Good god, depends where from. I'll give you the more interesting ones to start with. I have a good ying and yang in my setting where in one specific area of the galaxy (whats the point of spanning an ENTIRE galaxy when there are hundreds of thousands or millions of possible habitable planets and star systems in your local star cluster?) have a good co existing sector that is policed/controlled by one meta-faction made up of different species collaborating. The usual Utopian stuff with very liberal ideas and views and an authoritarian undertone. Then on the other side is one solid block of interstellar space controlled by a rather dominant race that is struggling to cope with their non-supreme state so are having to co-operate with their former slave races to rebuild their once glorious (and brutal) empire through enslavement, industrialisation, rapid military and scientific expansion. This has made a stark contrast between a Utopian yet authoritarian society on one side, and a brutal, ravenous and downright barbaric society on another that are making everyone around them quite uneasy with their extreme and "primitive" culture yet quite ironically are surpassing every other neighbour in every field imaginable. Now imagine a sort of unstoppable and unsympathetic empire forcefully uplifting species and enslaving them to use them for cannon fodder, labour and food and then being damaged so bad in a war that they must make peace with their former slaves and get along in the galactic community as they are nothing but a shadow of their former selves. Their clothes are are rather extravagant as a result. An example of their attire would be Slavic pagan leather armour but give it the structure of Aztec ceremonial garb and exclude the feathers. Now have heavy cast metal to make the jewellery as these individuals have no limits when it comes to physical strength and endurance. Make most of their attire also resemble the deceased in many ways as they revere the fallen (that most of the time they have killed themselves and wear various pieces of them like a walking trophy display.) such as a lot of rib cage and skull imagery that would be cast in alloys to make them more resilient as to them things without purpose or deep "intellectual" meaning are quite frankly useless. Now imagine a species hell bent on reaching paradise in the afterlife, however they have a very alternative view of how one deserves a place in paradise. These people are of avian decent and without their forceful upliftment would have eventually destroyed themselves due to their extreme culture. Their entire existence revolves around suffering and pain, for they believe it cleanses the spirit and since they suffer so much in their present lives their afterlives would make up for their suffering by giving them euphoria and paradise. So their attire is constructed to keep them in constant agony to the point they become numb to all pain and other senses, like hooks piercing the mouths that are tied across their necks, barbed rope tied across their abdomen and barbed piercings weaving through their hide. cloth would be rugged and primitive only used to soak up their constant bleeding and really their be notorious for their disturbing and warped appearance.
look at all of us sweating over the keyboard selling our setting and your just there with "Tunics and rolled up harem pants." hahaha damn I love that.
I like the metallic undertone with the exotic alloys. Thing is if it were socially acceptable I would wear body armour all the time, because 1: you'd never know when someone is going to challenge you for your title and 2: It looks cool.
Interesting thread. My character is basically a bodysnatcher who was originally a cis/straight male, so the he's stuck with whatever the body he's wearing is wearing. However, one of the side effects of his condition is that he's not very coordinated when in a new body (think of the first time you drive a car of a significantly different type than you're used to), so things like heels and skirts are going to, at a minimum, feel really weird, and might even cause problems for him.
It depends on the setting. Unless the clothing is notably different from a well-known time period, I go with more generic descriptions. Like if I'm talking about castles and kings, I assume most people can gather more or less what the clothing is supposed to be.
