Clothing & Garments of Free Women of city cultures on Gor

In most cities FW are veiled
Commonly wear robes of concealment
Often wear gloves
"Free women, in most of the high cities on Gor, particularly those of higher caste, go veiled in public. Also they commonly wear the robes of concealment, which cover them from head to toe. Even gloves are often worn. There are many reasons for this, having to do with modesty, security, and such."
Magicians

In this chair, in graceful lassitude, weary, sat another girl, though one whose features, as she wore sheaths of pinned veils, I could not well remark. I was startled, discerning the volume and splendor of her robes; they were multicolored and brilliant in their sheens and chromatic textures, and so draped and worn that, particularly at the hem, the diverse borders of these various garments seemed to compete with one another to win the observer’s accolade as the finest, the most resplendent, of all. About the robes and over the hood and veils of the garmenting were slung medallions and necklaces of wrought gold, pendant with gems. On her hands were white gloves, fastened with hooks of gold. Beneath the final hem of the innermost robe I saw the toes of golden slippers, jeweled, and scarlet-threaded, sparkling in the torchlight.
Slave Girl

Same as slave tower position except FW does not cross wrists.
The position of the Tower Slave, in which Vika knelt, differs from that of a free woman only in the position of the wrists which are held before her and, when not occupied, crossed as though for binding. A free woman’s wrists are never so placed.
Priest Kings

Normally, only a father and a husband (FC I presume ~s~) may see a woman unveiled.
Normally, of men, only a father and a husband may look upon the woman unveiled.
Tarnsman

FW normally do not show their face to strangers.
(These particular unveiled "FW" are really slaves to entertain men at a dinner party)
"In my city," I said, "free women would not permit themselves to be seen unveiled before strangers."
Nomads

Veils not required by law, they are a matter of custom and modesty.
The veil, it might be noted, is not legally imperative for a free woman; it is rather a matter of modesty and custom. Some low-class, uncompanioned, free girls do not wear veils. Similarly certain bold free women neglect the veil. Neglect of the veil is not a crime in Gorean cities, though in some it is deemed a brazen and scandalous omission.
Slave Girl

On the whole, however, Gorean culture prescribes the veil for free women.
Slave Girl

Here we see five veils - the light veil, the freedom veil, the pride veil, the house veil, and the street veil.
Each is heavier and more opaque than the one beneath it.
"Eta, from behind me, pinned the first of five veils about my face. It was light, and shimmering, of white silk, almost transparent. Then, one after the other, she added the freedom veil, or veil of the citizeness, the pride veil, the house veil, and the street veil. Each of these is heavier and more opaque than the one which lies within.
Slave Girl

The street veil (the outermost veil visible to others) is extremely bulky.
It is very heavy and one is unable to see the lines of the FW's nose or cheeks beneath it.
The street veil, worn publicly, is extremely bulky, quite heavy and completely opaque; not even the lineaments of the nose and cheeks are discernible when it is worn;
Slave Girl

House veil is worn indoors when anyone not in the immediate family is present.
the house veil is worn indoors when there are those present who are not of the household, as in conversing with or entertaining associates of one’s companion.
Slave Girl

The intimacy veil, a long veil that wraps about the face several times
I then took forth a long, linear face veil; it was red; it was an intimacy veil; any given layer of this veil is quite diaphanous; its opacity is a function of the number of times it is wrapped about the face; a free woman, entertaining an anxious lover, might detain him for days, each night permitting him a less obscure glimpse of her features, until the shattering moment when she perhaps permits him to gaze upon her unclothed face.
Beasts

Veils are worn in various combinations depending on caste and vanity.
Veils are worn in various numbers and combinations by Gorean free women, this tending to vary by preference and caste. Many low class Gorean women own only a single veil which must do for all purposes. Not all high-caste women wear a large number of veils. A free woman, publicly, will commonly wear, one or two veils; a frequent combination is the light veil, or last veil, and the house or street veil. Rich, vain women of high caste may wear ostentatiously as many as nine or ten veils.
Slave Girl

