The Clothes make the Nation

Tynnin

I was looking at my closet the other day and lamenting my lack of fashion sense and it struck me, “how might clothes change history?”

What if Togas made a come back?
What if Julius Caesar wore pants?
The leisure suite is never created?
Kilts the preferred kit for everyday?
Minoan “open chest” fashion the acceptable style for women?


Essentially, what if your favorite or least favorite clothing style never happened, had a popular revival, or some how found its way into a different society – would history be changed is Julius wore pants or if powdered wigs never came about?
 
Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf

I did develop a world with a take on the Minoan - it does have to be warm though. The heroines tended to wear short fur skirts, nothing on top but a cloak or an open fur jacket and lots of jewellery hanging over their breasts... It was written late at night when I was younger, if anyone wants an excuse!

Grey Wolf
 

Straha

Banned
the minoan style could come about in a world with a more libertine west. I could see the draka spreading more liberal sexual mores to the rest of the western world over time. By the late 20th century ATL we might see the minoan open chest style fashion being acceptable.
 

Tynnin

My wife just looked at me funny but I’m going to say it anyway – the world would be a better and more beautiful place if we could all see women’s boobies in public. :D

Oh, how about a clothing style that left exposed or accentuated male sexuality? Or if nudity was the norm….but as you say, it would have to be a much warmer world.
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
No, if everyone wears kilts than they'll start invading nearby countries which wear trousers and putting them in death camps (the people, not the trousers). If you don't believe me, see Turtledove's "Darkness" series...
 

fortyseven

Did you read all the Darkness books Thande? Like them?

If nudity can be separated from sexuality then both nudity and Victorian equivalent clothing could co-exist or even be mandatory. Admittedly, one wouldn't go nude when the temp's below 25 C. Offices, clubs, bars, homes, barracks, church, etc could be kept warm enough so one could go nude or cool enough to be be covered. Suits(especially) would be out. A desert robe would do I'd think.

Business women won't need to balance being sexy with being professional. Sexual harassment would be lessened. "My you have nice ankles" to a covered woman or "Your breasts are quite nice" to a nude woman wouldn't be harassment.
 

Tynnin

Hmmm, that might be interesting. Bring back class specific dress codes. Could you imagine a world where if you appeared in public you HAD to wear a tie or you would be arrested for dressing outside your station, or your accepted clothing was just a cod piece?

If nudity can be separated from sexuality then both nudity and Victorian equivalent clothing could co-exist or even be mandatory. Admittedly, one wouldn't go nude when the temp's below 25 C. Offices, clubs, bars, homes, barracks, church, etc could be kept warm enough so one could go nude or cool enough to be be covered. Suits(especially) would be out. A desert robe would do I'd think.

Business women won't need to balance being sexy with being professional. Sexual harassment would be lessened. "My you have nice ankles" to a covered woman or "Your breasts are quite nice" to a nude woman wouldn't be harassment. nicely put, fortyseven.

One wonders what series of events would be needed to separate sexuality from nudity...? Certainly religion plays the largest role in what is considered "shamful", so you would need to blunt the importance propriety.
 

JoanneMerriam

The problem with bare breasts is your back ends up getting sore. These things can get heavy. Some sort of supportive garment would be needed, though there's no reason why it couldn't leave most of the breast exposed. I bet in that sort of society, it would be the shoulders (covered as they are by a cape) that would be sexualized.

For guys, codpieces could come back, though then you would have the ridiculous stuffed versions as the peacock types vie for supremacy. Exposed male genitalia seems unlikely, given the issue of shrinkage.
 

Tynnin

With a culture based on bearing it all and the nature of breasts to cause discomfort by just hanging out there would we see the evolution of our species towards smaller cup sizes as they would be more advantageous? Though I guess the real question then becomes what is more sexually pleasing, big or little? If big is indeed better, than regardless of discomfort large breasted women would still be around
 

JoanneMerriam

Tynnin, cultural attitudes change more quickly than biology, so I'd be surprised if it made any difference. Also, whether or not a woman is uncomfortable has little effect on whether or not she can reproduce.
 

Tynnin

“cultural attitudes change more quickly than biology”

Yes, which is what I was getting at. Since breast size has nothing to do reproduction and we have a society where breast expose is acceptable would we start to see far less women with larger breasts as a women with larger breasts would not be as sexually attractive (put simply, they don’t look as good in the accepted clothing styles – or lack there of as it were – so they are less capable of finding a mate)? over time, if this trend continued, you would see large breasted women bread out of society in favor of smaller cup sizes. Granted, this wouldn’t occur for at least several hundred years, but then we are just playing with time aren’t we.

This is analogous to the shift of the ideal woman towards pasty and stickish – if this trend carried on there would be no fat people and the whole human race will die out in the next ice age. :D
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
I thought the male obsession with breast size was an instinctive response as larger and healthier breasts make it more likely that any offspring will be fed adequately.
 

Tynnin

You know what, I take it back – humans are just to sexually freaky, there’s bound to be some aspect of society, no matter how long a trend continues, that will favor what is outside the norm. Short of some isolated mountain valley community I don’t think you would see an extinction of a particular physical feature.
 

Tynnin

Larger breast size dates back to larger body sizes when it was thought that someone of larger stature was healthier and wealthier. What I was trying to sell was that if you have a society that basically frames breasts (as an example) society would start to favor a type of breast size over another
 
Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf

JoanneMerriam said:
For guys, codpieces could come back, though then you would have the ridiculous stuffed versions as the peacock types vie for supremacy. Exposed male genitalia seems unlikely, given the issue of shrinkage.
Click to expand...

I'm now imagining large jewel-encrusted garments with the more outrageous featuring protrusions and false penis attachments, maybe in a stylised animal fashion (eg a big serpent that curves up over the belly)... That would certainly make for a different ATL

Grey Wolf
 

aktarian

Grey Wolf said:
I'm now imagining large jewel-encrusted garments with the more outrageous featuring protrusions and false penis attachments, maybe in a stylised animal fashion (eg a big serpent that curves up over the belly)... That would certainly make for a different ATL

Grey Wolf
Click to expand...

Or a Blackadder episode. ;)

There were also a series about Romans in England which had an episode with this as well. Rebell-leader-to-be comes to shop.
"We will fight Romans and I need something to cover my manhood. Do you have Brave Lion?"
"No, sorry"
"What do you have?"
"Intrepid Frog."

:D
 

Straha

Banned
Grey Wolf said:
I'm now imagining large jewel-encrusted garments with the more outrageous featuring protrusions and false penis attachments, maybe in a stylised animal fashion (eg a big serpent that curves up over the belly)... That would certainly make for a different ATL

Grey Wolf
Click to expand...
?! thats fucked up dude. I salute you for coming up with warped shit.
 
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