Briefies, activewear popular in The British Paradise Islands

from *The Essential Paradise*

#### **Doc. 5,19.**

**Briefies** are a lightweight, form-fitting exercise garment popular amongst active girls and young women in the British Paradise Islands.

The garment was essentially invented by author Jonnie Comet to fill a costuming need in the Two Paradises fantasy/fiction realm, particular as regards modesty and utility for girls playing Strategy.

## Origin

The garment was developed by several territorial designers and makers somewhat simultaneously, dating to the mid-1980s. Briefies have become very popular amongst female players of the Strategy mock-warfare game, which places a premium on physical agility, comfort in the heat, and the ability of a garment to become wet from swimming or sweat and to dry adequately whilst being worn.

As many have found, the tropical climate of Paradise supports, if not requiring, abbreviated attire for those engaged in active, out-of-doors pursuits. Both a brevity in the cut and a lightness of the material of clothing can prove vital to comfort when temperatures are routinely over 32 degrees, humidity is intense and sunshine, filtered through oceanic atmospheric conditions, is ample and healthful.

## Influence of Strategy game

The advent of the mock-warfare action game Strategy placed unique demands on popular leisure attire. Most young men pursuing the game were content with military-surplus tropical theatre gear, short trousers, canvas boots and soft cotton shirts often with sleeves shorn off; and from the first more than one embarked in a game in a cotton loincloth or native wrap. Cases are legion in which this tendency to dress down has been taken to extremes by both sexes. In fact one early island Strategist is reputed to have suggested that game attire should be ‘Only the next best thing to going without.’

Girls first attracted to the pastime sought a blend of utilitarian sports attire and beachwear. Modesty may have been a lesser concern, as the games frequently take place in open fields, on isolated beaches or in dense jungles, far from population centres; and female players quickly found that by dressing exceptionally briefly, often in bikini swimsuits or even mere lingerie (classified as 'private attire' under commonly-acceptable dress codes), was physically comfortable as well as tactically beneficial when confronting male adversaries.

Though popular and inexpensive, and having an appropriate degree of physical freedom and feminine appeal, common underpants' thin unlined cotton proved less than ideally durable or modest; and the nylon-Spandex blend of most swimming costumes made them only slightly more so whilst being much more costly. What was needed was a new exercise garment, formfitting yet pliant to facilitate agility for climbing, running or swimming, resilient against abrasion and constant dampness and muckiness, easily laundered and quick-drying, lightweight to be cool in hot, stiff jungle air and brief enough to foster both comfort and a measure of island chic.

## Angel of Paradise solution

Angel Cavaliere, through her boutique Angel of Paradise, had already been developing a cotton-Spandex material, heavier than that for lingerie, that provided the requisite toughness and versatility for women in outdoor exercise and casual pursuits. Her design for briefies was based upon that of the buruma of Japanese schoolgirls; but, lined in light, breathable nylon tricot to ensure modesty, cut to fit snugly but low at the legs and moderately high at the waist, it proved immediately popular amongst active young women. Indeed, to meet the demand of girls playing Strategy, Angel of Paradise began marketing the garments in muted, dull colours suitable as camouflage in the jungles and heaths of the islands.

Some scholastic athletes, particularly in track and field, prefer briefies over standard secondary-school athletic bloomers. It is not unheard-of for girls to prefer them for regular PE attendance as well; though in most cases this is counter to prescribed school dress codes.

## Appearances in stories

Most of the female characters in the Two Paradises realm have worn briefies in the course of a story. A comprehensive list would be exhaustive.
Janine Hewlett describes wearing bright-blue briefies to play in the schoolyard with her friends, and later to visit the beach, in *Janine's First Date*. Briefies are not ordinarily worn for sunbathing, due to their providing more coverage than would bikini-style swimsuit pants; but such is not unheard-of.

Many of the girls playing Strategy in Somerset tend to briefies or else swimsuit pants.

The girls of Rhonda's Raiders, a successful team made up almost entirely of teenaged girls, prescribe a dress code by which players shall wear either olive-green canvas hiking shorts or olive-green briefies.

Jenny Talbot frequently wears briefies when cycling between her house in Surfside and the Camelot estate, often for Strategy engagements. One may assume her bicycle saddle provides sufficient comfort; she would be expected to wear conventional bicycling shorts otherwise.

Neither Lady Kimberley nor Lady Susie is ever seen to wear briefies.

## Illustration example

The illustration shows a girl typically attired for a Strategy game in Paradise. The briefies, here in light olive, fit to just above the curve of the hip; and the legs are analogous to those in an exercise leotard. The girl wears a dark-brown cotton t-shirt, mid-height boots in waterproofed canvas with heavy rubber lug soles, and a bandanna about her head to both constrain her hair and to wick away perspiration. As do many girls playing the games, she has chosen a bright colour for the bandanna, either in deference to girllish chic or to defy an enemy to target her in combat, much in the way flamboyant cockcades were often worn by combatants in times past. She would probably carry a black plastic air-powered rifle to fire wax pellets and might wear a belt of canvas webbing on which she can carry spare ammunition and supplies. So attired she is able, without any compromise to either her dignity or to her team manoeuvres, to climb hillsides, scale trees and fences, swim or ford streams, and run at full speed in the pursuit of a competitive game strategy.

## See also

Girls' athletic bloomers, as worn for PE classes in the BPI

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