I was wondering, when SR started around 2050 dusters were the fashion rage which led tothel ined coats- very good for hiding guns but now it's 20+ years later and fashinos change- have you htought of htis in your world? I mean look at the fashions in the RL 1980's any of you still doing terminal mousse abuse, ladies I know it's been years since I wore leg wormers and those rubber bracelts, any of you till wearing them? of course not. If you watch mad men you don't see clothes like that anymore. Hippy fashions of the early 1970's ok low rise jeans are back but bell bottoms and polyester liesure suits?so? Have you thought of these? updated your wardrobes?

Look at Dr Who- regardless of the incarnation he usually looks slightly out of whack, certainly not osmeone who can be unobtrusive (Colin Baker and Christopher Ecclston being the exceptions.)

Badass Longcoats will never go out of style.

Public Service Message: TV Tropes will ruin your life. Please surf responsibly. Hey, at least they're honest about it.

I think bell bottoms are back now, but instead they're called "flaired" pants or whatever. Of course I'm a nerd so I don't really know anything about this, but it seems about the same...

Are you trying to say Colin Baker didn't look slightly out of whack !??! Cuz that was a goofy looking dude <flame war on!>

2070s dusters are nothing like the 2050s dusters with their large padded shoulders, feathers and vivid colors.

the duster/coat will always be around. Maybe cut a bit differently, but still around.

The long coat will always be around, in some places more so than anything.

A long coat can be a duster, trech coat, etc. In places like SR Seattle it's going to be popular due to the weather (good rain/snow protection and warmth) and others simply for the rain protection from flash showers

Now some places a coat is not the way to go, so you'd stick out int he crowd (try wearing one in Dallas during the summer), and there you will see more form-fitting body armors (vests and FFBA) under light clothing (making hiding that smg a bit harder, so expect lots more light pistols/hold outs on foes there vs the heavy guns of say Seattle's avg citizen)

FFBA under light clothing for hot weather?
I hope you have that climate control built in. FFBA doesn't sound like it's a good breather.
Great for that classic 'Is that a wetsuit under your shorts, or did you anticipate being happy to see me?' style thing as well.

But yeah. Details change. Forms change. General clothing types not so much.

I've been thinking about this sort of thing due to something my wife said a few weeks ago...
Male fashions are due for a serious shift if history is any clue.

Look at styles in the 1500s then compare them to the 1600s, then the 1700s and early 1800s. Now look at men's fashoins from the mid-1800s till now. In the early 1800s there was a serious shift in men's fashion, and we've been wearing pretty much the same overall designs for businesswear for the past 150 years. Judging by history, we're due for a shift to something new and even more silly looking in respectable busnesswear.

My wife is of the opinion that this is not the case, and the present stasis will continue because the fashion industry is more stable and unified than it ever was pre-1850.

Like most guys, it's not something I thought about much until this was brought up.

At least we men got rid of tights, codpeices, and highheels centuries ago.

Man, Codpieces are just so silly.

The SR books have crazy fashion in it. Stuff like that clear body suit that changes opacity at certain points of your body at a mental command. It's just that nobody is going to really go for it.

I mean, ask your group of players "Do you want to be dressed by todays picture of cool or how about some freaky future nearly nekkid skintight plastic sleeve?"

2055 will never die. No reason to advance fashion if you never advance editions

More seriously, one plus side of Seattle is that rain gear will always be 'in' (and the nice part of any other metropolitan area is environmental gear will always be 'in'). Whether it's trenchcoats, slickers, rubber suits, ponchos, frogman costumes or whatever, it must have cover to protect you, so it will always be modifiable to hide weapons.

Wait! You don't wanna tell me, my good ol' coat's anything but timeless, do you?

The burberry trench coat for men is pretty timeless but otherwise...I guess I was asking do you update your character's fashions? are you even aware of them?

Yeah flares are 'bell bottoms' and pretty much over, BUT even then they were not as huge as the bell bottons of the 70's and the response now is the 'skinny jean' which is way tight. Loo at the waist line of owmne's jeans. From 'high in the 80's to regular to low rtise-my fav- to rediculously low rise-showing the pelvic bones? designers tried to bring in a very high waist since women weren't wearing out the jeans they had and no one bought into that.

In the mid early 1970's you saw alot of men wearing 2nd hand army jackets-look at footage of senator Kerry at protests, BUT you don't see these today even with many people out of the army from the midlde east.

Look at motorcyle jackets. When I bought my last one they actually asked if I really road, I do and was hsown a smaller section of jackets with harder leather and a more, modern look, the 'fashion ' jackets were just more the classic 'rebel without a lcue' look with a zipper slightly off center but they look 'off' to the modern eye.