Peasant woman in simple rep cloth veil
I saw her eyes wild with fear for a moment above the rep-cloth veil and she had sped past me. She was peasant, barefoot, her garment little more than coarse sacking.
Nomads

Face and hair concealed by veils and robes
Her face could not be seen, for it was veiled, a white silken veil trimmed with gold, nor even her hair, for it was hidden in the folds of the free woman's Robes of Concealment, in her case, of course, done in the colors of the merchants.
Nomads

"I cannot go to Turia!" she cried.
"Why not?" I asked.
"I have no veil!" she cried.
Nomads

May drink through veils so as not to reveal any features
"Free women, drinking, commonly lift their veil, or veils, with the left hand. Low-caste free women, if veiled, usually do the same. Sometimes, however, particularly if they are in public, they will drink through their veil, or veils. Sometimes, of course, free women will drink unveiled, even with guests. Much depends upon how well the individuals are known, and who is present. In their homes, of course, with only the members of their families present, or servants and slaves, most free women do not veil themselves, even those of high caste."
Fighting Slave

FW guard their privacy, their feelings and emotions.
Veils conceal facial expressions which reveal these emotions
On Gor, for free women, both body veiling and face veiling are cultural, and tend to be widely practiced. I suppose, objectively, there is something more to be said for face veiling than body veiling. Bodies, though differing remarkably, one to the other, tend perhaps to be somewhat more similar than faces. Accordingly, if one should be concerned to protect one’s privacy and one’s feelings, and such, it seems that the face might preferably be veiled. In the face, surely, it is easier to read emotion and individuality than in a body. Should not the face then, if one is concerned with concealment and privacy, be veiled? Is the face not more personal and revealing than the body? Does it not make sense then to consider it a proper object of concealment in a free person? Is one not entitled, so to speak, to privacy in the matter of one’s thoughts and feelings, sometimes so manifest in one’s facial expressions? However this may be, there are congruences and dispositions which seem appropriate in given contexts. Veils seem correct, and right, with the robes of concealment.
Slave Girl

The woman at the counter had been veiled as is common with Gorean women, particularly those of high caste and of the high cities. Many Gorean woman in their haughtiness and pride, do not choose to have their features exposed to the common view. They are too fine and noble to be looked upon by the casual rabble. Similarly the robes of concealment worn by many Gorean women are doubtless dictated by similar sentiments. On the other hand veiling is a not impractical modesty in a culture n which capture, and the chain and the whip are not known.
Rogue

Men seeing a woman unveiled
"May I introduce my new friend," she said, "Kliomenes, a river captain." "Surely you remember him well," I said, " "It was he and his men who captured you from Oneander when you were a slave and sold you.
"Perhaps that was a mistake," said Kliomenes. He grinned at her. She had thrust back the hood of her robes and unpinned her veil. Her face was bared; her hair, darkly brown and silken cascaded down about her shoulders. These things were not unnoted by the men in the tavern. There was probably not a man there but was wondering how she would look stripped and in a collar.
Rogue

Thick, multitudinous,ornate
She was now contained precisely as she had been originally save that she had exchanged the thick, multitudinous, ornate Robes of Concealment, the proud, cumbersome insignia of the free woman of Gor, for the simple garment of a Chamber Slave and a burning wound on her left thigh.
Priest Kings

Layers and layers of fabrics
Silk, brocade, satin, muslin
The girl screamed but no one came to her aid, and Elizabeth spun her about, peeling off layers of Robes of Concealment until, in a heavy pile of silk, brocade, satin and starched muslin the girl stood in a sleeveless, rather brief orange tunic, attractive, of a sort sometimes worn by free women in the privacy of their own quarters.
Assassin

