy the imaginative tales. The definition of 'true' fairy beliefs, is usually accepted to mean the lore actually believed by people in an area or culture over a period of time. I would like to believe such a person would be of a scientific yet cautiously open mind. Some of the stories have the ring of truth, but then people often see what they expect to see.
Most fairies look like miniature humans, although there are some who can appear as small animals.
J.F. Campbell described the queen of the fairies as beautiful and clothed in white linens and in white and brown clothes. Another fairy queen described by him is more exotic. She was dressed in a rich green gown with gold embroidery, and she wore a small coronet of pearls on her head. Green is widely acknowledged to be the fairy color, and humans who wear it risk raising the anger of the fairies. Many of the gentlemen fairies wear red caps or red feathers in their caps.