FASHIONS IN THE DEMI-MONDE

I want to use fashion plates in 'The Demi-Monde: Summer' the 3rd book of the DM series so I've asked Nigel to design them. This is the brief I've given him:

FASHIONS OF THE DEMI-MONDE


1. THE FORTHRIGHT

WOMEN:

• Very similar to 1870’s Victorian fashion

• Sombre colours – greys and blacks

• Very demur

• Embroidered with Valknuts

• Hats with veils.

MEN:

• Very similar to 1870’s Victorian fashion

• Top hats more triangular in shape with a coloured band and possibly a Valknut cockade

• Very sombre colours except for bright waistcoat again embroidered with Valknuts

• Moustaches s/be long and waxed

2. THE QUARTIER CHAUD

My advice for this Season? For men: stripes, stripes, and more stripes! Trousers should be skin-tight – striped, of course – with a contrasting cod-piece in gloss shellac (red or yellow for preference). Hats should be at least three inches taller than was currently en vogue and decorated with polka-dots. For the ladies I am taking my cues from the more extreme fashions sported by the Be-Real-To-Yourself-ists and those naughty, naughty JADniks. A-line gowns in primary colours and bustles smaller and more pert being this Season’s must-haves and it is the nipple that takes centre-stage this Spring: breasts should be covered – or is that uncovered, ladies – by voile and nipples varnished a colour that complements the gown. And as for masks: black leather leavened with a haze of sequins remains de rigueur for both the man and the woman-about-town.

Extract from ‘ImPure Modes’: Frederick Worth, UnVague Vogues Monthly, Spring 1005

WOMEN:

• Think goth Victoriana fashions taken to extreme.

• Remember this is the Sector that has embraced ImPuritanism so everything must be super-sexy

• Masks are worn by everybody in the QC – take your inspiration from Venice

• Mannez is the runic motif used as garnish in the QC

• Colours are bright, clashing, discordant

MEN:

• Think goth Victoriana fashions taken to extreme.

• Masks, skin tight trousers (think Russell Brand), top hats with polka dots, and bright cod pieces

3. THE COVEN

HerEticalism abhors the sexual objectifying of Women. Decree 998/undressing: In Praise of Modesty, demanded that all Woman respect themselves and refrained from dressing and acting in an immodest or provocative manner which may be construed as having the intent to inflame the heterosexual libido. Make-up was summarily banned. In response to this Decree, Covenite clothing designer Jiang Qing introduced the all-in-one boiler suit made from blue denim which has now became the near-ubiquitous uniform for Femmes and nonFemmes within the Coven. Colloquially this suit is called the ‘jiang’, or, as it has been corrupted in the rest of the Demi-Monde, ‘jeans’.

‘The Young Femme’s Guide to the History of the Coven’; HistorianNoN Fan Ye: Covenite Textbooks and Periodicals

Following the example of MoreBien actor, Marlene Dietrich, Covenite women who have embraced MoreBienism have taken to having their heads symbolically shaved to show that they have cut all their ties with nonFemmes, with heterosexual sex and with the patriarchal nature of Demi-Mondian society.

‘The Young Femme’s Guide to the History of the Coven’; HistorianNoN Fan Ye: Covenite Textbooks and Periodicals

WOMEN:

• Shaven heads
• Jiangs

MEN (NONS - eunochs -actually):

When the steamer chugged to a halt and the doors thrown open Norma was attended by a tall, portly man in the flowing silk robes embroidered with the emblem of Mars – crossed through - who was standing protected from the pouring rain by a large umbrella held by an enormously muscular guard. He bowed to Norma. ‘I am Imperial Secretary, Mao ZeDong, First Administrator and Most Senior NoN in the Court of her Celestial Majesty, Empress Wu, ABBA Ordained Ruler of the Demi-Monde.’ The man’s voice was peculiarly high-pitched and he spoke in a strange lilting manner but this, she supposed, was what happened when a guy had had his nuts chopped off.

Excerpt from ‘The Demi-Monde: Summer’

• Traditional Chinese robes (taken to extreme)

• Long fingernails, shaven heads with pigtail.

• Robes decorated with ‘symbol of Mars’ crossed out

4. NOIRVILLE

WOMEN (OR woeMen as they are called in NoirVille):

• All-enveloping black burqas adorned with the runic symbol Ingwaz

MEN:

After careful study of the pictograms etched onto the Demi-Monde’s Mantle-ite structures, I have determined the proportionality of ABBA’s body, which I would describe as the Golden Ratio. Using the unit of measure as the Head (from the top of the head to the bottom of the neck), Man should be seven heads tall with the torso, thigh, and shin each being the equivalent of two heads in length. Moreover to accurately replicate the image of ABBA the muscles of a Man must be fully formed, rounded, firm and well defined.

‘My Body is My Temple’: Father Eugene Sandow, NoirVille Machismo Publications

The teachings of Sandow formed the basis of my own theories regarding the mathematical bases of aesthetic bodily perfection. These I incorporated into my sculpture of ‘ABBA’ which strives to demonstrate Man’s ultimate physical perfection incorporating as it does the idealised symmetria of all parts of the male body. ‘ABBA’ has been declared to be ‘divinely inspired’ by the Church of HimPerialism and is now cited as the aspirational model of the male bodily form for all devout HimPerial Men. This form may only be achieved by much strenuous exercise: as His Grace, Mohammed Ahmed al Mahdi has said (‘Transcendental BodyBuilding for Beginners’), ‘by your sweat, ABBA will know you’.

‘The Kanon: A Man’s Guide to a Heavenly Body’: Father Peter Polykleitos, NoirVille Machismo Publications

• Display of their bodily perfection is the aim of all HimPerialist men

• Their dress comprises a kilt (decorated with the Symbol of Mars) and very little else

• They wear the isiCoco – the headring worn by all Zulu Men – and the twin scars on each cheek which proclaims to the world that they had completed the Rite of Passage.

5. THE JAD

Probably this Summer’s most left-field fashion influences come from the JAD. Everything, folks, is taken to extremes in the JAD. Top hats are taller, pants are more spotted, bosoms even more prominently displayed (swoon!), hemlines are higher (so time for some new lingerie, ladies) and colours must clash. Everything this Season is excessive; so, dear hearts, if you’ve got anything (and I do mean anything) which is in any way bigger or, dare I say it gentlemen, longer than the norm you’ve simply got to flaunt it! Flaunt, flaunt, flaunt are the mots de jour.

Extract from ‘ImPure Modes’: Frederick Worth, UnVague Vogues Monthly, Summer 1005

MEN & WOMEN:

• Remember that the JAD is the nuJu Autonomous District so think Jewish traditional taken to extremes.