Fashionable, Even in Death

by **Rosela** on March 18th, 2015, 9:26 pm

OOCBy request, images! The image for the dress from last post isn't exactly the dress she described, it was more the inspiration.

Rosela felt firmly that she should be doing better with this than she was. It was rare that she had this much difficulty pinpointing a style for another woman – they either took what she suggested on the first couple tries, or already knew what they wanted. The men, who never knew what they wanted, usually came in so confused they took just about anything.

Evalin though, she was a tough nut to crack. The hourglass was running low; if a customer was frustrated enough, they could very well leave. Rosela watched her inspect another dress with such…non-comprehension, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d worn anything fancier than what she currently was.

Rosela was not letting this one get away.

”Heels?” She repeated, shocked. Who had never heard of heels? Evalin whispered something to herself and Rosela caught the words ‘taller’ and ‘mortals’, further confusing her. Was it an insult? The woman seemed to be losing patience, so it was possible, but Rosela knew it would be rude to press. If she’d wanted her to hear, she would have said it louder. If she could just get her in a dressing room, Rosela could ask the shadows; they heard everything. To do that though, she needed to find something she’d actually want to try on.

”They’re just…heels? You know, high heels?” By way of illustration, she swept her dress to the side and twisted one booted foot to the side, displaying the short, for her at least, heel on the back. ”And of course you should accent your hips, every woman should. Well, unless you have a little too much in the hips, in which case you want to downplay them, but still not be completely shapeless…”

Tilting her head, she felt as though she were seeing Evalin in a new light. ”That’s pretty much the basis of fashion, accentuating features to appear more ideal? Long legs, shapely body, revealing just enough skin to show how healthy it is… A lot of it comes back to looking healthy, young, and…” Her Common failed, and she snapped a finger, searching for the word. ”Preg-no…Fertile! Yes, young and fertile. Even if you’re not trying to look fertile, gods know you don’t need to try at it in this city, being seen as beautiful has its roots in those other ideas. Beautiful, in and of itself, is status.” She hoped she didn’t have to explain that; it was inconceivable that not everyone understood it naturally. ”The poor can’t afford to care for themselves and the sickly make ill parents, so the richer the look, it’s implied the richer the purse.

“Anyway, I could go on for days. It is my business, after all. Let's work out your look, and then we can...babble.” Tossing a hand dismissively, she turned again to the shelf. She would make this happen. What had she said…

Given her current style, the woman certainly had a flair for the dramatic. Looking down, she twitched a wrinkle out of the dark blue dress she’d expressed lukewarm interest in, and moved it up and away from the other. Dark colors, elegant, impressive. ”Let’s move over a row…” Rosela said carefully, beckoning her around to the next row, which contained mostly formal dresses for the coming Ice Masquerade. ”Now bear with me, I’m going to throw a lot of things out, and we’ll just see what you like, okay?” All six hands went into motion, sifting through the racks, pulling out dresses with a flutter and a snap of the wrist.

”Oh, this would be nice, throw in some stockings and black heels…” The first she laid down was a short, straight dress of violet, overlaid with black lace. Wrapping around the back and stopping at each hip was a small peplum of waxed linen.

”This one’s like that one before – we sell it with the fur because it’s winter, but it’s not attached or anything. And it’s wool, so a little warm, but the wool’s light, at least.” The next she laid down was a burgundy, long sleeved dress that flared out at the waist and ended at the knees. It was paired with a dyed black and crimson fur stole with two long ribbons to tie it on.

”Classy, very stylish. It’ll be a little more expensive than the others because of the cut glass at the neckline, but the rest of the dress is cotton, so it’s not so bad.” Third in line, she laid a black cocktail dress, with a long peplum at the waist and a sparkling neckline of, as mentioned, diamond-shaped cut glass.

Rosela went another chime of flipping through racks, the dresses getting increasingly more formal. ”If I can find just one more… Oh, here's one. Not really your style, but very classic. Just let me know what you think. A little formal as a standalone, but with the right accessories, can be dressed down to just ‘stylish’.” She laid it down on the shelf behind them next to the others, stepping back and putting all six hands on her hips. The last was a fine, cream-colored linen dress, conservatively ending just above the knees, but with an elaborately ruched bust.

