I Became a Clothing Designer in Another World - Chapter 136

“Hello, everyone, it’s been a while, Emily Stewart is back again.”

Drowsy, staggering, lying on the bed, after blinking a few times, a familiar feeling washed over me in the middle of the dark space. Emily was looking at the air and greeting me.

“Ugh...”

For a moment, I wondered if a guest had come while I was dozing off, so I struggled to get up and looked around, but it wasn't my room. It was a familiar, pitch-black space spreading widely around the bed.

What is this...

“I don’t know if you’ve been waiting, but the dream time that appears out of nowhere and rambles on with useless words has come again.”

“Ah...”

As I blinked in confusion, Emily continued to speak, and I finally realized that this was a dream.

Perhaps it's an extension of that dream from a few months ago, the one that made me embarrassed to see Emily.

“You’re finally awake, Master. It’s been a long time.”

Realizing the situation belatedly, I scratched my head and wondered how to escape this, when Emily turned around, put a playful smile on her face, and slowly approached me.

“You’re not trying to hide it this time?”

“Master has no intention of being fooled, I’m just an imagination in Master’s head.”

“That’s such a convenient excuse... Sigh~ Never mind.”

It felt like too convenient an excuse, but there wasn't much I could do.

It has changed to a feeling like lucid dreaming, but in the end, it doesn't change the fact that it is a dream.

Dreams are originally logically shattered.

It is natural to be unreasonable.

So, rather than feeling frustrated by thinking too complicatedly, it would be a wise choice to empty my head and enjoy the dream itself.

“Then, what do I have to do this time?”

“As you probably guessed, this time too, we're going to talk about clothes.”

“What kind?”

“Ohoho~ Clothes that Master likes very much.”

Emily, with a very meaningful smile, slightly lifted the skirt of her maid outfit and revealed her legs up to her knees.

If this were reality, white socks that come up to the ankles and Emily's fair skin would be revealed, but the black nylon stockings that were revealed as the skirt was lifted subtly revealed the inside, tightly holding Emily's smooth and elastic legs.

“Stockings?”

“Yes, today we are going to talk about stockings.”

“Ah~”

Stockings.

A masterpiece created by mankind.

Clothes that can proudly occupy a place in the great clothes created by mankind.

If it weren't for the great masterpiece of humanity called the maid outfit, it could have been the best clothes in the world, but unfortunately, it ended up taking second place in my heart ranking because of the supreme being called the maid outfit.

But the strongest clothes that are never pushed back by the maid outfit.

“Hehe~”

A smile naturally appears at the sound of talking about such clothes.

“What should we talk about first?”

A happy dilemma begins.

No matter what story I start with, stockings are great clothes, so I am even more worried.

“I know you want to talk about everything, but today I would like you to only talk about the types of stockings.”

“Types? Only that? That’s too little.”

“This is not a place for Master's confession of taste, but a place to talk about clothes, so you can't help it even if you feel wronged.”

“Ha...”

I didn't know there would be a limit to the topic...

Tears well up in my eyes.

“Master, if you waste time like that, the dream will end before you can say anything?”

“Okay...”

I nodded powerlessly and drooped my shoulders.

Sadly, I had to obediently follow Emily's words in order to properly chatter about the types.

“First of all, we have to talk about what stockings are.”

“Stockings are long socks, right?”

“That’s right, to be exact, it’s a general term for socks that come up higher than the knee.”

The dictionary definition is 'socks that are long, thin, elastic, and stretchable', but the problem is that there is no clear standard to distinguish this, so the point at which people think of stockings may be slightly different.

I treat anything that covers the knee as stockings.

“Since all socks that come up above the knee can be called stockings, stockings are often classified based on length.”

“According to that standard, how do you classify them?”

“If it comes right above the knee, it’s over-the-knee socks, if it comes up to the middle of the thigh, it’s thigh-high socks, and if it covers up to the waist, it’s pantyhose.”

Without being complicated, the knee, thigh, and waist end.

If it is more detailed than this, it is difficult to distinguish, and if it is simpler than this, the gap is too large.

“If you use it on a daily basis, there’s nothing particularly wrong with just these distinctions. Colors or see-through are ambiguous to call them unique classifications of stockings.”

“So, is the only way to classify them by length?”

“That’s not true. As with any other clothes, there are ways to classify them according to the material of the fabric, and there are ways to classify them according to design elements.”

“Then please explain those in detail too.”

“There’s no need to explain the material, so I’ll only explain the design elements.”

“Yes.”

“You know that stockings are made by knitting, right?”

“Yes.”

“The first distinction is whether you make it while preserving the unique feel of knitted clothes, or whether you make it by making the thread and pattern very small and eliminating that feel.”

The manufacturing method is almost the same for both.

The difference is whether you can clearly feel the feeling of knitwear due to the thickness of the thread.

