Fashion in the Frontier

A female Spacer in a spacesuit.

Style and fashion trends in the Frontier come in all forms. Fashion is highly relative, and is subject to the whims of cultures, cliques, and trends.

Styles

It should be noted that only Humans traditionally wear clothing for the sake of modesty; Yazirians are not modest by nature and wear clothing primarily as protection and identification. Vrusk and Dralasites find clothing superfluous under normal circumstances.

Uniforms are worn by all races, as they help visually distinguish members of an organization. Despite the range of races and their own unique preferences, this list is largely human-centric.

Business attire is governed by the dress code of a parent company. Depending on the company, business suits may be uniformed attire issued by the company's stores, or, if their policies are flexible, to allow the employees to choose their own attire within the limits of the dress code.

Representatives and management are expected to dress nicely, as they represent the "good image" of their company and its holdings. Anyone dealing with machinery or harmful substances is expected to wear clothing that is in-line with safety codes and regulations. For example, one should never wear a scarf around machinery that has a lot of moving parts.

Casual attire is what people wear in their homes and during their "off" hours. This can range from the proper shoes, paints, shirt, coat and hat ensemble seen in most places, to less-than-modest styles seen in some bars, nightclubs, and beaches.

High fashion is generally seen on heavily-populated worlds. It can be quite garish, expensive, and is normally completely unfit for adventuring. High-end outfits are usually seen in high-society gatherings, while low-end out-fits are for clubbing. High-fashion trends can change rapidly - an outfit can be a fashion faux pas months after the styles was “in” unless you travel out to the edge of the Frontier, as fashion trends are a hodgepodge of second-hand styles.

Military uniforms are the standard issue attire used by the UPF, militias, and corporate security services. In most armed forces, two separate styles of dress are used: one by enlisted personnel, and one by officers. Most of the large fleets, especially the UPF, maintain strict conduct and dress codes, while small fleets (including pirate groups) would have casual or non-existent codes of dress and/or conduct.

Uniforms used by professional military and paramilitary groups are broken-down into three types:

• Dress uniforms are used for ceremonies, receptions, parades and other special occasions. They are the most stylish uniforms in a given service, and are used to show the service at their most dignified. Variations of dress uniforms include Mess Dress, and Honor Gourd uniforms.

• Duty uniforms are used while on duty. Uniforms of this category come in two types. The first, sometimes known as "Class A" tend to resemble business attire. The second, or "Class B" usually consist of fatigues or coveralls of some sort.

• Battledress are combat wear. This includes the armored suits used by infantry forces, and the light-pressure "work-suits" used by warship personnel when they engage in battle.

Spacers typically dress in highly utilitarian coveralls, which feature many pockets and insulate the wearer from harsh weather. Underneath the coveralls, they dress in tight-fitting full-body underwear to absorb perspiration. These undergarments allow them to slip out of their coveralls and slip into a spacesuit quickly in an emergency, and they are easy to clean.

It is not unusual for Spacers to sport personal buttons and patches on their overalls, and the undergarments come in different styles, colors and patterns.

By Race

Humans express themselves by what they wear. They dress in a wide range of outfits and decorate themselves with all sorts of accessories (pins and jewellery), cosmetics, and even body modifications (piercings and tattoos).

Humans are generally modest, one of the few races to have such a mindset. The minimum level of modesty in mixed company is loin-coverings, but paints and shirts are considered proper attire in polite company. The amount of modesty regarding bare-chested females may vary according to different times and cultures.

Dralasites by their physical nature abhor clothing, as it suppress their breathing and senses. They still wear protective suits and dress in uniforms for the sake of employment. They do not see clothing as all that impotent, as they use their bodies as a canvas. Dralasites on Inner Reach are well known for sporting skin dyes. Unless applied by a non-Dralasite, such dye-jobs generally have no order or pattern to them, due to their color-blindness.

For the most part, Dralasites enjoy sporting exotic aromas. They may even adhere small objects on their bodies if they give off a good taste or odor.

Vrusks don't have a sense of modesty, but they do dress in uniforms or protective suits. As they breathe through the underside of their abdomen, they leave it bare for proper ventilation. Vrusk uniforms tend to be a shirt or vest with a hat, shoes, and top cover for the abdomen. They have an appreciation of aesthetics, but they normally prefer to surround themselves with beautiful objects rather than dressing in fancy clothes. They do not express any form of style unless their patient company dictates it.

Yazirians typically dress in baggy coveralls to fit around their gliders membranes, otherwise they dress in something that can fit around their membrane attachment points at the wrists, shoulders, hips, and ankles.

Clothing is relatively new concept to the Yazirian race, as they are traditionally nudists, and their cultural traditions are rooted in decorations and accessories. They enjoy decorating themselves with brightly-colored capes and/or sashes, carved jewelry, beads, belts, bandoleers, tattoos, henna, and body piercings. Depending on where you go, you can still find Yazirian communities of active nudists, while others have taken to human modesty with religious zeal.

Ifshnit usually don't dress in much do to their full-body "hair coats." When they do dress in clothes, they usually prefer kilts. Both males and females braid their body hair. They are also likely to decorate their braids with beads and ornaments.

Major Trends and Styles

In Frontier Year 110 f.y., an assassination attempt on the Chair of the Council of Worlds fails, leading the authorities to discover a small, intelligent Sathar-based parasitic organism attached to the assassin's back, that was controlling his actions. With this threat, see-through apparel became fashionable almost immediately.