”Well! What do you think?”

by **Evalin** on March 18th, 2015, 11:09 pm

Evalin truly did smile at Rosela's words, "Truly you are the most amusing of sorts that I have yet to find in this city. Though again you must forgive my lack of knowledge for all of this," she raised her hands and motioned to the ship and the clothing, "is still very new to me. Humor this old soul in her journey into this new facet of existence. Then yes, let us babble to our hearts content." she chuckled and followed the Eypharian to the next row.

It was like a whirlwind of talk and flying cloth from there, and Evalin could only hold on for the ride. Her eyes widened as one after another clothing began to fall before her, words sharp and needles pressing into her brain and painting pictures of rhetoric that matched and added to the visual displays in front of her. This was very much like an initiation into a new form of magic. Evalin was reduced from her master status and put down to her place as lowly apprentice then, with this many armed woman acting as her new teacher. The more that was said and discussed and explained the more that Evalin began to understand, slowly... Fashion was not so much an art, but a skill in and of itself made up of complex combinations of pattern and cloth to form 'styles'. In a way it was like how she tailored her own circles to match the task and need at hand. That then was what Rosela was attempting to do, match the right pattern of cloth and fabric and design to the creature known as Evalin. The Immortal wondered if she could perhaps one day master this talent as well.

With the dresses laid out and explained Evalin only gave passing glances to the last two in the selection, her full focus then coming and locking on the second dress. After a brief moment of hesitation Evalin came forward and ran her fingers through the fur of this one, eyes softening as there, in the depth of her soul, the Immortal felt something she had never known before.

"I think..." a pause as Evalin sorted out her thoughts, brow furrowing in concentration, "I think I... like this style. The fur, and the sleeves... This one gives such wildness to its look that it calls to something deep within, almost primal." Her eyes then looked at teh first dress, the violet with black lace, "This one as well, the lace and the trim are very nice, and also appealing to me. The cut of the skirt is also freer and seems like it would be easier to move in." Her gaze then flicked back to the previous dress, "But this one is perhaps what calls to me most. Have you others similar? The fur cloak and wrap especially, and the longer sleeves if that is possible?"

by **Rosela** on March 26th, 2015, 3:11 pm

‘Amusing’ wasn’t strictly the type of compliment Rosela aimed for, but she’d take it. Evalin was silent as she laid out the set of options, all of Rosela’s focus on sifting through layers of cotton, wool, and silk. Standing back as she was done, a spark lit her eyes as she saw it – interest. Evalin fingered the burgundy wool of the second dress first and then turned her attention on the violet and lace. Rosela stayed perfectly still, discreetly focused on her customer’s face for tells. All she needed was something to stick and she could work with it. She would drown this woman in fashion, if that's what it took, so long as she came up holding something she liked.

When Evalin broke the news of her preference, Rosela’s face split into a wide grin. ”Wonderful! Now we’re getting somewhere. So let me see, where do we go with that…” Four hands still on her hips, she raised one to bite on a thumbnail absently. Casting her eyes over the women’s section, she was silent for a moment as she considered what she knew to be on the shelves. ”Long sleeves on a shorter dress is a rather particular look,” she said, mostly to herself. ”Tell you what, let me show you pretty much two groups of outfits. One,” She gestured with a hand to the rest of the formal section. ”Have the fur and dress ensemble together. I don’t think we have a lot that are just like this, but we’ll see what you think. The other group,” Here, she gestured to the rest of the women’s section with abbreviated sweeps of her hands. ”Will be a couple separates you can put together to create this sort of a look. Accessories can completely change the style of a look.

“Now this one, we’ll just keep out while we look for something else.” Bustling along the row, she quickly shuffled the unchosen dresses back onto their respective racks. ”Given how successful this was, I’m just going to keep throwing stuff out at you and see what sticks, hm? Let’s just move over and see what we have here.” Moving to the next aisle back, she laid out the burgundy dress at the end of the shelf.

”I’m pretty sure-we have…” She punctuated her words with a the snick of hangers sliding across the rack. ”Mostly-short sleeves-here. Oh, here, let’s see what you think of this one. The fur at the shoulders here gives a more dominating look, but the sequins in the dress make the whole thing very glam. It’s got a thin leather belt here to tie it together, and we sell it with this super cute hand muff.” She laid down a dark brown dress covered in sequins that had puffs of black fur at each shoulders. To demonstrate, Rosela pushed a hand into each side of the muff. ”Very warm, these, but I never get to wear them myself. If I made one wide enough for all of my hands, I may as well be carrying around a small suitcase in front of me.” Rolling her eyes dramatically, she set the muff down on top of the dress and returned to the rack.

