Civil vestments of Themiclesia

Civil uniforms of Themiclesia have been worn by civil servants and members of certain institutions as symbols of public power and distinction. Lay persons may also wear them in some contexts to express affiliation or support for the state or its institutions.

Sashes

The sash (綬, dus) is an piece of fabric worn about the waist, originally for the suspension of objects; it was distinct from the belt (帶, dats), whose principal function was to keep robes closed. In Themiclesia, seals were used to close and authenticate letters, and in bureaucratic contexts they became symbols of power. Seals were suspended from the sash, which also gained the meaning of rank and office in the 4th century. In 392, all bureaucrats with a seal of office were required to suspend it from a crimson sash, which was forbidden to commoners; however, a blanket ban on crimson sashes was difficult to enforce, and by the Rang period (early 6th century) the royal court had begun issuing brocade sashes with patterns only known to palace weavers. It is unclear if the colour of the sash was used as a signifier of rank during the Rang dynasty, but it was reformed according to Menghean tastes in the mid-6th century in that way.

Under the Mrangh dynasty (543 – 753), sashes were divided into seven grades:

• Crimson: the emperor, patriarchs, palatine princes, and their spouses;
• Green: chancellors of the above;
• Purple: barons;
• Blue: bureaucrats of the 2,000-bushel rank;
• Black: bureaucrats of the 1,000-bushel rank;
• Yellow: bureaucrats of the 800, 700, and 600-bushel ranks;
• Grey: all other bureaucrats.

These were awarded according to ranks at court, and it seems they were the only article formally issued by the state. Commoners were not forbidden from wearing sashes of any colour, as long as it was not of brocade. However, the difficulty of harmonizing ranks of the aristocracy with those of the civil service was also evident in sashes, and aristocrats were sometimes assigned sashes according to their own ranks or those of the office they held. The seven grades of sashes remained stable since the Mrangs dynasty until 989, when a reddish sash was introduced for the Crown Prince. This is generally seen as a sign of the strengthening of the monarchy, as formerly royal princes wore the purple sash of barons.

Refinements of the sashes were attempted in the 13th and 14th centuries to reflect changing power patterns at the royal court. Patriarchs, nobles of the first rank, were forbidden from wearing the crimson sash, which was then reserved for the Emperor; instead, they received a greenish sash with crimson hatches. Variations in the purple sash of the baronage were introduced in the early 1300s to distinguish barons who served at the imperial court. On the other hand, the grey sash was generalized to any person who held public office. With the establishment of a standing army of size (numbering at least 30,000 by 1350), the sahses of the imperial court were carried into military use.

During the Themiclesian Republic, the system of sashes saw further specification at the higher end, as symbols of individual offices and the social positions they implied. It is thought that the use of reweaving originated in the Republic. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1513, the system of sashes stabilized again, with few revisions until the modern period. Rationalizations accepted during the modern period included the identification of purple as the colour of nobility and of green as that of cancellarial authority. Secondary colours are usually associated with aspects of the rank permitted to wear it. For example, the Chancellor of Themiclesia was required to wear a solid-green sash, while the First Vice-Chancellor, authorized to act as his deputy, a purple sash with green stripes; the Second Vice-Chancellor, not vested with this authority, wore a purple sash without green stripes. These alterations pushed the system towards specification of individual offices, rather than ranks of them, at the higher end.

Base colour	Secondary colours	Tertiary colours	Wearer
			Nobility	Civil officers	Army (1800s)	Navy (1800s)
Crimson	Gold, cyan	Purple, blue	Emperor
Green	Gold, cyan	Purple, blue	Patriarchs
Green	Purple, blue	Gold, crimson		Chancellor
Salmon	Gold, cyan	Purple, blue	Crown Prince
Purple	Scarlet, green	Green, white		First Vice-Chancellor
	Scarlet, white	Green, white		Second Vice-Chancellor
		Gold	Chief Baron	Account-Chancellor, Exchequer-Chancellor
		Gold, white		Third Vice-Chancellor
		White	Baron	President of Barons	Generals	President of Admirals
Violet	Scarlet, white	White	Baronet			Admirals
Indigo	Blue, red	White		Attorney-general
Blue	Blue, red	White		Permanent Secretary	Colonel-general
Black	Blue, red	Blue		Deputy Secretary	Colonel
Yellow	Blue	White		Under Secretary, Assistant Secretary	Major	Captain
Aqua	White	Yellow		Other senior civil officers	Captain	Lieutenant