For men's fashions from about 1820 on you get dark colors in coats and slacks with some cloth at your neck but even looking a dickensian pictures, mid victorian photos and photos of men from the Edwardian period show differnece. To use the Dr Who analogy David Tennent's suit was mid 1940's suit and very different from Peter Davidson's 1920's cricketer but you're generall limited to the length of the coat, lapels, ties, shoulder pads. You're seeing more casual work places but some things like a tween jacket are timeless.

(I stand on my comment about Colin Baker's look, he did not look just a little off, he looked barking mad.)

The cut and color may change, but the same general thing is going to be there. Arsenal stated steampunk was making another comeback into mainstream fashion in the early 70's, so we'd be seeing more longcoats, vests, and other Neo-neoVictorian affectations.

The character I'm playing now, however, is into vintage clothing - Old band T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers.

Nothing like a Led Zeppelin 2044 redesign to show you're truly indie.

It throws things off a bit, but my guys do try to fit in, if going into an area that they would normally stand out in. This is generally boiled down to "I buy an outfit to wear there, so I don't stand out too bad.", because you can't know what the future fashion holds.

And maybe some of you stopped wearing codpieces, leg warmers, and bell bottoms, but for some of us they are still quite the rage.

If you're wearing bell bottoms and leg warmers all together I think 'rave' is the word, like raving mad.


Yeah that's more like what I was thinking of.

I should start wearing my bad ass long coat. It's cold outside and that thing is warm.

Does anybody remember the Panther Moderns from Neuromancer? They wore some sort of fiberoptic clothing that recorded their surroundings and played it back at different speeds and such. I always really dug the picture that made.

I have a longcoat I can hide a pair of assault rifles in, but it's meant to be worn with a suit jacket underneath for the warmth factor.

Glad this thread popped up. I just make a snap executive decision that, at least in the portion of town I was designing on the fly out of my ass just now, Denver has moved away from "long coat and twin machine pistols" to "buckskin, beads and fringe" - of course, this is in the Pueblo part of town...

I, for one, look forward to playing characters who don't wear the long coat, because it is such a definition of cool. Instead they're wearing jumpsuits, corporate camouflage (business suits) or maybe something more unusual. That Panther Moderns reference is currently baking my noodle to a nice golden brown...

Mental note: write a summary of fashion trends for my campaign, and systematically apply it to NPCs.

Get some of the fashion forward NPCs to make some fun of the PCs for being so "2050's". Might tweak their noses a bit and get them to update their wardrobe. If not, well then you might have a dead NPC but they are disposable anyway .

My character prefers the jumpsuit with some sort of combat vest.



I can only speak for Germany, but recently we had a little parka revival. Not quite the military ones but a little bit more civilian. One the other hand "Bundeswehr Parkas" in the 70s and 80s almost never came in camo. Right now I own a civilian parka and one M65-styled jacket.



The classic leather jacket wil never ever be old-fashioned! I'm wearing mine quite often. (Okay, I'm a Metalhead...) As to the real biking ones, there are differences between people riding a racing bike or a Harley Davidson.

That's pretty much what I have too. I wore it to a job interview a year-ish ago (was about this cold, but was earlier in the year--November?).

The world of 2070 needs more PCs that either don't care how they look, or who think they're hot shit, but are actually fashion nightmares.

I disagree. I think the world of 2070 needs more PC's that realize wearing heavy body armor everywhere is a fashion faux-pas, or clothing design visionaries who turn heavy body armor into next year's fall line.

2070 has enough runners thinking they're hot shit, but are actually fashion nightmares.

It all depends on where you are, and the cut of the coat. Harry Dresden deals with folks in long coats all the time who are stylish, but is constantly teased about his because "It looks like something off the set of El Dorado."

And, seriously, you don't get much more Shadowrun than planning a break-in of a Museum in order to magically animate a T-Rex to ride into Battle, and have it controlled by a guy in a One-Man Polka Suit.

"People who let me ride their dinosaurs can call me Carlos!"

I love the Dresden Files. The Dresden Files RPG is actually quite good, I recommend you look at it if you like the books.

I've played. It's a little unbalanced. Magic can be crazy gamebreaking but the same "char build cost" as an extra hit point or 2 armor.

Well, name me a system where magic actually balanced? Compared to most systems, magic is better balanced in that game system but still it pulls ahead. The main problem with magic in DFRPG is when you get a really focused blaster, just channeling and a bunch of refinements for more focus slots. Still, very good game system. If you want to start another thread to discuss it I'll go into some good melee builds that can give a wizard a run for his money .

True, I was just comparing our party:
The two "I have magic" players were basically doing everything (one of them had Open The Third Eye, or whatever, that gave him visions of the future, the other was undead).
My character--a shapeshifter--was neigh useless in all regards. I made up for the "here's stuff you (don't) have because its in the rules" with the "make shit up" part, and had surveillance equipment that we put to use (because apparently you can get whatever the hell you want to with your background, provided its not a magic item).