”Let’s see what you think of this one – it’s technically a coat though. A nice black dress underneath would be just precious, and maybe some black leggings. It’s wool too, like the burgundy one.” She laid down a bright violet coat with a wide lapel of luxurious black fur. It was as long as a short dress and an extra peplum at the hips gave it more volume than a casual coat.

”Here’s one in the same style as that first one, with the fur at the shoulders. It’s a little classier, with some lace at the bust, and a…what do they call it here? Shepherd’s collar? The two arcs, you see.” Laying down a thigh-high burgundy dress that was more pink than the one Evalin had chosen, she indicated the two small flaps at the collar, which folded over a layer of fine black lace.

”Okay, now here’s two that are pretty much on the same theme – a little black dress with a fur vest. This one has the original fur coloring, and this one’s obviously been dyed. The dresses underneath are both classy, and are short enough so you can move about as you like.” Again, Rosela briefly wondered about what kind of moving about Evalin did as she laid out the dresses. Was she some manner of kelvic, perhaps? The first dress she laid was black silk with a cut glass embellished belt and paired with a rabbit fur vest. The second was another black silk dress, wrap-around style, and paired with a crimson fur stole.

”That’s it for this category, but before you think I’ve given up on long sleeves, that’s where the separates come in.” Flicking out one finger to indicate the stack of folded dresses on the last shelf in the row, she snapped out out a pair of them with a flourish. ”Pretty simple thigh-high sheaths, but they’ve got the long sleeves you like.” The pair of dresses she laid out were nearly identical, save one was black with long, fluttery sleeves, and the other was burgundy with cinched sleeves. ”They’re simple, so they go great with accessories like fur, which are, unfortunately, all the way over there. So we can pick those out last.” Jerking her thumb behind her, she indicated the section of fur accessories on the opposite end of the store, where a rack of stoles, scarves, and wraps hung.

”Sheaths are good like that, they…” Trailing off, her eyes lost focus as her mind took her on a tangent. ”Actually, just one more. You know, I bet you he didn’t take them back like I told him to..” Muttering to herself, she bent over as much as she could and shifted through the bottom stack of black dresses, finally pulling out one triumphantly. ”Here it is. I made these as part of last year’s Survival Festival line, but the reaction was a bit mixed so I’m not going to advertise them for next year’s. Well, I think it was pretty much Kontis who had a problem, anyone else who wore them looked very impressive if I may say so.” She held up a black sheath dress, much like the first she pulled from the back. ”See, normal dress from the front, and bam-“ She flipped it dramatically to reveal large cutouts over the back that formed the shape of a skull. ”A skull! I thought it was clever, but I can see if it’s a bit morbid for some. I would definitely pair this with a fur scarf or short stole like…this one. Something very abbreviated to show off the back.” Flipping through the rack next to them, she pulled a fur stole from one of the dresses there. ”I’m almost positive I have this in other colors in the back, if you want to give it a shot with something other than black.”

”Okay, lots of options here, but hopefully we’re narrowing in on what you’re looking for. What do you think?”

OOCNot that it really matters to anyone, but the shepherd’s collar is called a peter pan collar, IRL. I obviously had to change it, but there isn’t really a Miz equivalent.

by **Evalin** on April 27th, 2015, 8:38 pm

It seemed that all it took was one very small indication of her tastes and the options began to flood in a torrent so swift it threatened to sweep the stunned Nuit off her feet. Who would have thought that there was so much clothing in this world, and so many different types and styles that seemed to vary as much as any magic Evalin had ever known! Before her very eyes the styles and cuts were shown to have been mixed and combined in a way very similar to her own art of summoning, each trait and characteristic giving it a different trait that would define and change its appearance and effect.

Until the tide had slowed and Rosela once more stood awaiting her response, Evalin could not muster up an answer to the options set before her. Now though as she stood, looking at everything as it was laid out in front of her, for once there was a sense of self and personal style coming from somewhere unknown, in her chest as she looked at the clothing one at a time. To begin Evalin touched the last pairing Rosela had offered her, and simply the woman said, "It is perfect."

She smiled at Rosela and continued to look at the dress, imagining how easily it would be to fit her wings through those openings. And the fur! It would drape about her shoulders, giving that fierce wildness she wished for.

