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Rationales for the Dirty Pair's skimpy outfits: An essay circa 2000, pt.3
🕑 Added 2019-11-21 14:01:00 +0000 UTCCheck out pt. 1 here, and pt.2 here. Note that the page above (from a Dirty Pair: SimHell Remastered backup story) features outfits that appeared as con sketches in our previous installment's "title page illo" dealie.
To repeat the previous essays' preambles, a li'l copy/paste:
Stumbled across this slightly puzzling document t'other day on an old flash drive, so I thought I'd post it here. This appears to be a long, rambling justification written circa 2000 for drawing hawt, mostly nekkid young folks in my own notably idiosyncratic version of the Dirty Pair's universe; note that all the material that follows was worked up (or ripped off!) on my own, and has little or nothing to do with the original DP milieu from the Haruka Takachiho books or anime adaptations. In fact, you'll likely see some of these concepts addressed in future SF projects of mine; come to think of it, some of these ideas were already used in 1997's Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone one-shot.
And now, one final excerpt:
*Tattooing ahoy! Since spacers tend to display a great deal of flesh, there’s always interest in “customizing” that flesh… Cutting-edge tattooing in the 22nd century would be quite bizarre indeed, allowing full-animation “video tattoos” and iridescent or neon “smart inks” capable of changing their patterns (I like the idea of written messages that can change their contents on command… or, possibly, in reaction to the wearer’s emotional or physical state). Appliqué “temporary tats” would might be even more common, and potentially even stranger (slap a “video tat” on the back of your hand, so you can watch vidfiles while out swimming). How about the related idea of sprayed-on “smart glitter,” which can flash in predetermined patterns or spell out symbols or words on command?
*On a similar “temporary” bent, many of the genetically upgraded have voluntary control over the pigmentation levels of their skin. Thus, many of them would constantly be creating or updating “melanin stenciling” patterns on the ever-changing dermal canvas of their bodies; actually, some very impressive artwork could be achieved by this approach.
*Speaking of “sprayed-on,” here’s one clothing possibility that’s appeared in science fiction more than once… So-called “foamcloth,” possibly made of aerated plastic or cellulose, could be sprayed from pressurized containers to make “instant clothing.” Self-adhering, conforming closely (ahem) to the body’s contours, and available in all kinds of “fun party colors,” this airy, featherweight material could be applied in virtually any pattern or configuration, depending on the wearer’s whim or level of modesty (or lack thereof)…
*Let’s talk practicality, for a moment… Beyond ornament and decoration, one of the main practical uses for clothing in microgravity is for storage of miscellaneous items. That’s right, kids: utilitarian microgee fashion is all about pockets. Nonetheless, “utilitarian” and “sexy” aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive qualities, as, say, a fairly brief pair of shorts could still have a decent selection of pockets. Of course, spacers could still say “to hell with clothes” and gallavant about in the buff, wearing only some kind of “fannypack,” a minimal backpack, or similar strap-on accessory that would provide all the personal storage space required.
*A Shiro Masamune “Greenpeace Crolis” bit, here: Clothing could possibly be made from synthesized orchid petals or similar plant matter, resulting in beautiful clothes that smell equally pretty, and may even be edible… (as in, “I’m wearing the salad!”)
*Whassup with footwear of the future? Well, in a microgee environment, the feet and toes would often be used to anchor oneself, to push off from surfaces, perhaps even to grab items. As such, spacers would probably don socks or soft footwear in the Japanese tabi (split-toe) pattern, so that they can latch onto stuff. Come to think of it, this would probably be a slightly formal (and more hygenic) mode of dress, as they’d most likely be barefoot all the time, both for reasons of ease & comfort and to allow maximum use of the toes in a “finger”-like fashion.
An alternate form of gravity-free footwear are various forms of magnetic shoes, designed to anchor the wearer to metallic surfaces with their magnetized soles. These could range from clunky, Doc Marten’s-like boots with heavy-duty anchor tread to more flexible tabi-pattern “booties” featuring electromagnetic threads woven into the soles. (BTW, these shoes’ electromagnets can be turned on and off remotely, so you don’t have to tug your boots free as you “walk” along a spaceship hull or whatever.) Perversely enough, magnetic high heels could be worn for ostentation’s sake in microgravity, providing all of/ the wacky fetish value with none of the discomfort since, in freefall, the wearer never puts her weight on them. (This doesn’t explain, alas, why I used to show the DP wearing high heels in a gravity field.)
*Continuing along these lines: Microgravity requires adhesion, kids! Which means, for one thing, Velcro, Velcro everywhere! Velcro sealing all the pockets, Velcro patches on the walls to anchor Velcro-equipped small items of all sorts (or to anchor your Velcro-equipped self)… The habitats’ halls would be alive with the sound of… Velcro. (SHRIPP!)
Of course, in the future, advanced research may have even developed noiseless “stealth Velcro,” or a more efficient, “smart” version of the stuff. Alternately, electromagnetic patches may be used in place of Velcro; keep in mind, BTW, that many space habitats (such as the inflated “bubble worlds”) wouldn’t have metallic walls, so magnetic coupling may not be universally useful.
Speaking of adhesion: certain fabrics in the DP’s milieu will have built-in adhesive qualities, such as the Lovely Angels’ conspicuously unfastened bra cups. (Shiro Masamune first used this concept, so you know it must be a great idea!) The adhesion effect, presumably achieved by field manipulation of Van der Waals forces or related biomimetic "gecko-foot" technology, could potentially be turned on and off at will, so the wearer wouldn’t have to struggle to get the apparel on. In any event, this effect could be used for more utilitarian purposes than just high-tech pasties, so that you could slap “storage pockets” right onto your body, for example. Also, this concept could be combined with programmable “videocloth,” so that you could apply animated “Colorforms” (warning: 70’s reference) all over yourself!
Anyhoo, that's all for this old essay, folks! Hope you enjoyed my SF-flavored rambling!
Comments
Dean Reilly
Imagine the story potential of using hacked smartclothing as a murder weapon!
Burninator
I think I mentioned at least some of this at Baltimore, but the company one of my friends works for actually has a few of these things in development; most notably the geckomimetic adhesion(which they point out could be used to make fabric closures, thus neatly solving the Velcro noise problem) and the magnetic anchoring setup. They also are/were working on something extremely similar to your "Betterfly" from Run From The Future (with a similarly goofy, though inferior in my view, name), using a genetically/cybernetically modified dragonfly as the base platform instead of a butterfly.
Joe Crawford
I love this daffy stuff.
Strypgia
The DP's clothes always did give off a strong Shirow vibe, yeah. And look good, too. And you know Kei at least would be 100% down with flaunting her looks at every opportunity. Especially her universally-acclaimed Hypno-Butt(tm).
andrew
"The adhesion effect ... could potentially be turned on and off at will..." Between this and yesterday's post I'm struck by the image of a flock of virally infected Smart Towels crawling across the floor, using their adhesion mechanism as a kind of pseudo-muscles.
Joshua Wolfe
So often, comics never consider footwear. Boys wear boots, girls wear heels, but there are so many ways to play around with that.
![七瀬由衣[ゆいぴー] from fantia](https://unionfaps.com/kistorage/96657.jpg)
