In the White City, by far the most ubiquitous clothing for citizens is a plain, un-dyed and unornamented all-in-one jumpsuit or flight-suit. These suits are worn by all genders and ages, and can be bought everywhere, cheaply. They are baggy enough not to require much tailoring, and usually include cinches at the elbow, knees, wrist, ankles, waist, and neck, to ensure that the bagginess can be tied-away when the wearer needs to do physical work. This is the under-layer, or frame, for a citizen.
The suits feature large open areas on the back and front of the chest, at the upper arm, and often on the thighs, where images can be worn. These are usually a second piece of fabric that is tied into place on top of the suit - suits will often have loops incorporated into them to facilitate this. Images are usually made by hand by the individual game player, although you can also pay artists to make images to your spec.
The White City citizenry also makes extensive use of half cloaks, which are tailored close to the body and without much material give, to keep the surface area relatively flat, which makes it more useful for game-playing. Also commonly seen: soft fabric caps, tied under the chin, with image-decoration across the forehead (a bit like a baseball cap); fabric webbing and harnessing worn over the top of the suit, for normal portage; large, bulky jackets in rare cold weather (the White City has mostly mediterranean weather), something like a bomber jacket.
All citizens can be called up into the militia, in which they are responsible for the purchase and maintenance of their own armour while on campaign. There is a style of tough, layered and quilted fabric armour, with bands of steel woven into it, which is common with the citizens, and which usually comes as a chest piece, helmet, pauldrons, vambraces, and shin protection. Wealthy citizens can add to this basic harness, all the way up to expensive steel plate, but this is rare in the militias.
Professional soldiers are issued their own arms and armour by the state, and this includes a flight-suit under-layer. The suit of the soldier is differentiated by the arming points sewn into it, which allow the wearing to be laced into a suit of steel plates (much like an arming jacket, but in a one piece garment) - they are otherwise mostly identical to the civilian version. The soldiers are also game players, and will paint their suits and armour accordingly.
Citizen Angels and Citizen Demons paint their iron puppet bodies the same way.
The Courtesans are the only group in the White City who are formally forbidden from playing the Image Game.
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| Rough silhouettes from the White City citizenry |
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In the Barony, tailored clothing is a status symbol, and the rich show their wealth with elaborately planned and lavishly ornamented garments. Outfits are designed to spec, for ceremony, working, familiar, political, religious, and may other specific situations. There is a fascination with fabric that has been worked into, either with precious metals and stone, or with decorative finishes (the fabric roses, pictured below, are a common motif).
In the Barony, if you want to be taken seriously as a professional, you want to look both androgynous and wealthy. If you are not wearing jewellery, you will be assumed not to own any. If you are not wearing makeup, it will be assumed that you can't afford it.
For people enmeshed in the Baronial Capital's many cultural scenes (the Bravo Gangs, Academies, Artists, Poets, the Actors), these rules have some give and take, and flouting them can garner you countercultural prestige. In the courts of the petty nobility, this is much harder. You will not be received into the court of a Petty Queen without the proper attire and cosmetics. If they are particularly proud, conservative, or in a bad mood, you might not be received if you do't put some effort into dressing the way that they specifically like (most courts have cuts, jewels, fragrances, and makeup patterns associated with them, and one of the cherished practices of the old nobility is instituting their own favourites as new sovereigns are crowned).
Baronial clothing: tailored, embellished, tough wearing, formal, signifying.
Baronial makeup: pinks, reds, whites, blacks. Heavy emphasis on androgyny (beards are often plucked), and on youth and health. Countercultural makeup often resembles corpses or skulls, and is considered irreligious. Eyes, cheeks, and lips are the focus.
Baronial jewellery: pearls and diamonds are the basic, ubiquitous favourites of everyone. Clear cut glass is often used to frame and augment true diamonds, even by the wealthy, which means that you can see some impossibly dripped-out pieces (we would consider them costume jewellery, but in the Barony they will often incorporate one or two real stones where the eye would most likely settle). Necklaces (especially chokers), earrings, wrist and ankle bracelets, brooches, and jewelled chest harnesses are the most usual forms. Gold and silver are used, but so is tin, copper, brass, iron, and lead. Famous poets spend serious time and thought on the qualities of these metals and stones under the light, and on what they do to the body so adorned.
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| Baronial with jacket featuring fabric roses. |
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