"No, black is just fine. Change nothing with this, and I believe it shall do just fine." It was only then that Evalin turned her attention to the clothing presented before, tapping the black dress with the long billowing sleeves, "This type of sleeve is what I have imagined. It offers a free movement but looks elegant when worn, and you say fur may also be paired with this?" Evalin was not really sure if she sounded at all like she knew what she was saying, but it felt good to be able to finally offer an opinion of her own, "If it comes in other darker colors, such as blue or red, then all the more my interest grows."

The more she looked the more certain she felt, and as she looked at some of the first pieces Rosela presented Evalin voiced her thoughts, "I believe I prefer... the fur to be more prominent, like this one here, and this one." She indicated the two that had the Fur vests, "I enjoy how they cover the shoulders, or drape like a cloak, so perhaps what I like is for such selections to be their own separate piece that I can choose to wear or not to wear, or to wear with different dresses for the occasion...?"

Evalin shrugged and now looked at the other fur accessories, a thought crossing her mind then, "What types of animals are skinned and worn as such? Do ever you see larger beasts than a simple fox made into clothing for another, perhaps a lion or one of the giant wolves of the north?" There was genuine curiosity in her eyes as she asked this, "And are there any such adoring's made of snake skins...? Cloaks, or scarves or even vests and boots, scaled as the serpents of the jungle are?"

OOCI am so sorry for the wait! I have no idea why I didn't reply to this. I just forgot about it

. I'm back on track now and clothes shopping once more!

by **Rosela** on September 27th, 2015, 2:58 pm

Once again, Rosela took the role of observer when she was finished laying bare the options. She was beginning to feel that she was pulling the entire women’s section apart to refine that gem of style Evalin was looking for. It would be worth it in the end, if only they could get there.

“It is perfect.” No words were more glorious to Rosela’s ears. Not just ‘good’, or ‘something like this’, but perfect. The skull-backed dresses, which had been such a flop of effort in their incarnation, had finally paid off.

Evalin then turned to the long sleeved sheaths, indicating her preference. ”Fur can go with just about anything, given the right color. Black and white are the old stand-bys, but sometimes a cream or very dark brown will work to add a little warmth. This particular dress…” Rosela held it up to the light to inspect it. ”I know I have it in other colors, red and blue surely, but I’m not sure outside of that. Did you want to see a couple shades of just blues and reds? Any other colors?”

As Rosela had hoped, Evalin continued to gravitate towards the fur. At her question, Rosela waved one hand towards the fur section and laid another hand on the side of her neck in thought. ”The vests? Oh, that’s no problem to buy separately. Just pair a vest with any sheath dress and it has the same look. Buying separates is actually best all-around? We just build things like this,” She laid a hand on the fur-vested sheaths. ”For people who don’t really think of the versatility and just come in and say, ‘I want that look.’ And it’s just a hair cheaper,” she added casually. She had a feeling cost wasn’t an object for this woman, which only added to her necessity for finding exactly what Evalin was looking for.

As Evalin described great beasts, felt the pain of failure in her chest. Such things would have been perfect. ”Foxes, wolves, rabbits, kevats… The occasional grass bear? I don’t normally keep truly monstrous fur in the shop,” she said with an apologetic grimace. The woman would look fearsome draped in the fur of a great beast, a look she could understand on an instinctual level why Evalin enjoyed. ”There’s just not enough call for it on a regular basis. What we normally do,” she continued appeasingly. ”Is either contact The Stained Pelt, just outside of the city walls, which has a ton of fur. Some Akalaks like to get their kills cleaned or…you know…whatever it is they do up there-” She waggled her fingers in disgust. ”And then they bring it to me for mounting on armor or making something out of it. I’d be surprised if the Stained Pelt didn’t have a couple night lion pelts, or something bigger, but I don’t know about northern wolves.

Snakes, we do have some snakeskin items, but I don’t think we have anything so big as what you’re looking for. We have plenty of belts, purses, gloves…I think we have a couple snakeskin masks for the big Ice Masquerade coming up?” She spread her hands and shrugged apologetically. ”I don’t think snakes get very big around here. I wish they did, to be honest; snakeskin is just gorgeous. For example,” she paused to whip a plain black sheath dress off the rack and held it up. ”Can you imagine something like this in all snakeskin? To die for. But, oh well.” She slid the dress back onto the rack with an air of defeat.

”So, just to sum up? We’ve got the skull-backed dress as a definite yes? Did you want to keep the red coat we looked at earlier? And we’ll be looking at more colors in the long sleeved sheath. Then we can move onto fur and accessories.” Two hands splayed between them in excitement; they were finally getting somewhere.

Notes :

PM to join Fashionable, Even in Death