Psi Wars Fashion: Battleweave Underwear

Ages ago (this post has been in draft for a long time), one of my readers commented on an odd discrepancy between the description of battleweave as “like underwear” crossed with the sheer weight of a body suit of it. Little did he know that this played in my broader obsession with sci-fi fashion. I’m sure I’ve discussed it years ago, but sci-fi fashion is fascinating, because each setting is distinct and different: there’s such a thing as “generic fantasy fashion” but it’s hard to describe generic space opera fashion (“It’s 1950s raygun gothic” “No it’s Star Trek jumpsuits” “No, it’s crystal spires and togas” “No it’s starwars rust and leather” “No, it’s Jupiter Ascending’s ridiculously high fashion”). I often stumble across this when reading up on sci-fi settings, as people don’t talk much about what people wear.

When I wrote this post originally, I wanted to dive deeper into fashion. I still want to. But I’ve been letting this languish and that’s a mistake, because as nice as fashion is, armor has a concrete impact on the game. So let’s pause the idea of fashion week for a later time. Still, here are some references I’ll use here, and when I get around to Fashion Week.

My sources might be interesting to those looking to create their own sci-fi fashion. Setting aside artistic resources like this one, I’ll be using the following books:

• GURPS Characters (for the basics of clothing)
• GURPS Low-Tech, High-Tech and Ultra-Tech for specific clothing rules by broad era
• GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, which includes a very specific list of fantasy clothing
• Fashion Forward from Pyramid #3/100, which is essentially just the Treasure Tables list updated for an ultra-tech setting, and where I’ll be getting most of my fine detail
• GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire, because it has the most extensive discussion on fashion in any GURPS book I can find.
• I’ll be using Pyramid @#3/96 Tech & Toys 4 for the armor design portions.