Five layers of robes, plus slip-like undergown
"You would take away my clothes, wouldn't you?" she said.
"I am Gorean," I told her. I took a step toward her.
"Do not touch me," she said. "I will do it."
Her small hands reluctainly went to the hooks at the throat of the garments.
"The veil, and hood, first," I said.
She brushed them back, with a movement of her hand, a toss of her head.
"You would bring a high price," I told her. She looked at me in fury.
"Step from your slippers," I told her.
She did so. She was then barefoot.
"Continue," I told her.
Her hands again went to the hooks at the throat of the garments. Angrily, deliberately, she loosened the hooks, one by one.
She pulled the garments down a bit from her throat. Her throat was slender and lovely. It would take an engraved steel collar, bearing her master's name, beautifully.
Her hands were at the two outer robes. She looked at me.
"We do not have all day," I told her.
They fell about her ankles.
"Between the third and fourth robes," I told her, "there is a sheathed dagger, concealed in the lining. Keep your hands away from it."
"You are observant," she said.
A warrior is trained to look for such things.
The third and fourth robe slipped to the floor, about her ankles.
There remained now but the fifth robe, and the light, sleeveless, greenish-silk, sliplike undergown.
Her hands hesitated at the throat of the fifth robe.
"Off with it," I told her.
Beasts

Commonly, with veils, conceals all but eyes and a bit of the nose
"I can still see your hair," said Drusus Rencius. I drew the hood angrily even more closely about my features. Little more now could be seen of me, as is common with the robes of concealment, but a bit of the bridge of my nose and my eyes.

Face and hair are hidden from view by the hood of the robes, and the veil
I and all others turned our eyes to a wide, swirling marble stairway in the back and to the left of the lofty banquet hall in the house of Saphrar the merchant.
Down the stairway, slowly, in trailing white silk bordered with gold, the colors of the Merchants, there regally descend- ed the girl who was Aphris of Turia.
Her sandals were of gold and she wore matching gloves of gold.
Her face could not be seen, for it was veiled, a white silken veil trimmed with gold, nor even her hair, for it was hidden in the folds of the free woman's Robes of Conceal- ment, in her case, of course, done in the colors of the merchants.
Nomads

Stiff, high brocaded collar of robes.
Numerous hooks & eyes
Robe is tight about the throat, up high under the chin
Her hands went to the stiff, high brocaded collar of her robes, the robes of concealment, to the numerous eyes and hooks there, holding it tightly, protectively, about her throat, up high under her chin.
Mercenaries

Street robe is outermost public robe
Street robe is stiff, ornate.
House robe also fairly inflexible material
In a few moments she had parted her robes, and slipped them, first the street robe, that stiff, ornate fabric, and then the house robe, scarcely less inflexible and forbidding, from her small, soft shoulders. Clad now only in a silken sliplike undergarment, she then looked at me.
Mercenaries

FW guard against revealing even a glimpse of an ankle, or a bit of their throat.
The chair, I noted, was not borne by male draft slaves, but was supported by tharlarion. There might be various reasons for this. One might be ostentation, a simple display of wealth, for good tharlarion are generally more expensive than male slaves, particularly draft slaves. But perhaps, even more, the cargo might be regarded as too precious to be risked in the vicinity of male slaves. After all, they are men. Too, perhaps it was felt appropriate, if the cargo was deemed of sufficient beauty, that it even be borne by male slaves. After all, might there not be some danger, as the fair occupant entered into, or descended gracefully from, the sedan chair, that there might be the careless movement of a veil, revealing a bit of throat, or the inadvertent lifting of a robe of concealment, giving them the glimpse of a briefly exposed ankle?
Mercenaries

"I regarded the daughter of the Ubar, now a sorry sight. Her Robes of Concealment were splattered with mud and marsh water, and in several places the heavy brocade had stiffened and cracked. The dominant colors of her Robes of concealment were subtle reds, yellows and purples, arrayed in intricate, overlapping folds. I guessed it would have taken her slave girls hours to array her in such garments. Many of the free women of Gor and almost always those of High Caste wear the Robes of Concealment, though, of course, their garments are seldom as complex or splendidly wrought as those of a Ubar's daughter. The Robes of Concealment, in function, resemble the garments of Muslim women on my own planet, though they are undoubtedly more intricate and cumbersome. Normally, of men, only a father and a husband may look upon the woman unveiled.
In the barbaric world of Gor, the Robes of Concealment are deemed necessary to protect the women from the binding fibers of roving tarnsmen. Few warriors will risk their lives to capture a woman, who may be as ugly as a tharlarion. Better to steal slaves, where the guilt is less and the charms of the captive are more readily ascertainable in advance."
Tarnsman

