Some Thoughts About Clothing

In my first book I didn’t describe clothing, but that was because most of the characters don’t wear any, and those that do live in the same culture as their readers and therefor wear whatever the readers think they do.

In my second book (planned for publication this summer), the characters do wear clothing and don’t live in the same culture as readers, so some explanation was in order, but I was wary of the dreaded “info dump” and so kept description minimal.

But I actually put a lot of thought into what the people in this next story wear and why they wear it, and a blog seems like a good place to share that sort of thing.

Let’s play, shall we?

How They Dress in the Future

There are two ways to talk about the clothing of an imaginary society: there is how the people dress and there is why they dress that way. Let’s talk about both–and cover the second part first.

The Why of Clothing

Ecological Memory is set in a world obviously descended from our own, but separated from it by catastrophe–so the same basic patterns are still present, but re-imaged, re-proportioned, and re-prioritized. There are three main factors behind the changes in dress: economics; social structure; and social change.

Economics

The society of my story has a subsistence-based, agrarian economy. While advanced technology exists, energy is expensive, so transportation and mechanized manufacture cost a lot more. Most goods are locally produced, and most people own very few things–but what they do own is high quality. It’s not that most people are poor, it’s that the pattern of what is and is not expensive has changed.

So, since most people own very little clothing, there is no longer any expectation of dressing differently for work as opposed to socialization. People who wear suits to work also wear suits at parties. People who wear uniforms at work wear the same uniforms to parties. And so on. The only distinction is between nice clothing and the worn or stained outfits kept for dirty work or play.

Social Structure

Clothing still does indicate identity, but not so much in a sense of personal expression or subculture membership, since, as noted, people no longer maintain separate “looks” for work and personal time. Some cultural groups do wear different clothing than the mainstream, but for most, clothing indicates professional/social role.

There are those who wear uniforms, those who wear guild-member garb, and everyone else (usually referred to as farmers).

The three-part structure is a variation on a theme that is very old and well-established in Indo-European-influenced societies, but not overtly acknowledged in the United States: the division of society into three classes, the commoners, the warriors, and the educated.

“The educated” is the most amorphous and may require some explanation.

In many societies, the priestly class included scholars, judges, artists, teachers, and healers. In the modern United States, all these appear to be quite separate roles–and yet the fields that fit in these categories have a few interesting things in common.

Both priests and scientists refer to everybody else by the same word–laypeople–implying that both somehow belong to the same group. Both priests and judges wear very similar black robes, robes which resemble the academic regalia worn by college professors (teachers and scholars) at commencement. Doctors and lab workers (healers and scholars) where white coats, not black robes, but those coats carry similar symbolic baggage.

So in my version of America’s future, this ancient three-part structure is in the process of re-emergence. The guild system represents the old priestly or educated class, which is why guild members wear distinctive clothing.

Social Changes

Of course, as society changes, so do norms of dress. As the Women’s Movement and the LGBT Rights Movement have made further progress, it has become socially acceptable for men to wear skirts. Clothing isn’t unisex—there are men’s skirts just as there are women’s pants—but clothing is less sharply gendered.

At the same time, the influence of several large, conservative countercultures has resulted in styles that are less sexualized and in some ways less decorative than had been common before.

The Actual Clothing

The following applies to mainstream cultures; there are countercultural ethnic groups, such as the Amish, who dress differently.

Farmers (People Who Are Neither Guild Members nor Warriors)

The basic outfit is trousers, a collared shirt, and a cloth or leather vest. For manual labor or travel by foot, they take off the vest to keep it clean. Many wear ties, string-ties, or neckerchiefs. Hats are rarely worn, except to protect the head from sun or weather. In warm weather, either sex may wear a skirt–but not shorts (shorts are worn only for swimming or for sleep in dormitory-style hostels).

Short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts and 3/4 length trousers are common in warm weather, too.

Most people own a suit jacket and a coat that match their vest, but these are only worn in cold weather. Many also own grubby outerwear for manual labor or travel.

Cut and style vary with season and gender. Generally, men’s styles vary less; their shirts always have a collar, and their trousers are always straight-leg, whereas women have the option of collarless shirts that show the clavicle or upper chest and flared-leg trousers. Women’s vests are often longer and usually flared at the waist. Women often wear leggings or tights under skirts in cold weather, but men never do (unless deliberately cross-dressing). Men’s skirts are shorter and stiffer than women’s skirts and never have ruffles or slits.

Neither sex wears make-up (except to cover blemishes), although fragrances are common. Both sexes can wear modest amounts of jewelry. Piercings are out of fashion, but not stigmatized. Tattoos are moderately common and accepted, provided they are not on the face or “excessive.” Men usually grow their beards out, but exceptions are not uncommon. Hair can be long or short, but styles vary by gender and hair-type.

Babies and very young children go naked, weather permitting, or wear easy-to-wash coveralls. The transition to adult styles is gradual, beginning with a nice outfit for special occasions and cast-off clothes from older kids for dress-up play.

Styles also vary significantly by region.

Guild-members

Guild-member garb is defined by each guild for its members, sometimes quite strictly, though the dress-codes don’t address hair or personal adornment. Typical is trousers with a tunic (not a vest), usually with a cowl (usually worn with the hood down) with a color pattern that identifies the guild, though in some religious guilds a shawl or collar serves the same purpose.

The tunic itself, for most guilds, has a high French collar, a short zipper or row of buttons in the back, and small pleats at the shoulders. The cut is somewhat loose but tailored and not unisex. The sleeves may be short or long, depending on weather. The tunic is not belted (though the pants may be) and hangs to the upper thigh.

The cowl is of loose, light material, either cotton or silk, that covers the shoulders. The hood of the cowl does not normally enclose the throat, though Muslim women, or sometimes non-Muslim visitors to Muslim communities, alter the cowl to serve as a hijab. Otherwise, the hood is not worn up unless the member needs a hat and doesn’t have one.

Guild-applicants wear the tunic and trousers but not the cowl. Senior guildmembers (equivalent of having a doctorate) also wear a silver pin.

The tunic and trousers are black for most guilds, though some religious guilds specify other colors. Journalists, however, wear brown or beige, and healers wear white coats over collarless shirts, not tunics; medical guilds restrict the white coat to senior members.

Guild-members are, by definition, adults. One cannot be born into a guild, so there are no children’s guild-member garb.

Guild-members dress like farmers for grubby activities or travel; the specialized clothing is used for work and socializing.

Warriors

Members of the uniformed services wear…uniforms. The style and cut is roughly the same as in uniforms worn today.

The color is set by the service to which the member belongs, though by convention services of the same type (such as police departments) choose the same colors even if they are not formally affiliated with each other.

Generally, private security groups and soldiers wear camo, police wear blue or blue and black, and fire-fighters wear blue and white (although their turn-out gear is yellow). Rangers—or their equivalent—usually wear green and gray like the old Park Service, and postal workers, who count in this group because they are usually armed, wear dark and light blue blue.

Warriors, too, are by definition adult. Like guild-members, warriors often dress like farmers to do farm labor or to travel, but wear uniforms both to work and to socialize.

What About Personal Expression?

When I explained all this to my mother, her first reaction was that it sounded like everybody was in uniform all the time. I reminded her that our clothing norms, if described succinctly, would sound just as rigid. Personal style, for farmers, anyway, depends on slight variation on set themes, but that slight variation is enough to radically change a look.

It’s also important to remember that quality is very high and new clothing is always custom-made. Most people can only afford a few outfits, but these last forever and fit perfectly.

Not a bad way to dress.