Cardassian fashion headcanons
Visible closures (zippers, buttons, ties, etc) are considered unbelievably slutty, especially if there are a lot of then or they're large
Cleavage is not, it's just considered feminine. While Cardassians do not have "boobs" in a mammalian sense, Cardassian women still have bigger chests due to larger pectoral muscles and fat reserves. Cardassian women who look stronger are the beauty standard. So actually, even though Natima is considered too slender, she could probably throw Quark.
However, exposing your chula is a little slutty. Tastefully. More appropriate for evening wear. Wearing a boob window that hides the chula is more modest than having a low neckline that exposes it.
Exposing your neckridges does have some Implications, but not as much as you'd expect. Using makeup on more than a 2-4 scales on the other hand is akin to wearing red lipstick and red nail polish
Higher necklines and long sleeves are preferred for anyone working with "outsiders", which is usually something Cardassian men do. This is for temperature reasons and because letting an outsider see too much of even a living Cardassian body is frowned upon.
Jackets double as a way of covering a person's face after they have died suddenly and if no appropriate length of cloth was available. For a long time, Cardassians wore an outer robe that could fully be used as a shroud for this purpose, but long robes gradually fell out of fashion.
In the Cardassian Union, going shirtless with high-waisted pants, regardless of gender, is more acceptable than wearing low waisted bottoms with a shirt that can't meet them. This is because the stomach is close to the chuva, and some Cardassians essentially tattoo their stomachs* for private titillation. Low waisted clothes in general aren't held in high esteem.
These markings are also done partially for superstitious reasons, not that most Cardassians will admit it when someone who isn't Cardassian could hear it. Such marks are believed to help with fertility issues and "trap" your partners eye.
Most Cardassians wear undershirts, and. exposing these is also slutty. It ranges from "tasteful" (your jacket or tunic being cut so a little of the undershirt peeks out) to "you are getting fined for indecency" (most of the undershirt is visible, its sheer, its decorated so you'll stare, etc). Garak having his jacket open so you can see his shiny moire undershirt in Rocks and Shoals would be considered very inappropriate.
Wearing clothes that are very obviously made of pieced fabric (remnants seamed together when you don't have quite enough fabric) or are color blocked are considered fashionable, as they publicly declare one's frugality and therefore patriotism. However, too much piecing, as seen in quilts, is often considered too showy. It may still show up in clothes for special occasions.
Cardassians dye their nails and skin sometimes, but most prefer to use powders today as they take less time to apply. Nail polish is considered some combination of annoying and unclean. Dyeing the nails is more common than dyeing the skin. Dyeing the lips is also done.
The dyes used are not usually dangerous to ingest (though they don't taste good), and it used to be fashionable for Cardassians to dye their teeth by chewing on them or holding in a mouthful of dye for a few minutes. Purple dye was imported from Bajor pre-Occupation and was used as a sign of status and worldliness. Blue dye was used by courtesans. Black was used to signify masculinity. This petered out as the practice was gradually considered extravagant, wasteful, and too provocative. The mouth, as the site of speech, is considered borderline sacred by Cardassians, which both encouraged and discouraged this practice.
Similarly cosmetic whitening of teeth is considered weird, and arguably more inappropriate than dyeing them.
Single women who are looking for a partner often wear layers of taffeta skirts or petticoats sewn with bells. While Cardassian hearing is poor, these are still noticeable, and the dampening makes them more socially acceptable, because they are less noticeable.
Married and working women often wear a metal chatelaine at their waist that also makes noise, but fact that it is visible signals they are not interested in being approached romantically. A working woman who is looking for a partner keeps her keys and other supplies in a pocket or petticoat with an access slit. The latter allows the chatelaine to still jangle. Noise making jewelry that can be seen is generally worn by uninterested women, and is understood as a warning.
Working men sometimes also wear chatelaines, but these are made of wood. Noise is not used to signify relationship status by men, partially because wearing metal is considered somewhat feminine among civilians.
Purely decorative waist pendants and beaded aprons are also popular with the upper class.
Perfume is considered gauche, due to how strong the Cardassian sense of smell is and how much information comes from a person's natural scent. Someone who wears perfume is assumed to be hiding something about their scent. In practice this is more of an upper class bias- service class Cardassians, especially those that work jobs where they are exposed to bad smells, often wear perfume in their free time, as well as keeping something perfumed on hand to clear their senses at work. However, Cardassians in general do use perfume to scent their houses, and it is occasionally appropriate to scent jewelry.
Jewelry and ornaments made of flowers used to be popular, as were fake flowers that had been perfumed to seem real. However, like dyeing the mouth and teeth, this is currently considered extravagant and wasteful.
*= it's actually scars with ink rubbed in. Cardassian skin doesn't tattoo well. However, these days the scars are done with a laser scalpel, and indistinguishable from tattoos, as they can easily get clean lines and fine detail.
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