In many areas it is a socially serious matter for a FW to be unveiled.
May be taken into custody by guardsmen, veiled and forced home.
Repeated offenses usually result in enslavement.
"It must be understood, of course, to fully appreciate what was going on, that the public exposure of the features of a freewoman, particularly one of high caste, or with some pretense to position or status, is a socially serious matter in many Gorean localities. Indeed, in some cities an unveiled free woman is susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen, then to be veiled, by force if necessary, and publicly conducted back to her home. Indeed, in some cities she is marched back to her home stripped, except for the face veil which has been put on her. In these cases a crowd usually follows, to see to what home it is that she is to be returned. Repeated offenses in such a city usually result in the enslavement of the female. Such serious measures, of course, are seldom required to protect such familiar Gorean proprieties. Custom, by itself, normally suffices."
Players

Other FW scorn an unveiled FW.
May make her kneel, as a slave, before attending her in a market.
Is spoken of as a slave, a slut
An unveiled woman, for example, may find other women turning away from her in a market, perhaps with expressions of disgust. Indeed, she may not even be waited upon, or dealt with, in a market by a free woman unless she first kneels. It would not be unusual for her, in a crowded place, to overhear remarks, perhaps whispers or sneers, of which she is the obvious object, such as "Shameless slut," "brazen baggage," "As immodest as a slave," "I wonder who her master is," and "Put a collar on her!" And if she should attempt to confront or challenge her assailants, she will merely find such remarks repeated articulately and clearly to her face."
Players

"In Ar's Station," he said, "as in Ar, robes of concealment, precisely, are not legally obligatory for free women, no more than the veil. Such things are more a matter of custom. On the other hand, as you know, there are statutes prescribing certain standards of decorum for free women. For example, they may not appear naked in the streets, as may slaves. Indeed, a free woman who appears in public in violation of these standards of decorum, for example, with her arms or legs too much bared, may be made a slave."
Renegades

Horrified to even think of baring their legs.
Such scandal could ruin a reputation.
In some cities, a woman with bared legs is taken to magistrates and sentenced to slavery.
Contrariwise, almost no free woman would bare her legs. They would not dare to do so. They would be horrified even to think of it. The scandal of such an act could ruin a reputation. It is said on Gor, any woman who bares her legs is a slave. Indeed, in some cities a free woman who might be found with bare legs is taken in hand by magistrates, tried and sentenced to bondage. After the judge’s decision has been enacted, its effect carried out upon her, reducing her to the status of goods, sometimes publicly, that she may be suitably disgraced, sometimes privately, by a contract slaver, that the sensitivities of free women in the city not be offended, she is hooded and transported, stripped and chained, freshly branded and collared, a property female, slave cargo, to a distant market where, once sold, she will begin her life anew, fearfully, as a purchased girl, tremulously as the helpless and lowly slave she now is.
Mercenaries

Worn by rich women when inspecting their holdings.
Full skirt falling six inches above the ground
High boots
Jacket and loose hood
Veil
"She wore a full, beige skirt, the hem of which fell to within some six inches of the ground, and slim, high, black-leather boots, a beige blouse, and a beige jacket, belted, which fell to her thighs; too, she wore a loose hood, attached to the jacket by hooks, of matching beige material, and an opaque veil, also of beige material. Such garments, far less formal than the common attire of the Gorean free woman, are sometimes worn by rich women in the supervision and inspection of certain sorts of holdings, such as orchards, fields, ranches and vineyards. They constitute, for such women, so to speak, a habit for work."
Fighting Slave