Fashion is not really a big thing in my game. Mostly because the PC are indivduals with a unique personal style. And being bloody minded shadow runners, when not on a job, they make a person statement of freedom via their clothing choices.
Which they detail to me.
At length.
Repeatedly...

I do details the faces as keeping hip but being nova bleeding edge requires specific social circles darlings, and contempt for the corp zsars of fashion.

People have walked around london wearing only bodypaint and a g-string, so nothing is impossible.

Tho i suspect that particular example would be set to mostly opaque and under a coat when traveling to and from some club or other...

The plastic sleeve thing has it's benefits. You want to show off that vat-grown body, but it's raining acid rain outside. What's to do?

See Zhora, one of the replicants in Blade Runner. She wore a clear plastic suit over next to nothing.

In regards to the Second Skin line of clothing specifically I think you might be looking at it the wrong way. Yes it's a skintight formfitting jumpsuit that can shift opacities. However you should note it's actually a BODY ARMOR , not just necessarily a fashion statement. In fact all of the clothing listed in arsenal are in fact, fashionable BODY armor for those of you who want to be more stylish than having an auctioneer's jacket, and still capable of rocking out a decent armor rating.

Now most people will say "Why even wear Second Skin? It doesn't stack with other armors like FFBA and is worse!" but FFBA has to fit UNDER clothing to be discreet and thus requires you to wear something covering. Not everyone's fashion sense means you can cover every inch of your skin and still look suave/sexy/chic. Second Skin on the other hand can be worn under normal (nonarmor) clothing and its transparency settings can A. keep certain modesty standards, or B. allow it to be worn nearly undetectable even under revealing wear like a tube top and short shorts. Remember, girl fashions these days tend to show more skin than guy fashions,and if they want to flaunt anything, they need armor that keeps it discreet. That Moonsilver line elegance wear isn't appropriate for all circumstances after all.

Then on a side note, the Rex Tremendae fic I feel gives a pretty neat example of what "attractive" and "in" cyberpunk fashion could be with the "Gander-girl" clubber. Granted it doesn't describe specifically but what IS described gives a fun mental image for me in any case. Denim, straps, chains and 'ware.

I've personally ruled it that clothing and armor can be of any type or style or fashion you want it to be. There's a price issue, and that's it. A Gucci Suit with the same armor rating as "Armored Clothing" is going to cost a hell of a lot more than the listed price, but a knock-off will be slightly less so. (A good knock-off might even let a Shadowrunner pass in the right circles as long as no one checks the label.). Whereas if you want your "Armored Jacket" to be Synthleather Cop Cut, done, just a bit extra as you're not getting an army surplus Armored Jacket that I've said is the listed price.

Clothing (The generic, unarmored stuff) is for the lowest rung of society, which is quite massive and has surprising marketability. They TEAM and, while they can't afford the higher quality of ballistic underlining and soft trauma pads, they certainly can still afford everything from Flats (Vending Machine Clothing made of toughened paper) to low-end suits and everything in between.

And, as my group has found out in a hurry, Flats DO come in handy when the alternative is bright orange and has "Property of Lone Star Corrections" printed on your back and hoop.

I love the examples given in the books for clothing of the day and age of Shadowrun, it gives me something to play with. "OK, that's it, we're going to find that Indian (West, no Native) dressed Mo-Fo and turn him into a Love Pillow for Bubba The Love Troll!" "Yeah, but... Can any of us remember anything other than what he was wearing?" "Well, it'll be easy to find in a crowd, it's so out of style, so flashy, so..." "Easy to get out of and into something that fits with this club crowd that's wearing spray painted Flats." "... DAMNIT!"

Most of our group tends to be a bit eccentric in our clothing choices.

Our weapon's expert wears Scottish Highland Heritage line.

My mage wheres a modified Cheongsam over a pair of loose silk pants. She where's a robe in dark blue over the top.

The combat mage wear's Biker armor or leather in black and red, and/or flame designs. With a Trench coat when out of armor.

The close combat expert was the most pragmatic of the lot of us. Every day od cargos, black combat boots, white or black tee tucked in, armoured synth leather mid thigh jacket and fatigue cap, raybans and fingerless gloves. boot knife in boot, preditor on right hip and combat knife balancing on the other

Our rigger where's a jumpsuit, complete with faded oil stains (he has a day job at a garage).

Back up mage and survival expert tended towards leather and piecemeal armor, with a perfectly mundane Duster and cowboy hat. She is an Irish/Indian elf.

Since our game is set in Tampa, long coats not only stand out like a sore thumb but also will bake you in the 90+ degree high humidity weather.

Now, how do I know that you didn't go to the same bars and clubs that we did?

