Chume'taly Clothing

The
styles of dress vary drastically from cat to cat. Each type has different ideas
on what is proper in dress and what colors should be used and what is good for
personal adornment.

## Lions

They dress in a style reminiscent of
traditional African garb. They love bright colors and geometric patterns. This
bleeds over into their house hold decorating as well. No space in the home goes
undecorated by even a simple pattern. Clothing consists largely of hip wraps
(nari), vests (so’tam), loose pants (a’dlet), and loin cloths (t’lunak).
Earrings (jeken) are the jewelry of choice, though only one ear is pierced.
Typically, a male will have the right ear pierced while the females will do the
left. A status symbol among the wealthier women is the wearing of rings at the
base of the tuft on their tail (called tlufen). Usually only three are worn as
otherwise it can get quite heavy. They operate on a quality rather than
quantity frame of mind.

## Tigers

As they already have a pattern to
their fur, they dislike patterns in their clothing. Colors tend to be quite
pale, like whites, greys, and lighter colors. Dark colors aren’t used often as
they are highly symbolic in tiger culture. Black, for example, is the color of
battle and is only worn when one has a grudge or feud they are engaged in. Black
can also be used to mourn the death of a leader. Dark red is the color worn by
mourners for a friend, while a more Crimson color is used when mourning a close
relative. Deep blue is indicative of an assassin, so it’s not a color that is
prevalent in society. Dark green is only worn by those who have abandoned
society and choose to live on their own in the forests. This color can also be
worn to indicate status as a Dragonrider. Dark purple is worn exclusively by
scholars. Deep grey has become associated with the nobility, especially if it
has a slight purple hue to it. These symbolic colors and others are used in
plays to indicate who is who. Tiger plays are quite complex and these devices
are relied on quite heavily as a result. They don’t hold their white cousins to
these devices, or anyone else for that matter.

They dress in a very Indian style
with a sarong-like wrapped skirt they call a gi’ri, loose pants (dal’en), long
vests (mnalit), and baggy shirts (fe’zuun). Some wealthier women choose to wear
layer veils (daluren) which cover either the whole face (ka’daluren) or just
the lower half (se’daluren). Se’daluren are not to be confused with the single
veil worn by dancers which are called
jaken’luren. Likewise, ka’daluren are not to be confused with bridal
veils (jalfa‘luren), which consist of three layers, each one longer than the
one above it. Necklaces in varying types are the jewelry of choice.  Most common is the hak’menar, a single chain,
sometimes with a small pendant (jelupp). Without the pendant, the term hak’me
is applied. With the pendant, hak’menar is used. Wealthy males often sport
Ijihad‘menar, which are complex layered chains with many pendants and
ornaments.

## White Tigers

They are quite similar to the other
tigers, though they like the darker colors to contrast with their paler fur.
They don’t follow the color codes of the other tigers, though, so if one wasn’t
aware of that and saw a white tiger, they might get the wrong idea.

Panthers

They have a very basic mode of
dress, making their clothing entirely from the skins of animals in a very
Native American style. They don’t use a lot of dyes as they prefer the natural
skin tones of the hides. When they do dye, it’s largely to make clothing for a
special function, such as funerary shrouds and wedding cloaks. Jewelry is
mostly beads and feathers in combination with each other, though some have been
known to decorate their clothes by using the fur of the animals.

Uteran
– pants

Pferital
– vests that have buttons made of animal teeth or claws.

Earrings are called jeken’pel if
made with feathers, jeken’telun if made with beads, and jeken’pelun if made
with a combination of beads and feathers. Powerful individuals and leaders have
furred mantles made with the animal heads still attached to the hide (atel’paloref).
Necklaces are named similarly. Hak’me’pel are chains decorated with feathers,
hak’me’telun for beaded decorations, and hak’me’pelun for combinations of beads
and feathers. Chains made entirely of beads are called Telun’me. Animal teeth
and bones aren’t used in any personal decoration, but sold to those who would
care to use them.

## White Panthers

Their clothing is more reminiscent
of Egyptian garb than the Native American style favored by their cousins. They
use a cotton-like cloth (fejular) by preference and like to dye or embroider
patterns onto the hems of the made clothing.
They have a peculiar fondness for wrapping strands of cloth (fejular),
leather (et’jul), or ribbon (un’jel) in a crisscross fashion around the tops of
their feet in a style called vrot’pel. Jewelry is not widely used, even among
the wealthy. Colors lean towards earth tones and occasionally pastels.

## Leopard

These cats dress in a very Asiatic
style. Their clothing resembles the traditional Hui, Gin, and Han costumes.

Jelon
(Han style men’s shirt), Jeleen (Han style woman’s shirt), Ka’pol (Gin style
shirt), Ver’tuk (loose pants, ankle length), Yal’tuk (loose pants bound just
above the knee), (Hui style woman’s
shirt), Zorel (woman’s Hui style long vest), and Bal’rai (man’s Hui style short
vest) make up their wardrobes.

They are fond of vibrant colors and
glossy fabrics. Those who can afford to have clothing made from imported
Ryuutenshi silks do so. They mostly use the same kind of cloth (fejular) as the
white panthers do. Purples, deep reds, and gem tones are highly favored and,
due to the cost of acquiring those dyes, quite pricy. Lavender tones, blues,
and greens make up the bulk of the common spectrum. Bracelets (an’tel), anklets
(firr’tel), and arm bands (veon’tel) are standard jewelry items.

## Snow Leopard

Leathers and hides are prevalent in
this society. They look somewhat Inuit in design. They wear thick leather
leggings with lace up sides that hug they legs (ko’vaan) that sometimes have
fur on the cuffs (ko’vaan’lok), hooded coats (ja’neal), gloves (leit),
sleeveless under tunics (huun), and fur hats (rei’shun). Jewelry is highly
uncommon so they exercise their creativity by making decorative weapons and
weave intricate rugs for their homes.

## Cheetah

To accommodate their speed, they
wear as little as possible. Shorts (kel), crop tops (minal), and even loin
cloths (t’lunak) are the norm. They like clothes that are multi colored. A
luxury item is a vest woven from several different colors of ribbon. These can
be made from complimenting colors or from different shades of a single color
that are called arpali’maj. These have no fewer than three colors or shades.
The more colors in a vest indicates a high price and speaks to the great skill
of the weaver. They have a great love of arm bands (veon’tel), leg bands
(akla’tel), and bracers for the arms (veon’kedun) and the lower legs
(akla’kedun).