Of course, if the thread becomes thick enough to clearly reveal the knit feel, then it moves on to the debate of 'tights or stockings?', but that's up to you.

The standards for tights and stockings are also mixed up, so if the person wearing them believes they are stockings, they are stockings, and if they believe they are tights, they are tights.

“The next distinction is the shape of the foot part.”

“The shape of the foot?”

“Yes, here, we only make stockings with the foot part closed, but later on, as time passes, we will classify them as footless stockings without a foot part, footed stockings with a foot, and stockings that cut off only the toes and heel parts and hang on the foot like a loop.”

“Hmm... why would you cut off the foot part?”

“Sometimes the foot part is uncomfortable, and footless or loop shapes are only used in special cases.”

It is only worn in limited cases when bare feet are needed, such as summer barefoot styling or preventing slipping while exercising.

In fact, footed stockings have an overwhelming share.

“This is a bit of a distant future, but fishnet stockings will also appear.”

“Fishnet? Are you talking about something that looks like a net?”

“Yes.”

"...Does that have any meaning as clothing?"

Emily, imagining fishnet stockings, contorted her face as if she had seen something hideous.

“That’s why there are so many people who hate it, but a very small number of people like it so much that it maintains its life in a minor way.”

“I have a hard time understanding...”

“I respect it, but I don’t like it either. I don’t know what charm it has.”

It's not like it's stripped off, it's not like it's put on, and it's not like it subtly reveals it and stimulates the imagination.

From my point of view, it's just a product of a failed design.

So, if I'm going to put on fishnets, I much prefer to put on ripped jeans.

“Hmm... and the last one is a classification method used in thigh-high socks... how should I explain this...”

I want to explain hold-ups and fully fashioned stockings, but it's difficult to explain this with just words.

Hold-ups are stockings that increase the fixing power by banding the end of the stockings, that is, the thigh part, and bring visual stimulation, so there's nothing difficult about that.

The problem is fully fashioned stockings.

These are stockings made of nylon in the early 20th century, when sewing and synthetic material technology were still insufficient. They needed to be fixed with a garter belt, but due to the insufficient sewing technology, unique designs such as seams and keyholes appeared on the back of the legs.

The problem is that it is difficult to imagine easily when explained in words.

“Hmm...”

“Can I help you a little?”

As I groaned and pondered how to do it, Emily, who was clinging right next to me, looked up at me and said.

“How?”

“Like this.”

Wondering what method she would use to help me, I tilted my head and asked, and Emily took a few steps back, clapped her hands lightly, and turned her body around.

“Oh...”

With the second clap, the maid outfit disappeared without a trace, and the outfit changed to a suit-like top, stockings, and underwear, revealing the lower half of her body wearing stockings.

“Is this right?”

“Not bad.”

The keyhole was a bit large, but other than that, it was a good reproduction of fully fashioned stockings.

It would be nice if I could show the unique seams and reinforcing fabric on the heel part hidden by the heel, but that's not that important of an element.

“Most stockings have a seam on the back line like this, right?”

“That’s right, it’s created by knitting the fabric and then tying it into a cylindrical shape.”

“But later on, when technology develops, you can neatly wrap stockings without these seams.”

“Like this?”

“Yes, that’s right, this is cleaner, so many people prefer this, but there are some people who think that stockings with seams are prettier, so they often engrave fake seams and sell them.”

I like anything as long as it's not fishnet, so I liked both.

If I had to choose, I prefer the one with seams when there is a garter belt, and the one without seams when there is no garter belt.

It's hard to explain, but there was something about that that made my heart flutter more.

“That’s about all the ways to classify stockings. Of course, there are a few more types, but it gets too complicated to use in everyday life. What about classification according to denier... is it necessary?”

The higher the number, the thicker the thread, so the darker the color and the less see-through it is. End.

This is so famous that it hurts my mouth to explain it.

“Stockings are just stockings, but there were more profound classifications than I thought.”

“That’s how all clothes are. Even a small change can drastically change how you should style them, so people who value fashion classify them in detail.”

It doesn’t end with just putting on clothes.

The harmony with accessories, the match with shoes, the color, the place and atmosphere, etc. all have to be considered, so detailed classification is essential to say that this is not possible and that is possible.

In modern times, even suits are classified into tailcoats, tuxedos, casual wear, etc. according to formality, and it is determined which suits are possible and impossible at certain times.

It’s a very headache-inducing task.

“Stockings will gradually become a part of fashion for more and more people...”

- Click!

I had roughly finished explaining the types, so I was about to move on to something else.

Suddenly, the sound of metal echoed loudly in the dark space.

“Uh... what’s that sound?”

“It’s almost time.”

“Time?”

Emily smiled and pointed upwards with her finger.

“It’s time to go back to reality.”

The dark space began to crack little by little, starting from where Emily pointed with her finger.

“Ah...”

I let out a voice full of regret and closed my eyes, unable to withstand the fading mind.