Yes, it's unlikely that the sheer level of awesome longcoat will return (Carmen Sandiago is a fixer par none) with the heavy pastels, all-white leather and occasional "Rainbow Brite-threw-up-on-this" colour scheme, but so too will the non-stop army of black synthleather trenchcoats.

Seeing more jackets now that everyone's in form-fit, as well as the "leather devil", White cotton Lawnsuit and retro punk looks. It's colour and (gack) flair.
So what if your sammy like hawaiian shirts and an obvious vest over the top - roll with it and make it enjoyable, not just "ah, this gives me X abalation versus..." etc, etc.

-Tir
Gotta make the Robots.

I still play SR3 but for my Cher she don't realy care about fashion but then again if she had her way she would much rather not ware any clothing but as she has to she goes mostly with cut off at her knees jeans, T-shirts of all sorts of styles, and as of right now a long coat she got off some corps or other and attached the leather hood from what was her leather cloak sadly said cloak didn't survive the 1 or 2 explosions, gun battles, and fights with bug spirits. but for her the cloak and now the long coat are a means to cover up what she is and is of the mind set of if it works for what I need it for good enough for me. Then again for her NOT wareing a long coat or other full body covering would be a bigger attention getter then doing so.

Fashion changes every couple of months (or faster), and cycles back around over time, and lots of people follow wildly divergent fashions. It's safe to assume that anything goes in 2070.

Then I totally agree. I have a pic somewhere of Colin Baker looking very very strange.


China also has a parka / surplus army jacket thing going on. Affluent, upper-class people are way more Western in their clothing. But the average person on the street loves wearing some large parka with some military stuff on it.

I remember hearing that after "A Better Tomorrow" came out, people in China were sweating under black trench coats because of the movie.

To be fair, it's a damned fine movie!

There will always be fashion, some sense of elitism for the have and have nots. The desire to be 'in' or better yet say what is 'in.'

oh, does Snow Fox play in your game too?

Actually one of the mages (I hada bunch, 2 full and one mystic adept) in my group used "Fashion", the spell, the knowledge skill "Fashion Design" and the active skill "Armorer" to a) change and repair the teammates armours, without changing their effectiveness, b) start a street business of fashionable armours for the Shadow community.

It was also good for disguises.

As for fashion it is relevant and important: Club dress codes, what you wear for meets, what the characters wear for dates with NPC's (or PC's for taht matter).

It is also important for me to deliver NPC personality messages.

The teams' fixer was an elven social adept. I got the guys inspiration form the old Tir Tairngire book, and he wore a pink-purple mohawk in a techno-renaissance clothing and he wore make up like David Bowie (He had Bowie's charisma as well... around 7, I'd say).
He was a party monster, and a great socialite. He was generous and would give the players christmas gifts (since he took care of his contacts) and he was also a great guy. He would negotiate everything, but as a business man he was impeccable, like his fashoin sense: modern, innovative and with great "in-your-face" attitude. Yes, he rode around in a limo, but would also challenge the rigger to off road biking races... and he would lose, of course, but he would gladly compete.

Fashion is a great mechanics tool, but an even better storytelling one.

I would totally get that for many of my face builds, if it had the same special rule as FFBA* or the game allowed full armor stacking with just a sanity check from GM and other players on what makes sense worn together.
But, with the RAW rules, it just has too weak stats to be used.

*No they wouldn't wear it under a full clothes like FFBA, but combined with an armoured jacket/coat on top for extra protection and to look a little less sexy while walking around town.

I tend to vary fashion more based on neighborhood than year. When in doubt, the Rule of Cool is always in effect -- players should have their characters wear what they think is awesome -- but I'm more likely to point out that denim and leather is out of place in the Space Needle, and that an Actioneer Suit makes you stand out in the Barrens...than I am to worry about the Actioneer being so 2063, or something like that.

My Mary Sue... Er... Mr. Johnson of choice, Jon "Money" Johnson wears clothing to either blend in or clash as his mood allows.

As he's, literally, had a centuries old building dropped on his head (With pieces of his wife's skull in his eyes), he's a little touched in the head when it comes to things.

yup. look at James Bond filmes. especially the early ones with Roger Moore. Look at his jacket and ties, not too long they're kind of eyeball searing. THEN look at Pierce Brosnan's look when he's in suits.

My Free Spirit PC has Mutable Form and can be 'dressed' as anything she wants. Unfortunately, the closest Knowledge Skill she has to Fashion Sense is Norse Mythology.

Her intimate circle of friends, who might advise her on issues of fashion, are a bunch of human and ork razor boys in a minor gang in LA, an ancient crone of a street shaman who follows Rat, a pixie, and a grease monkey vampire.

Do you think it might be wise for her to study up a bit?