Clothing in Spaaaaaaace!

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by quarkstomper

I gave everybody jumpsuits in my webcomic. Easier to draw.

Hannibal Tesla Adventure Magazine

Been checking this out and I'd just like to say that it's great!

I just had a thought. While fashion in general is extremely mutable formal style is much less so. This is both fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunate because it's likely to remain mostly the same for quite some time but unfortunate because it's still likely to change somewhat and inventing a replacement for a suit out of whole cloth would be difficult to justify.

What kind of small but noticeable changes in formal wear do you anticipate, speculate upon, or arbitrarily-decide-upon-because-it's-cool?

[Dammann]

You might say that the number of buttons overall is decreasing, while the number of functional buttons is decreasing even faster. Formal men's clothing in the west in general has gotten less elaborate (over the last couple hundred years), although the cut has gotten more form fit and less boxy over then last 50 or so years. Women's formal wear is much more complicated. I wouldn't be too comfortable making even vague assessments of any overall trends in women's formal clothes over similar time periods.

[fwcain]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

Even if you postulate TL10 urinals that make peeing in free fall for men as easy as it is in 1g gravity...

That should actually read "easier (and more accurate")...
What is merely a domestic casus belli down here at the bottom of a gravity well could easily be a health hazard in zero-G...

[fwcain]

I've always envisioned the basic ship-wear of spacers to be: underwear; a two-piece bodysuit (shirt and pants that seal together at the waist); socks; and a pocket-rich utility vest.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by fwcain

That should actually read "easier (and more accurate")...
What is merely a domestic casus belli down here at the bottom of a gravity well could easily be a health hazard in zero-G...

First two rules of normal gravity plumbing:

1. Water runs down hill

2. It ain"t all water.

In sero grav this changes to:

1. It still ain't all water.

2. There is no downhill.

I believe that after a week of trying to get along without gravity even the OP would conjure gravity in the bathrooms (and then the kitchens and dining rooms).

"Zero gravity is cool" is for amusement parks and not for everday life.

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

First two rules of normal gravity plumbing:

1. Water runs down hill

2. It ain"t all water.

In sero grav this changes to:

1. It still ain't all water.

2. There is no downhill.

I believe that after a week of trying to get along without gravity even the OP would conjure gravity in the bathrooms (and then the kitchens and dining rooms).

"Zero gravity is cool" is for amusement parks and not for everday life.

My comment about conjuring gravity was in respect to using the Magic Gravity Machine to conjure it. I'm quite in favour of using spin gravity to improve the bathrooms.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Sindri

My comment about conjuring gravity was in respect to using the Magic Gravity Machine to conjure it. I'm quite in favour of using spin gravity to improve the bathrooms.

And for those feeling sick. I don't want to walk into a room and get hit with body fluids involuntarily expelled. Gives a whole new meaning to the term occupational wet-vac.
What do astronauts do when sick in space?

[wellspring]

Even more important than pockets is that clothing is a signal of status. In game terms, even people in a true, according-to-hoyle classless meritocracy will want to benefit from the bonuses that come from Fashion Sense. But very few societies are truly classless.

The more important class distinctions are (providing special legal and cultural privileges, for example), then the more elaborate the signalling mechanisms will be to communicate them.

In Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix (IIRC one of the major influences on Transhuman Space), the "shaper" faction had an incredibly stratified society, for example. And, sure enough, clothes were very elaborate and expensive. Sterling showed several fashion snapshots over the century-plus range of the book. Early aristocrats wore accordionated sleeves, intended to look like spacesuit arms. High-ranking shapers wore elaborate confections of lace, with intricate knots that required very high IQ and DX to get right (which communicated literally superior breeding). The wealthy and powerful lived in free fall, so some poor people stuck in higher gravity wore clothing cut to looklike it was floating in free fall, or at least like it was intended to do so. Later, to impress the alien Investors, diplomats donned heavy gold brocades and covered themselves in heavy jewelry and gemstones.

The less stratified "mechanists", on the other hand, cared more about Wealth and less about Status. Fashions were suitably utilitarian: coveralls and jumpsuits. But even they had a sense of style about it-- looking good has a measurable impact on social outcomes. One study found the coefficient associated with appearance (of which fashion is just one dimension) with respect to starting salary is as high as that of a college degree.

Of course, clothes that drape in free-fall will be a problem. But smart fabrics can compensate for that. Imagine a skirt that shifts around to preserve modesty and keep the fabric "hanging" correctly. Augmented reality enhancements, of course, can look like whatever you want, though whether someone chooses to see your virtual fashion enhancements is up to them.

High fashion requires three things: money, the time and effort to get dressed, and being plugged into the social network that distinguishes between what's in and what's out. The more important Status is, the higher the investment that will be made in status-symbols. In a highly status-sensitive environment, the less practical it is to wear, the better. It will cost more, and trends will become more capricious and short-lived.

[Flyndaran]

Instantaneous communication and large modifiable clothing wardrobes on demand can lead to fashions that literally are "so yesterday".

[wellspring]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Instantaneous communication and large modifiable clothing wardrobes on demand can lead to fashions that literally are "so yesterday".

Yes!

And probably stimulates demand for weaves and textures and structures that are harder to emulate with smart clothes. Or creates a demand for "organic clothes" (perhaps ostensibly for the supposed health benefits) that aren't smart but are made of natural fibers that are far more expensive and can't be repurposed.

Sure smart nanoweaves can be programmed to be indistinguishable, but fashionistas claim they can tell. Can they? Or is it their AI assistants and some discrete scanners at high-fashion events?

Or... you get the modern equivalent of sumptuary laws, where there are designs that smart fabrics aren't allowed to imitate. Or maybe they only can after a waiting period, or government approval, or some speed bump so that the fashion is over before the synthetics catch up. If you think that's unlikely, look at margarine. For years it was an ugly blue color.... because the dairy lobby convinced the government that it was fraudulent to color it like butter.