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How does clothing work with a prehensile tail?

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Yej (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
#1: May 3rd 2011 at 11:57:14 AM

So I've got a sci-fi species that have Prehensile Tails, and I was trying to imagine their culture, and ran headlong into this problem. Obviously, shirts and so on work mostly the same, (apart from proportions) but what would they wear on the lower half of their bodies?

One idea that occurred to me was monk-style robes, but since they use their tails for balance, the robes would seem to get in the way. Trousers wouldn't really work because they'd be awkward to fit a tail through, or would be too low down to pull tight easily.

Anyone got any ideas?

edited 3rd May '11 12:22:49 PM by Yej

deuxhero Micromastophile from FL-24 Since: Jan, 2001
Micromastophile
#2: May 3rd 2011 at 12:07:16 PM

Robes with an open "slit" in the back area could work depending on the type of tail (in-fact, depending on the level of dexterity/thumb having, wearing them "backward", with the robe fastening in the back instead of the front would also work. Skirts+Stockings could work as well.

edited 3rd May '11 12:10:01 PM by deuxhero

DhanaRagnarok Disturbingly mustachioed. from France. COCO-FLIPPIN'-RICO. Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Disturbingly mustachioed.
#3: May 3rd 2011 at 12:10:49 PM

Maybe some kind of (manlier) apron ? Well, if you don't have any problem with showing their rear...

Otherwise, some kind of roman skirt (you know, the ones made of multiple leather bands, which would allow their tail to "go through")...Sry, that's all I can think of^^'

[up]Or that. Way less weird.

edited 3rd May '11 12:12:09 PM by DhanaRagnarok

Look upon my R.O.U.S., ye mighty, and despair!
Bur from Flyover Country (Living Relic) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#4: May 3rd 2011 at 12:13:23 PM

I've been trying to figure this out too. It's become a somewhat interesting affair since in his case it's going to have to be part of a military uniform...Baaaaaah, tails!

annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#5: May 3rd 2011 at 12:36:04 PM

I discovered this on a how to draw manga website years ago.

The page

A long time ago I created a character design for Satan (a cheerful punk-rocker type of guy) who had a pointed devil tail. He didn't have specially fitted jeans so he just sagged them and let his tail poke out over the waistband.

edited 3rd May '11 12:38:26 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Quoth Pink's alright, I guess. Since: Apr, 2010
Pink's alright, I guess.
#6: May 3rd 2011 at 1:07:14 PM

Hm, classical pants go as high as the waist (or a tad lower). It would be easy to pull the pant up to the butt cheeks, make the tail go through the hole and then pull the pants up. Especially if the tail can move on its own. I think you're overthinking this, really.

annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#7: May 3rd 2011 at 1:16:28 PM

I agree. The concept of a tail-hole that can be buttoned open or shut has always made sense to me.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#8: May 3rd 2011 at 1:29:44 PM

Wrap-waist pants can easily be made so that they wrap and tie on the sides instead of the front and back, This leaves the center back overlap unsewn. The butt-flap idea (Like the American {{Dennis The Menace}'s jammies have, would also work

edited 3rd May '11 1:31:22 PM by Madrugada

RTaco Since: Jul, 2009
#9: May 4th 2011 at 7:37:31 PM

You could do what Jak And Daxter did, and have pants with a third leg.

edited 4th May '11 7:37:42 PM by RTaco

HistoryMaker Since: Oct, 2010
annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#11: May 5th 2011 at 12:54:52 PM

Guys, it's not that complicated. Either sag 'em or tailor a buttonable tailhole into them.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Yej (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
#12: May 6th 2011 at 8:29:51 AM

[up][up][up][up] I've never heard of wrap-waist pants. (Or maybe I have, but not by that name) Do you have any more information?

[up] Just wondering, why do you think the tailhole would be closable?

annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#13: May 6th 2011 at 8:37:16 AM

Because this picture.

It also occurs to me that slipping the tail in through an open slit between the waistband and tailhole, then buttoning the slit shut, is probably quicker and easier than trying to snake the tail through—especially a furry one.

Don't forget, too, that you'll also have to be able to take your pants off easily when you go to the bathroom, and put them on again.

edited 6th May '11 8:37:59 AM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#14: May 6th 2011 at 11:28:11 AM

A basic wrap-waist pant. To allow the tail free play, all you would do would be leave the back center seam open for part of its length (wherever is most comfortable for the tail) and run the back waist tie all the way across the top of the back piece instead of only fastening it at the corners. That would hold the top center back together.

Or you could sew only the lower part of the crotch curve and and tie the pants on the sides rather than center back and center front.

edited 6th May '11 11:28:22 AM by Madrugada

Yej (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
#15: May 6th 2011 at 1:13:04 PM

[up][up]Oh, I thought you meant something else. That diagram does make more sense.

[up] Ah, that was interesting. (And yes, I'd never heard of the things) I think I'll go with that, and maybe with the reverse-pants idea (with or without the third leg) for the more elaborate occasions.

Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#16: May 6th 2011 at 1:46:01 PM

Incidentally, with wrap waist pants, you can also sew the outer leg seams shut — they don't have to drape open like the ones on that picture. Hakama are wrap-waist pants with a (mostly closed) outer seam. again, to leave the tail unimpeded, all you would do would be leave a section of the center back seam open.

draconiansuperior The Draconic Superior from Home, doing stuff Since: May, 2011
The Draconic Superior
#17: May 6th 2011 at 5:43:28 PM

there's one aspect of drawing animalistic characters called "the Wookie rule" which says that character can be naked without actually being naked by being coved by some natural coverings, I had made an intelligent upright protobird species with a tail, and I just put a jacket on it, and that was it

Nomic Exitus Acta Probat from beyond the Void Since: Jan, 2001
Exitus Acta Probat
#18: May 7th 2011 at 12:52:28 AM

For my demons, I usually just have the tail stick out through a hole, which admittable is kinda silly whne they're wearing armour. If they're wearing robes or skirts, the tail is usually under it. Funny thing is, whenever I draw Zaran on my computer, her tail sticks out from under the skirt, but when I draw her by ahnd, I always make it stick out over the waistline of her skirt (probably because when I draw by hand, I maker her tail a lot more prehensile, while when drawn on a computer it just hangs there).

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