Fashion
From ElanVital
Contents |
Overview
Like many aspects of the society and culture of Titania, fashion was once dominated by an urge for practicality. However, post-war trends have spiralled into decadence, and astonishing innovation is occurring constantly.
Fabrics
Average people tend to wear a synthetic fabric called poly most of the time, poly being short for its excessively long molecular name. Poly is a Voltumnan creation that is lightweight but tough and fairly comfortable in most weather, suitable for most types of clothing. It's also somewhat stretchy.
However, there are certainly other options. Cotton and wool are available; they're less comfortable than poly, but cooler and warmer respectively (and more expensive due to scarcity). Other synthetic fabrics that we have today exist on Voltumnus as well, such as nylon, rayon and spandex, and others tailored for specific purposes. Synthetic leather is very common; real leather is rare and expensive. Due to the quality of the technology involved, however, synthetics have few disadvantages against their real comparisons.
Production-wise, poly and other wholly synthetic fabrics are generally shaped into clothing via 3D printing. Layers of liquid fabric are sprayed onto a resizable bodyform, then cured with ultraviolet light. This results in seamless, well-fitted garments with a variety of customizable features. Natural fabrics, by contrast, must be woven and sewn.
For the richest individuals, synthetic luxury fabrics of many sorts are offered. The ultimate height of opulence is genuine silk, typically worked with geomancy to be tough and yet soft. It is often slightly inferior in comfort and appearance to the highest-end synthetics, but it is more expensive and thus carries more social cachet.
Colors
There is a very wide variety in colors, styles and prints available, though the current fashionable tread is for very limited use of patterns-mostly solids with perhaps one patterened item of clothing in a matching color. Subtle plaids, moderate stripes and quieter flower prints are all in heavy use at the current time. Extremely bright colors are seen as being in bad taste.
Symbolically, black remains the color of mourning and white of purity, but green has become the official standard at weddings: for fertility.
Casual Wear
Day to day wear is suited for the profession of its wearer.
In some ways the casual wear of most people hasn't changed very much; the t-shirt, long-sleeved and short, has survived due to its functionality and cheapness. Denim is not commonly worn in favor of the more comfortable poly, but a modernized tougher version has its use among those in need of extremely durable clothing. Some combination of a simple shirt (zippered more commonly than buttoned) and comfortable pants is the most common work outfit through Titania. Jumpsuits made of poly or denim with multiple zippers that allow the wearer to switch between long/short sleeves/pants are common along those who do manual labor in all sorts of weather.
Skirts are not commonly worn by individuals who do much labor; they are seen as impractical. Nonetheless they have been recently coming back into fashion as daily wear for office workers for the sake of comfort. They are not seen as gendered clothing- it's equally likely to see a man or a woman in a skirt.
Indeed, very little casual wear is particularly gendered except in cut. Dresses are perhaps the one exception; they remain feminine only, and shorter, lighter dresses have joined skirts in the office in recent times.
Formal Wear
Formal clothing is far more gendered than casual wear. Women almost always wear dresses, though a properly tailored men's suit is accepted as formal. Men most typically wear three-piece suits with jacket, vest and pants. The tie has long since disappeared, however.
The recent changes in overall fashion have had a strong influence on formal wear. Suits with very long tails have become popular for men; women's dresses have picked up trains, voluminous sleeves, and other such affectations of pure luxury.
Accessories
Buttons have become somewhat rarer as a fastening in comparison to zippers, especially in casual clothes. Button-down shirts are mostly reserved for formality. Velcro has completely fallen out of fashion, and laces are used on nothing but shoes and the occasional racy lingerie.
Sandals, flat-soled boots and enclosed shoes are all fairly popular. High heels are as well, especially in recent years.
Purses or wallets may be carried by either men or women without any real gender implications.
Underwear
Underwear hasn't much changed. Women don't tend to wear slips except in rare formal occasions, but bras have grown more comfortable while remaining essentially the same. Short-legged fitted undershorts are probably the most common of underwear, worn frequently by both sexes, but everything from thongs to boxers can be found- if with more rarity than today.
Underwear with biometric monitoring systems is available for individuals in high-risk situations, often used for undercover individuals or soldiers to determine if they've been injured or killed in the field.
