Clothes that change themselves, How to blend in... anywhere? Options

[Banaticus]

I thought I saw some outfit somewhere that was marketed to women who wanted a more eclectic style. It was a nano outfit that redesigned itself into a completely different outfit every day. I can't find it now, though. Is there anything else like that?

In these days of nanopaste and latex face masks and sculptable faces, is it possible to do the same with clothes? I found a "health jacket" that broadcasts your health on it and I found ruthenium polymer clothing which typically displays what's on the other side of it, but I guess could be programmed to look like something else. How about actual modifiable clothing, though? Removable lapels, something that lets fabric bunch up and get all bristly or lay flat and smooth (and sheer?) or opaque and sort of rough? Collars that can be raised or lowered, pleats than be shaken out, detachable panels to make a dress backless or perhaps snap of the skirt and snap on a long gown under a broad empire waist or snap over some trousers or something?

Do I need to buy up the tailoring skill and start sewing my own clothes or something/

[Pepsi Jedi]

There's something... maybe it was the nanotech printer? Something to the tune of where you down load new clothes patterns every day and your printer 'Prints' Them out using nano machines to weave them every day?

Probably in Arsenal though don't quote me.. mine are STILL in snail mail. I'm Downloading the bundle pack of PDFs if my wife lets me soon.

[Ol' Scratch]

I don't recall anything like that off the top of my head. Color-shifting fabrics and built-in gadgets like air conditioners, music players, and commlinks are all standard features in clothing in the 2070s. Ruthenium is simply a more advanced version of that technology. But clothing that modifies itself? Yeah, that doesn't ring any bells. I doubt too many manufacturers would want to go that far anyway; it means people would only need a few outfits and could mimic all of their ridiculously overpriced fashions each season for free.

[Whipstitch]

Yeah, I guarantee you that major fashion houses would immediately start fetishizing the "real" goods whether or not the average person could really tell the difference. Just look at wristwatches. Maybe one watch really does have the smoothest second hand in the world but at the end of the day what people are really buying is cachet. Still, I could see how a Face could get some real mileage out of a universal wardrobe.

[Ol' Scratch]

It would kind of render the Fashion spell utterly useless, too. (Which is one of my favorite spells.)

[Banaticus]

Well, maybe not modifies itself -- maybe you have to tell it exactly how to modify itself, I'm fine with that too. I'm looking for something for the on-the-go face who just can't fit more than one or two outfits and a dozen accessories and swappables in a single briefcase. That nanotech printer, though, I'll see if I can go look it up when I get home.

There's a Fashion spell? Hmm...

[Harbin]

Yes, street magic. Manipulation, I think.

[Whipstitch]

Well, maybe not modifies itself -- maybe you have to tell it exactly how to modify itself, I'm fine with that too. I'm looking for something for the on-the-go face who just can't fit more than one or two outfits and a dozen accessories and swappables in a single briefcase. That nanotech printer, though, I'll see if I can go look it up when I get home.

There's a Fashion spell? Hmm...

Something you have to Edit along the lines of a nano paste disguise is probably doable and wouldn't step on Fashion's toes quite so much, since it wouldn't be as on-the-fly.

[Banaticus]

Augmentation, p 99
365 Days. 365 Nations. Worldwear knows that you’ve outgrown the nest of a single culture, and that your personal fashion needs come from around the world. Metatribe™ fashions nanofax you tailored interpretations of a new nation’s fashion, every day of the year. Begin the week in a neotraditional Japanese Power Kimono and end it in Afroflash Massai robes. Program your selection month by month -- or let us surprise you!

The actual machine appears on p116 and costs 500,000 with an availability of 12R. Every year you have to buy a machine 8R license for 50k and a corporate fashion subcription for 35k (presumably a different corporate fashion subscription for each company). Each outfit costs 5k and has unique serial numbers etched into it and the materials usually have nano RFID tags so that the whole garment basically "is" an RFID tag. The book mentions that raw materials might be available without built in tags, but they're apparently so incredibly rare that they don't even have any stats. It is utterly unsuitable for a Shadowrunner -- it sounds as though even a Luxury Necessities lifestyle might have trouble getting/maintaining one of these.

However, the Fashion spell on Street Magic p173 is amazing. It permanently transforms the clothing into whatever other clothing you want (no armour changes, though, which is completely superfluous), although mass is conserved. I wonder if it covers changing an elegant leather briefcase into a stylish handbag -- are accessories included in the change?

[Pepsi Jedi]

The actual machine appears on p116 and costs 500,000 with an availability of 12R. Every year you have to buy a machine 8R license for 50k and a corporate fashion subcription for 35k (presumably a different corporate fashion subscription for each company). Each outfit costs 5k and has unique serial numbers etched into it and the materials usually have nano RFID tags so that the whole garment basically "is" an RFID tag. The book mentions that raw materials might be available without built in tags, but they're apparently so incredibly rare that they don't even have any stats. It is utterly unsuitable for a Shadowrunner -- it sounds as though even a Luxury Necessities lifestyle might have trouble getting/maintaining one of these.

However, the Fashion spell on Street Magic p173 is amazing. It permanently transforms the clothing into whatever other clothing you want (no armour changes, though, which is completely superfluous), although mass is conserved. I wonder if it covers changing an elegant leather briefcase into a stylish handbag -- are accessories included in the change?

See!! lol Told you I saw something to that effect! I'm not -totally- crazy. Well, not for that!

[Drats]

Ayup. Nanoforges. And they're not just for clothes, either-- it's basically the Shadowrun version of a Star Trek replicator. Each one is generally firmware-coded to produce a specific type of item, and as Banaticus says, you pay for the nanomaterial "stock" and for subscription fees to access the corporate database of recipes/schematics. The fluff fiction and Shadowtalk in Arsenal even provide for them creating intricate and unique (though cheap and chintzy) designer pistols.

This is some pretty wiz gear, the type of stuff that you'd devote a significant portion of a campaign arc to acquiring and cracking the firmware limitations on. As a matter of fact, my players are getting set to discover that I've already done just that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Ol' Scratch]

That's quite a bit different than clothes that change on a whim, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It's literally just a fax machine that sends you solid items, not just print-outs.

[Dixie Flatline]

That's quite a bit different than clothes that change on a whim, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It's literally just a fax machine that sends you solid items, not just print-outs.

The idea of quickly modifiable clothing specifically for a face isn't beyond reason though.

You'd never pass for anything in particular, let alone as someone who was stylish, but the concept they ran with in Batman Begins about how clothing can align itself with an electrical charge could easily be used to modify clothing.

Specialty tear-away seams, replaceable collars, even dye capsules that you could crush and change the color of an article of clothing aren't entirely out of the realm of SR possibility.

I would make most of the clothing a sort of destroy-as-you-modify concept to encourage the concept of purchasing more and more of it, and I would impose a penalty on anyone using it in a high-fashion situation, but it might give a bonus to con rolls, disguises, and quickly getting lost in a crowd while people were pursuing you.

Disposable clothing is also an option. Chinese knockoffs of high-end fashion, made of semi-durable paper fibers, which starts to fall apart after a few hours of wear. Originally intended for the clubbing crowd who couldn't afford 5k nuyen suits. Shadowrunners have adapted the clothing for their own uses however.