Works by Onherra
A far-from-exhaustive listing of the fashions prepared by the mistress of Ragged Lace in the Imperial City.
An Immaculate Dance – RY768. Commission (Cynis Odassa). A sheer gown of Gossamer Silk, iridescent and opaque when loose, near-transparent when pressed to skin. Bracers and an arc-shaped hairpiece of gold worked with red and green jade provide accessories. Surrounding the wearer, five slaves in shorter matching tunics bear long fronds of palm, moving in a choreographed dance, so that the view of observers is obstructed where the gown has tightened against the wearer’s body.
A Song of the Heart – RY768. Commission (Cynis Odassa (?), for Cynis Tiir). A garment consisting of two robes. The inner is one of indigo bombazine, with thin linings of coarse Boar fur at cuffs and hems folding away from the skin to allow the top robe to flow more freely atop, the cloth offering ribbons at the belt to tie it tight to the wearer. That robe is of Silk, patterned with vibrant iridescent blacks and greens divided by sharp thin lines of red and white. This robe hangs loose and flowing, belted with a cord of cerulean woven with beads of red and green jade. Both robes hang open to reveal the wearer’s chest and navel, and around the neck hangs looped Silver chain, an open ring serving as centerpiece. Bracelets of similar design gird the forearms, the ring open on the left and whole on the right.
This garment is accompanied by a second, for a personal attendant, a tunic of similar make to the inner robe covered by an outer robe of similar pattern but more muted colours, abstract birch trees on fields of brown, divided by lines of white. The jewelry of the attendant consists of silver rings connected to black leather as bracelets and collar, the right ring open and the others closed, with a looped belt of similar leather that can be bound to left wrist or at throat to serve as leash.
A Captive Song - RY768. Display Piece. A robe in traditional court cut, sky blue but painted with clouds and blossoming cherry trees. Its sleeves are particularly long and wide even for the cut, the tree pattern continuing in golden wire as it forms cages to contain a bevy of Bush Warblers, which sing as the wearer moves. A particular hallucinogenic alchemical concoction is used to feed the birds, to ensure there is no waste and that their song continues to be both pleasing and consistent regardless of the season. Currently loaned to Ledaal Shinjo.
A Quest for Fire - RY768. Display Piece. A colourful, gleaming gown, low cut but sleeved. Tiny prisms of glass hang suspended over a scarlet-edged white robe, to which glowstones have been attached just below the surface, sending shimmering waves of light through the glass in a myriad of reds and yellows and blues, the dress seeming to play out the progress of a sunrise as its wearer moves. Currently loaned to V’neef Kalla.
An Unseen Breeze - RY768. Commission (? for V'neef Kalla). A robe of Silk, deep green at the neck fading to purest white at the hem and sleeves, a large belt of scarlet ribbon keeping the single-layer garment tightly closed. As the wearer moves, tiny slits can be seen, barely noticeable when she stands still, causing the garment to sway like branches in a breeze.
A Martial Era - RY767. Display Piece. A scarlet jacket in a military cut, bronze filigree tracing strange patterns across its surface. Currently loaned to Tepet Jozan.
A Sense of Loss – RY767. Commission (Senator Ragara Jintao). A heavy robe, consisting of several layers of brown Silk embroidered with geometric patterns in gold, each layer a shade darker than the one atop it. Its hems are edged in scarlet cloth. It is topped with a minister’s cap from which hangs a white veil, weighed down by polished Tigrite gemstones.
A Hungry Fire – RY766. Display Piece. A dress of colourful red and cerulean ribbons, from which hang a number of tiny bells. When the wearer moves, the bells sound and the ribbons shift, and the wearer must be cautious to ensure they do not become entangled… a particularly dexterous wearer could, in principle, control movements precisely to ring only certain sets of bells at certain times, in so doing making their body an instrument. Currently loaned to Cathak Vessala.
A Bountiful Harvest - RY766. Commission (Cynis Tiburon). A scant robe of Silk, over which are woven numerous living vines from the Southwestern jungles. Small glass vials at the belt hold the roots of the vines so they do not wither, the water inside alchemically treated to encourage the vines to move and tighten about the wearer through the course of the day. Additional vials, gripped by the vines themselves, bear small blossoming flowers.
In the Wood Season of RY768, the garment was tended and replanted, featuring blooms of white angrek, pink peonies and coriander blossoms, & yellow honeysuckle, and vines of green ivy.
A Weight of Duty – RY765. Display Piece. A weighty cloak of interwoven steel swords. Currently on display at Ragged Lace.
A Path not Taken - RY765. Display Piece. A dress of seven layers, each made from a single tiger skin and accented by pentagram earrings of red jade. Currently loaned to Ledaal Shinjo.
A Nest of Coils – RY762. Display Piece. A garment of scarlet silks, hanging loose about the body. Coiling metalwork intertwines from a half-belt, where their smooth ends grip the wearer’s exposed navel, rising to end in a circlet and high headdress. While the inner layers of metal still shine bronze, the headdress and outer coils are rendered blue-green with verdigris. Loaned and lost.
A Kaleidoscope of Wings – RY760. Commission (Ledaal Venosa). A dress of cerulean and lavender silk, intertwined, sleeves held past the wrists on rings of gold and silver. Its most impressive element, however, are the butterflies which rest upon its accompanying bracelets and hairpins, attached with the thinnest threads of silk, taking flight when the wearer pauses their movements.