Hats

Like many other Meng people, Themiclesians of all sexes did not usually cut their hear but tied it together in various ways, usually on top or the side of their heads. While the reluctance to cut hair was philosophized as respect for the physical form created by one's parents, scholars generally think this was not the original motivation. In the bronze age, pictorial evidence shows that those with means often tied their hair against decorative hair pins, loops, or both. More head jewellery was worn about one's hair, and in some cases rigid support structures were necessary to prevent increasing elaborate head jewellery, often made of heavy jade beads and tubes, from sliding off. Later, these pieces became standard for wear at court.

Modern court dress

Until 1975, Themiclesian nationals appearing at the royal court were required to be in court dress, when the Progressives abolished these rules believing they impeded the public from court ceremonies.

Casaterran forms of dress were accepted for nationals in 1827, traditionally attributed to the trend-setting sartorial flare of the Lord of Ran. The government revised attire rules aiming both to align the Themiclesian court with Casaterran ones and to preserve native affinity. New rules were promulgated by the Cabinet Office in 1841, 1850, 1871, and 1922, by which point it was no longer strictly enforced. After Emperor Hên' came to the throne, his regent Empress Dowager Gwidh forbade further changes to the court attire. While Gwidh died in 1955, subsequent prime ministers were eager to use the antiquated courtly attire to appease traditionalists even pushing progressive agenda. Though now it is no longer necessary to adhere to sartorial rules visiting the royal court, many voluntarily do so, and attire is commercially offered for hire.

Men

In 1827, it was ordered courtiers might wear Casaterran clothes if they also wore a traditional outer-robe (表, prjaw) over them. While Casaterran clothes were much lighter and more mobile than traditional robes, adopters were few and far-between, since courtiers had servants to carry their trains and assist them up carriages and steps; however, amongst the royal retainers, adoption was more enthusiastic. This hybrid attire became mainstream in the 1830s as more households in Kien-k'ang started wearing Western attire. In 1841, Emperor Ng'jarh also permitted courtiers to eschew the outer-robe in non-ceremonial occasions, where badges of rank and honour were not requisite.

While it was not so regulated, formal attire was always worn where full court dress was traditional, which meant a top hat, black tailcoat, and white waistcoat, shirt, cravat, and trousers. Conflict between traditional and Casaterran formality was fortuitously averted since formal Themiclesian activities occurred in the morning, while formal Casaterran occasions, after dark. Additionally, the wearing of a Themiclesian robe over formal Casaterran garments gave the impression that the domestic formality was superior to the introduced one.

In 1850, the forms and occasions of Western dress were reformed at court to meet contemporary Casaterran standards. Men were permitted to wear black or near-black tailcoats for all occasions that formerly demanded full-dress robes and frock coats for other activities at court. It seems for solemn occasions, the traditional robes were still more popular, at least earlier in the reign of Emperor Tjang (1857 – 64). The 1850s saw the tailcoat phased out for day wear in Casaterra, but it was retained in this context as late as 1871 in Themiclesia. That year, the court adopted the frock coat for all daytime activities and reserved the tailcoat for evenings; correspondingly, this was also when state banquets shifted from breakfasts to dinners.

In the 1860s, black became the dominant colour of both tail and frock coats, and waistcoats shed their ornamentation for a more reserved aesthetic, under the influence of Tyrannian Queen Catherine's court. It became awkward for military officers to wear colourful insignia on their tail and frock coats, outdressing government ministers and the sovereign; as a result, military coats also darkened and lost their embellishments. By 1870, military dress coats differed from civilian coats only in cut and buttoning, the former usually double-breasted and closed.

The frock coat remained the morning court dress for the remainder of the 19th century and the 20th. During the 19th, frock coats were informally mandatory at meetings of the House of Commons, since the legislature was technically meeting under royal command and exercising royal powers, but peers sitting in the House of Lords wore tailcoats as late as 1870, since it was felt to be in the immediate presence of the throne, even if unoccupied. This rule also applied to visitors to the royal court. Depending on the occasion, informal or formal frock coats may be worn; formal frock coats were in navy, charcoal, or black and was paired with a waistcoat and cravat of muted colours, and informal frock coats were all the others. Lounge suits and smoking jackets were considered inappropriate.

See also

• Themiclesia