Fandom High School

"Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the last session of Functional Fashion," Lulu said, beginning the class. They were in the regular classroom today, rather than outside or in the Danger Shop. "Today, there's no lecture -- just the presentation that I informed you of the first week of class. I hope you all got the handwavy reminder, after last class." She smiled. "I should have any equipment you require, for any form of presentation. Are there any volunteers? If not, then you can go first," Lulu finished, pointing to a student at random.

[OCD is up! in a moment!]

Class, this time, was being held in the Danger Shop, as the students had been handwavily informed. It was made up to look like a street in a large city, just at the edge of a park. Lulu sat on a bench just inside the park, not wearing her usual clothes but instead in something rather like street clothes for the average North American twenty-something.

"Good morning," she said, smiling, as she stood. She had on a full skirt -- more modest, perhaps, than many people might wear -- and a long-sleeved blouse; the skirt fell to ankle-length, revealing her inch-high stilleto heels. Her myriad braids were held back not with her usual sticks, but with a different pair, one that she'd not worn previously. "I hope you're all wearing comfortable clothing today.

"Today's class," Lulu continued, "is how to dress for an entirely different function: offense. Clothing can be used to hide a number of weapons, but even more it can be used as weaponry. Take this, for example." It was clearly a cue, for the Danger Shop materialised a convenient attacker -- a mugger, going for Lulu's purse. Of course, the purse got whirled around and thwacked the mugger in the head, dropping him to the ground. "Some people advocate a brick in your purse; I don't know that you need anything quite so massive, but the principle remains the same: weighing down your purse, or any bag you're carrying, can help to make it an effective defensive weapon."

Another attacker approached Lulu, this one coming at her with a length of pipe. She ducked under his swing, even as she reached up with one hand to pull out one of her hairsticks; it could now be seen that it was sharpened at the end. Lulu drove it into the side of her attacker as she moved by him. "Accessories can also be useful," she explained. "Chad?" she added, gesturing for him to come forward. "I've shown you a few examples of what women can use, so now to show you with men. A relatively common accessory for men is the wallet-chain. Depending on the length -- some of them are even extendible -- these can make your wallet into a weapon almost effective as a weighted purse, and perhaps one over which you would have slightly more control, where it is smaller. Also, I recommend, more than anything else, steel-toed shoes." An attacker approached Chad, who kicked out, striking one of the more... sensitive areas of the male body. Lulu had hesitated briefly before asking him, uncertain how he'd feel about demonstrating that particular attack, but she knew she could trust him to be absolutely professional about any aspect of his work as TA.

Thanks to the steel-toed shoes that Chad was wearing (and probably also owing rather a lot to his size and strength), Chad's attacker crumpled rather effectively at the kick.

"There are other things you can use," Lulu said, "other items of clothing that can be used to defend yourself. What do you think you could use?"

[OCD is up in a mo'!]

The class met in the Danger Room, as they had been handwavily informed.

"I was going to have a discussion today about how to find clothes that fit properly," Lulu said, "but instead, I thought we might just find clothes that fit properly. As such," she continued, waving her hand for the programmed trigger, "we're going to find clothes in here, and then I'll order them for you. The racks are holding clothes from any number of places from which I can order for you. You can pick anything you want from them, as long as you limit it to one outfit. Which means as much as you like, as long as you can justify to my satisfaction how it is all one ensemble.

"So, have at," she said. "Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves your choices, and make suggestions to each other. Ask for advice, too. Just consider what you're going to be using the outfit for -- the other criterion for it to be purchased is that you convince me that it is in some way functional for you to own. That might be used on an at least remotely regular basis."

[OCD is up! in a mo'.]

"Good day, class," Lulu said, as she sat down on the lawn in front of the school, where her students had handwavily been informed to meet; she gestured for her students to do the same. "I thought we'd take advantage of today's nice weather to talk outside, since this first class is going to be mostly discussion anyway.

"This workshop," she continued, "is on what I like to call 'functional fashion'. What this means is clothing that both serves a specific function while appealing to aesthetics. Take, for example, my skirt." She stood, letting the belts fall together, shaking them slightly to get them to settle properly. "This is an example of non-functional fashion -- it looks pretty, but there's no purpose to it beyond that visual appeal. My bodice, however," and here she gestured to her huge... tracts of land, "is designed to be visually appealing while also keeping my breasts from falling out. This is even more of a concern," she added, "when one's gift for magic requires one to swoop --" and here she demonstrated, her arms dipping forward as she bent at the waist [there are a few examples of it in that vid, when she casts the 'Waterga' spell], "-- forward as part of the casting. While it's only actually good design, several of my friends still swear that I must use magic to keep from... accidentally putting myself on display for all to see."

Lulu settled herself back on the ground, folding her legs beneath her. "We'll start today with introductions," she began, "so that we can all get to know each other, and then what I'd like to ask of you today," she said, "is to pick one article of clothing that you are wearing, and explain how it is either functional or non-functional. Also, if you have any questions about the syllabus," which she now handed out, "or anything in particular that you would like to see added to it, feel free to bring that up as well."

At the end of class, before everyone could get up, Lulu called their attention to her again. "There is one last thing," she said. "As it says on your syllabus, over the course of this term, I'm going to be asking each of you to design three outfits, The outfits must fit a theme of your choosing -- and yes, all three outfits must fit the same theme. This project will not be due until the last day of class, so you will have plenty of time to learn more about fashion before then; still, it might be worth starting to think about it now."

[Plz wait for OCD is up! I'm around a while longer tonight, but then tomorrow day I'm finishing up my move into my new place and the working 4-close, and then I'll be around for at least a few hours after 10 Eastern, I hope, if I can manage to get out of work at a decent time.]