When my guards and I walked in, the store was fairly empty of customers, just a single other customer who was seemed like he didn’t know what he was looking for. As to why this store only had a single customer, while the other stores I visited had a handful of customers at the bare minimum? Turns out whoever stylized the clothes here somehow came across Indian clothes, since a lot of these clothes look like India and China had a fling in an alleyway, and these clothes were their children. The clothes end up having a lot more long vests, almost coming down to their knees, as well as a lot of clothes that have suit-like elements, but more akin to traditional Chinese wear. The other thing is that the clothes contained more cotton and soft wool, whereas the clothes in this world contained silk and cotton as their main clothing material.

The reason I was pleasantly surprised when I peeked through the window? Suits from my world don’t use silk as much, sure some luxury suits use silk, but your average work suit, even an great one, would be made of cotton or wool. The fact that this woman, Pianxin, already works with the clothing materials I’d want to largely use gave me a first good impression. The other thing? A lot of her clothes had buttons and clasps, a design element in clothes I wasn’t finding here. The clothes here tending to be long and flowing, usually being tucked in as a way of securing loose pieces of fabric. Along with the “suit-like” elements, I didn’t think it would be a huge leap for this cloth maker to make something akin to a suit.

I walked up to their counter, finding some young looking boy, likely a son of Pianxin, manning it. When I ask about commissions, the kid warns me about the differing design choices compared to the usual Jade Empire style, and that Pianxin likely wouldn’t take something super traditional. I reply back, “Oh don’t worry, I’m looking for something unusual myself, and it looks like Pianxin just might be able to make it. Definitely would be up her alley, even if a bit different than what she is used to”. This makes the kid arch his eyebrows, before walking over to a doorway that leads into the back of the store, and yelling “Mom, we have someone who wants to commission something”.

It takes a second, but eventually a Chinese woman walks out of the back room, wearing even wonkier clothes than what was in the show room. The lady spends a second looking me up and down, clearly seeing that my clothes indicate I’m from a powerful Clan, the blue colors hinting at my exact Clan, while my bodyguards indicate I am likely a Young Master, if not higher up in the Clan hierarchy. Eventually she says “Little Zhou, are you sure you want to commission something from me? Surely someone from your Clan has told you about my particular design style”.

Setting the few rough sketches I made of the suites onto the counter, telling her “Yes, I’m aware, and while these don’t match up with your exact style, I notice pieces of your work fit in with my desired outfits, and that you work with the materials I’m looking for in most of my commissions”. Pointing to the everyday work suit, I specify I want it to be made with cotton, in a darker navy blue color scheme. Pointing to the fancier work outfit, I concede that this one will be made with silk, with a similar navy blue, but likely would be a bit lighter. Pointing to the last one, the more European styled suit, I specify I want this one to be white and made out of her softest wool, as I had noticed some outfits that looked like it was made out of cashmere. At first she isn’t paying attention to the actual designs, she’s more happy that everything isn’t completely silk, understanding that something had to be silk, current fashion just forces at least something to be made of silk. As Pianxin’s worry about the materials were abated, she began noticing the unusual design in front of her eyes.

“Boy, who sketched these designs? These are like nothing I have ever seen andI would very much like to meet the designer” Pianxin asks. With this question, my commanding presence begins to activate, dissuading her from acting up further and questioning my abilities. Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I take a second to calm down, telling her they are my designs, along with a carefully phrased statement saying where I am from we have a fashion similar to this.

With that statement, this sets her off, as she runs off into the back room, scouring the area for the types of cloth and the colors she is looking for. After a few minutes pass, the frantic banging and sliding as materials are thrown everywhere begins the subside. Eventually she comes back to the front, arms leaden with various bolts of fabric. After she has laid them down, she unrolls them a bit so I can get a feel for them, and I give my approval for the ones I’m looking for, ultimately finding a type of wool that is even softer than the cashmere wool I had seen. After given her as detailed of an explanation as I could about certain design details, such as how certain lapels should look, the placement of the slits, or vents, in the suit jacket, as well as how I want the pants the rest on my legs, she proceeds to get my various measurements. Afterwards, she tells me to come back in a few days for the final fitting. I tell her that assuming I like what I see, I’ll have a couple smaller things I’d like made, making sure she sets aside a couple different silk and wool colors, as I had forgotten to include ties in my initial designs.

Leaving the shop a bit winded after all that talking, I notice it is close enough to dinner time that I have my guards and begin to look for some delicious street food vendors.