Paksworld

Or, what about clothes?   Since I’ve been asked some detailed questions about the clothes in Paksworld.   This post can’t possibly answer them all, but will suggest some of the sources I used in considering what clothes the characters wear.

Intentionally, this world has a variety of cultures, with access to a variety of materials, and a variety of fashions for each, suggestive of each person’s social standing, occupation, and personal preference.    All the clothing styles are historical in some sense–I got ideas from history books,  art of the various periods,  and books on costuming.

Wool, goat hair (mohair) , fur (both as fur-on-leather and fur felt), leather, linen, silk, and other plant fibers (equivalents of cotton, hemp, etc.)  are used in clothing.    In addition to these “natural” fabric elements,  the nonhumans create some materials by their innate abilities (though they often seem to wear ordinary ones), and the magelords, in their heyday, used magery for some processes and fabrication.     Dyes include both vegetable and mineral dyes;   magic can produce colors not available from these natural means, but magical colors produced by human wizards are not often stable.   (You can pay a wizard to color your dull scarf bright pink, but you’d expect it to be drab again by the next day.)   “Old magic” produced stable colors.

Wool is used more in cold climates than warmer ones, but is nonetheless used to some extent everywhere.    Silk is expensive and used only for high-end garments.  Plant-fiber materials are used both mixed with wool (linsey-woolsy)  and alone…when used alone, for warm-weather wear.   Woven cloth may be undyed,  dyed in a solid color (either in the yarn or in the furl), or woven in patterns using different colored yarn.   Different materials take dyes differently.   Stripes and checks and plaids are the most common and least expensive of the patterns;  more intricate patterns such as brocades are very expensive and thus used only in high-end garments.  Loom width varies with location and culture.

For example:  the brown and maroon solid color woolen material used by the Duke’s Company (later, Fox Company) is relatively easy to weave (plain weave, solid color) and though of good quality, less expensive than some other colors of plain.   It’s produced in Tsaia from Tsaian wool and dyestuffs.   The design of the soldiers’ tunics is simple (3/4 length sleeves, length just above the knee)  and these garments are produced by cottage labor, to be maintained by the wearer.   The brocade for Dorrin Verrakai’s court robe is heavy silk–an expensive thread to start with–and woven to the previous duke’s design, in Aarenis, using the most costly dyes: that robe would clothe a cohort in plain wool.    The design is more elaborate, and was sewn by an experienced tailor in a shop used to making high-end garments.

Fabrication includes spinning, weaving, felting, and such needle arts as knitting, crochet, lacemaking, tatting, etc.   in addition to sewing.  All garments are handmade, from the base material on up, and are therefore expensive in terms of both labor and (when purchased rather than made for oneself or one’s family) in money.    All cities support tailors (high end clothing) and (middle level clothing.)    Clothing is  expected to last years.  Garments are frequently passed down from one generation to another until the material is worn completely out;  cities also support used clothes dealers.  Royal households have vast wardrobes of clothes; “state” outfits may be worn only once or twice a year, and thus last a longer time.

If you are a farmer in Fintha, male or female, working in the field, you would probably wear a pull-over shirt (possibly a laced shirt) reaching to mid-thigh.  Depending on the weather, season, and work you were doing, you would wear short or long trousers under it.    The wealthier would try to wear blue every day; the poorer would save their blue shirt for grange drill.    In towns, women might wear a skirt instead of long trousers, but Finthan Girdish women are still proud of the equality gained and all wear trousers sometimes.

If you are a merchant in town, you would wear a merchant’s gown (two forms–closed and open) over whatever undergarments were comfortable.   Merchants who belong to a guild will have some specifications from the guild of appropriate clothing, and marks of rank on it as well.   Craftspersons at work wear clothing appropriate to the job; the messier the job, the simpler (and often scantier) the clothing.   Especially in summer (everywhere) and in hot climes (year-round)  craftspersons working at hot messy jobs may wear only a single outer garment.  In Aarenis, some of these are “wrap” garments, such as a loincloth or wrapped “skirt.”    Crafters in guilds wear clothing specified by the guild to indicate the craft: so cheesemakers all wear a cheesemaker’s apron and have a distinctive cap, for instance.

Color has significance everywhere–both to indicate family (the family colors of the Tsaian nobility,  for instance) and to indicate cultural & religious alliance (Girdish always have some blue garment; Falkians always have something red;  Lyonyans wear a lot of green.   Gnomes in good standing wear gray; dwarves never wear gray.   And thieves have black cloaks. )   So if you peek into a Tsaian duke’s closet and find a lot of red and white with silver trim, you know you’re in Mahieran’s closet.  If you find light  blue and rose, you’re in Serrostin’s closet.   Red and green: Marrakai.    Light blue and gray: Verrakai.