Freelance
Traveller
This article originally appeared in Issue #007 of the PDF magazine.
There is fashion, as in “designed by someone to look good on a specific unrealistic shape of model on a runway, and nobody actually wears it in real life”, and there is fashion, as in “looks good on anyone, because it is of the highest quality, and tailored to the person”. Gig is a fashion shop in the latter sense. What sets Gig apart from other fashion shops is that the customer can have any color desired - as long as the desired color is black.
Gig will dress anyone, regardless of age, sex, or species, for any occasion, from the skin out, entirely in black. Styles cover everything from the most conservative of Vilani high-society styles, to the most avant-garde use of skinpaints-and-nothing-but from the most “mod” and “cosmopolitan” worlds of the Solomani Rim, to sleepers and “onesies” for infants. Their staff, who universally answer to the title “Mezukeshe”, are all trained to the highest standards, and familiar with the expectations of high society on the world that the particular shop is located on, and on most of the nearby worlds that could be expected to be a destination for the customer.
When a customer walks in with a description of the occasion for which he, she, or it needs to be dressed, a process is set in motion which results in the customer being measured, scanned, and ‘simulated’, with a small selection of appropriate outfits subsequently displayed (to show how the customer would look in said outfits) for the customer’s choice. Once an outfit is chosen, production is set in motion, and within hours, the outfit is ready for the first fitting. It is subsequently adjusted for optimum fit and appearance, with additional fittings as needed. The end result is a complete ensemble that is virtually guaranteed to Be Noticed.
This sort of service comes with a price tag; no customer of Gig that has ever spoken about their experience has ever admitted to spending less than 50KCr, and claims of twice to three times that have been heard.
Gig’s shops are few and far between; it can be said, truthfully, that only one world in a thousand will have a Gig, and that world will invariably have a Class A starport, a high tech level, and a marked concentration of wealth.