Rationales for the Dirty Pair's skimpy outfits: An essay circa 2000, pt.2 (Patreon)

Check out pt. 1 here. To repeat that essay's preamble, 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:

“FASHION TRENDS FOR THE 22nd CENTURY (pt.1)”

This section’s primarily for artists who face the grim task of figuring out how people in the Dirty Pair’s spacefaring milieu might dress. Without further ado, here are some miscellaneous notes on possible clothing trends, in no particular order; note that most, if not all, of these ideas refer to the wild, wacky, underdressed and oversexed setting of gene-tweaked, youth-dominated spacer culture discussed earlier…

*The Dirty Pair’s morphable “smartsuits” are the products of bleeding-edge 3WA technological development, and are far, far in advance of anything currently available in the civilian marketplace. Less advanced forms of “smart materials” technology, however, would be accessible to the consumer; thus, you could get clothing which can alter its dimensions on command (“Can tighten from loose jumpsuit to body-hugging second skin in SECONDS!”), change its color, activate built-in configuration changes (retracting sleeves, etc) and so on.

This could also imply clothing with selectable “levels of modesty,” which could become not just smaller or tighter on command, but could actually become semi- (or fully-) translucent at will… or more opaque, if the wearer’s mood is changing. Note that even minor-league “smart materials” technology would enable the devising of insanely improbable and outrageous forms of clothing, whose self-reconfiguring fabric could constantly maintain shapes and contours that would boggle the mind… As you can guess, spacers would delight in outraging poor planetary humans with such bizarre apparel. 

*Speaking of “body-hugging second skins”… In the DP’s future milieu, state-of-the-art spacesuits have little relation to the cumbersome, pressurized monstrosities used by modern-day astronauts. Rather than surrounding the body with high gas pressure (as in today’s inflated suits), DP-era spacesuits apply pressure directly to the skin with elastic “smart material” garments, applying enough counter pressure to the fluids of the body to negate the effects of vacuum. Add a pressurized space helmet, possibly a temperature control system of some sort, and (if necessary) radiation shielding for travel in high-intensity environments, and you’re good to go! (See Marshall Savage’s The Millennial Project, the book from which I’m ripping this off, for more on this subject.) 

Anyway, it’s possible that some slightly paranoid spacers might wear lightweight, comfortable versions of these counterpressure bodysuits as daily clothing, so that they’re always prepared for unanticipated depressurization. As Marshall Savage puts it, “(w)ith a simple oxygen mask and ear plugs, a colonist could survive emergency exposure to space in such a suit for hours.” In any event, these membranous outfits would very clearly display the wearer’s body outlines, perhaps as clearly as Shiro Masamune’s “datafilm” suits circa Intron Depot. 

Also, unlike the government-issue spacesuits of modern-day astronauts, DP-era civilian vacsuits’ surfaces would be wildly customizable, available in any color or pattern, embossed with logos and T-shirt-like slogans, painted with custom designs (like modern-day skateboards or snowboards) and animated “computer-cloth” display patterns, and so on. Go crazy with it, kids. It’s outer space, and it’s EXTREME!  

*One weird possibility: disposable paper clothing! Wait, wait, come back, this idea isn’t quite as lame as it seems! Actually, the clothing would be probably be made out of processed cellulose from plants, rather than paper as we know it, and would be fairly slick and durable to the touch. This would allow the possibility of designing your own clothes via computer, then having them “printed out” (or whatever) within seconds! (“This outfit really is something I just threw together!”) No need to get ‘em laundered, just toss ‘em into the recycling chute and start all over again! As long as the outfits are skimpy enough, as with most spacer clothing, such cellulose “instaclothing” would probably be pretty comfortable. Designing a three-piece suit, however, would be pushing the functional envelope of this material (no pun intended). Note, BTW, that the cellulose could be printed with anything you want, from fake cloth textures and colors to newspaper headlines to artistic or photographic imagery, etc., etc. (“I’m not staring at your behind, miss, I’m just trying to read the late edition of the UNITED GALACTICA TODAY.”)

*The smart materials of so-called “videocloth” will be able to display information digitally transmitted to their millions of tiny imbedded processors from various sources; thus, you can watch full-motion realtime vidfiles on your wristband, have a constantly updated selection of T-shirt imagery, monitor stock prices via a rolling, ticker-like display on your belt, and even surf the 22nd-century equivalent of the Web on (not just in) your underpants. 

Note that this would effectively create infinitely customizable clothing, so that many people might only own a few articles of video clothing, which could be constantly downloaded with new graphics all the time. Also, some clothing might be capable of displaying fully three-dimensional holographic imagery, which would look very trippy indeed on the wearer; you could appear to be wearing someone else’s body altogether…

Wacky variations: vidclothes could be constantly flashing subliminal messages or imagery to those around you; also, they could display relevant graphics as you argue furiously with someone… Note, BTW, as the garments download digital info wirelessly, they could possibly be jammed, overridden, or otherwise “hacked” into, leading to the terrifying prospect of having your T-shirt video-hijacked by an enemy--and rendered unfashionable and/or direly lame! gasp! 

*Next up in the weirdness parade are articles of so-called “bioclothing,” which are biotech-engineered constructs of literal “living cloth” that feed on cast-off skin flakes and dermal oil (and other fluids) excreted by the wearer. These would be worn more as status symbols or curiosities than practical clothing, though they could look fairly snazzy; picture “bioshorts” derived from the iridescent skins of tropical fish, “guilt-free” fur boots, maybe a zebra pseudo-skin tank top… Or, a colorful, phosphorescent Portuguese man o’ war, worn as a hat! Whoa! A personal favorite: to alienate and annoy, some spacer kids wear “biogloves” that appear to be the wizened, white-haired hands of (EWW!) old people… or yeti… or whatever…

A slight variation, here: bioclothing could be cloned from the tissues of particular humans, so you can literally “wear the skin” of a lover (as in Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone), or the celebrity of your choice! (“My underpants are made from the flesh of my favorite popstar!”) For the faint-hearted, the cloned tissue could be rendered similar in appearance to treated (cowhide) leather.

Dang, this is a helluva lotta text! Well, I'll post the concluding part of the essay in another week or two.