An Expression of Style - RY749. Commission (Cynis Shen). An outer robe of shimmering Silk charmeuse in a light blue shade, edged in black, over a white inner robe painted with bamboo and cattails. A sequined obi seems to close the robe, carefully arranged so that it appears decorated with budding flowers from an angle, which open to appear in full bloom when seen from front or back. This belt is, however, deceptive, for while it appears knotted and restrictive the removal of a pin releases it to become a wide ribbon trailing behind the wearer, opening the confining robe to allow the wearer full range of movement for dance, battle, or other activities. The ensemble is completed by dancing slippers and a set of smoked crystal lenses which reduce the glare of bright lights… and also serve to hide the eyes of the wearer from those with whom they converse.
A Fertile Planting – RY743. Commission (Cynis Odassa). At once a dress and a woven garden of flowering and fruiting plants, including Pomegranates, Peno, Cherries, Mangis, Peaches, and Apricots, still clinging to their interwoven, living branches. The wearer was encouraged to gift the fruit borne by their garment to their partners in conversation and dance. Though alchemically-treated, the garment’s plants could not live forever, and today the dress, now a complex weave of stiff branches, occupies a place of prominence as a decorative sculpture in lady Odassa’s quarters within the Cynis Wing of the Imperial Palace.
A Curious Mind - RY736. Commission (Cynis Ataxis). A short long-sleeved jacket of white with an inner lining of scarlet, over a wide hooped dress circled with golden thorny vines. From many vines hang small crystal vials, in which young plant shoots rest and blossom, mostly drugs and edible herbs. The ensemble is topped with a crown of the same golden vines, holding a vial at the forehead for a final flowering plant, which Senator Ataxis tends to change to match the appropriate season.
A Thousand Mazy Paths – RY722. Commission (Cathak Hasegawa). An outer half-coat of scarlet lined in white, which covers one arm and shoulder, crossing back and chest at a diagonal to reveal the dress beneath. That dress is composed of silk panels in complex geometric shapes, tightly interlaced together. Here and there as the wearer moves, small lions of golden silk slide in and out between some of the panels.
A Loving Gaze - RY708. Commission (Scarlet Empress, for Princess V'neef). Commissioned in celebration of the Princess’ delivery of quintuplets and her elevation to head a Great House, consisting of three extravagantly painted and embroidered robes of velvet silk, and an additional layer. The shortest outer robe was blue green, embroidered with a pattern of roiling waves that seem to shift and flow with the wearer’s movements. Beneath this a second robe of verdant green, painted with scenes of vineyards, villas, and trellised grapes, stretching out to the horizon. The third, innermost robe is scarlet in colour, with a brocade depicting the great structures of the Imperial Palace and the pentagram mon of the Realm. Between the second and third robes is found one more robe, pure white and completely without adornment.
An Abundance of Vision – RY707. Commission (V'neef Mahara). A robe of green, pattered with geometric shapes coloured so at a distance they appear to be a garden. Over this, a phenolion of ivory silk, divided in strips with ends coiled just above the ground, their surfaces painted with the life cycles of various flowers, seeds sprouting around the neck, through flowering and fruiting, to wither as they near the feet.
A Past Embrace – RY582. Commission ([[?, for Sesus Nagat). An ornate coat of scarlet and burgundy silk, decorated with bronze filigree, thicker metalwork padding the shoulders. A serpent of gold and brass serves as a heavy necklace resting around a high, open collar, winding about the neck but with most of its weighty coils pressed to the back, for its two heads, one a hooded cobra and one a fanged asp, to face each other while framing the wearer’s head.
A Loving Touch – RY385. Commission (Princess Mnemon). A garment of lavender Silk, conservative in cut but slit for ease of movement, hems and cuffs weighed by worked Ivory and White Jade. A rarity for a work out of Ragged Lace, the garment incorporates a breastplate and crown said to predate it, drawn from the Princess’ panoply, working their shapes and forms into the whole.
A Rising Beauty – RY362. Commission (Scarlet Empress, for Imperial Consort Tepet). A tight-fitted jacket of sky-blue silk in a military cut of the modern era, though open at the front from a high collar into a triangle stretching from below the shoulders to a point at the navel. Clasps of White Jade sit at the belt to bear two scabbards and a fan, while the belt itself is buckled with a pentagram of Red Jade. Over this jacket, a kataginu coat in Shogunate style, its stiff pointed shoulders seeming to be cloud-patterned silk at first glance, its’ trailing hem showing its Gossamer nature as it leaves a trail of pink cherry blossoms, evaporating in the wearer’s wake. Missing, presumed lost.
A Mountain Poem – RY130. Commission (Scarlet Empress, for Imperial Husband Rawar of Arjuf). An outer robe of shimmering silk, its patterns abstract as its colours descend from snow white at its high collar through greys and browns to ocean blues at the hems, decorated with swirling filigree of silver and gold. The robe is held closed at the shoulder by a pentagram brooch of Red Jade. The robe is accompanied by a small octagonal official’s cap, adorned at the front with an arc-shaped golden ornament. It is also accessorized with seven rings of Orichalcum, one for each finger: five banded with Jade in each of its colours, one bearing a great Ruby, and one unadorned, said to be the marriage ring bestowed upon the Imperial Husband by the Scarlet Empress herself. The finger left empty bore another unadorned ring, of Moonsilver. It is presently located in the Empress’ private galleries within the Imperial Palace’s Tower of Seeking Clarity.
A Mantle of Authority – ?. Rumoured Commission (Scarlet Empress). A voluminous mantle and robe of the most vibrant scarlet Silk, edged and belted in Orichalc, over a corset worked in similar colours and materials, which rises to a high open collar. Open orichalcum metalwork covers the shoulders, and to complete the garment there is a crown of worked orichalcum in the form of several opulently-decorated pins and a large, arc-shaped hair ornament. This garment has been thought, though never confirmed, to be magical in nature, and likewise thought but not confirmed to be the work of Onherra.
