Clothing in Tilenno

Clothing in Tilenno traditionally mostly consisted of a kaeles, a paera and mistei often accompagnied with qliká, often the kaeles and paera were combined into a krises. Most of these garments had different forms depending on region and status. Notably there was no difference in garments for men and for women safe from some undergarments.

Due to the stable and warm weather in Tilenno, clothing mostly came in no more than one layer, excluding undergarments, and rarely covered the full body. Typically the abdomen area and the lower legs remained bare, although some garments existed that covered these parts of the body. Most paerá feature the typical Tilennan neckline, where a diamond is cut out around the centre of the chest, showing parts of the the pectoral muscles of men and parts of the breasts for women.

While certain trends existed during different periods of history, mostly changing colours and silhouette, the core of garments has remained relatively unchanged for centuries. Not a lot of original clothing remains from early time periods, for which fashion historians mainly have to go off descriptions and artistic interpretations.

Modern Tilennan clothing and fashion only really exploded in the 1980s following the Osorra-Tilenno War and the subsequent influences from outside cultures. Current fashion is based on variations on traditional garments combined with influences and clothes from Artemia like shoes, pants, suits and shirts.

Early History
Not a lot is known about the clothes that were worn during the Terukian age. It is generally assumed that early forms of the supaera and the kaesores were worn based on descriptions in text and some preserved wall paintings. The most famous source of information came from the Terukian ruins in the form of the 'Painting of the Praying man, depicted in garments similar to the supaera and kaesores.

The sailing age saw the introduction of the typical Krises Laudo, which is depicted in many statues from that age. It is called the Krises Laudo because the first text mentioning this particular garments was found in a Laudian inventory list for a tailor carved in stone, mentioning it along with several other fabrics and textiles.

It was during the 3 dynasties that the most recognizable Tilennan outfit was first designed, namely the Risaura, consisting of the iconic limaucha or barred top and the xaelera or barred skirt. These two garments were meant to show one's wealth by openly displaying the expensive materials included in the clothes. however this made the garments horribly rigid and impractical for any activity other than look good. Nowadays the garment is still reserved for the upper class and can be seen worn by the Pures during official business.

The last major pieces in Tilennan culture are the murades and taeneda introduced during at the end of the First Purity. It covers the entirety of the arms and legs in contrast to pieces before it, which almost always left the lower parts of the limbs bare. Even so the chest and abdomen area were still uncovered. This new style is speculated to have been brought over by East-Keshi traders during the 7th century BCE, where it was common to cover more of your body in formal situations, as seen with the kimono and hakama for example.

The poorer classes typically wore a krises setra combined with a simple form of paera. For some even basic clothes like these were inaccessible and in many cases the peasantry just draped a cloth around their hips and called it a day.

In Tilenno clothes were typically made from 4 different types of fabrics and some blends between those. The most common type of fabric and cheapest to produce was linen of which most commoners' clothes were made. A step above linen there was cotton, more specifically Tilennan Semi-Aquatic Cotton, cultivated in paddy fields. This textile was pretty water intensive to produce and therefore the prices were quite high. A great aspect of Tilennan cotton is that it is more water and stain resistant than regular cotton, which still justifies the cost intensive production to this day. Alpaca wool was typically used for supaerá. Alpaca wool was a very thick material and only really worn at night, or in the northern an mountains areas. Even so alpaca wool was a pretty sought after fabric. The most expensive fabric in Tilenno was Tilennan silk, created from the silk produced by the Tilennan flower bug. It takes a lot of work to make this fabric and prices are very high. The natural colour of the silk is slightly pink, which is often treated in a bleaching process to become perfect white or just dyed into a darker colour. Because of this white silk is the most prestigious of all.



Royal Confederacy
When Vallisian explorers arrived in Tilenno during the 16th century they were very intrigued by the different garments and way of dress found here and made a lot of drawings and descriptions of these garments as well as brought them back to the homeland, where they are still displayed in museums. Because of this, most information of fashion during this age comes from the Vallisian explorers' documentation. The most important of these documents is arguably  L'Homme Tilennois, one of the first descriptions that made it back to Vallis and with muliple detailed illustrations of aspects of Tilennan culture including clothing. During this age the Krises Laudo was very popular and therefore shows up in a lot of these drawings, but the other garments do show up regularly as well.

In these texts it is often explained how Tilennan people don't really know shame and prudishness, as it is not uncommon to see the genitalia or other explicit parts of the body when Tilennan clothes move around.. Most people, especially commoners, didn't really bother with putting on undergarments, as they were pretty expensive and often impractical and hot. This also coincides wih the notion in Tilenno that the more clothes you wear, the higher your status ought to be. This is not always translated directly in layers or clothes, but could also be expressed in the quality and rarity of the material, like having clothes made from Tilennan silk.