Wardrobe of a Virilo
The wardrobe of a Virilo will vary according to the individual's taste (or to the taste of his master), but universally their costumes will be tantalizing and, in keeping with the ostentatious nature of the keeping of a virilo, expensive.
As a virilo is meant to advertise and highlight both the masculine conquests and wealth of his master, his wardrobe will advertise and highlight these as well. Most garments will display fine features to fine advantage or will encourage further perusal and speculation. These may range from the subtle (loose trousers with slits in the leg) to the sensual (finely woven meshes or muslins that barely conceal) or both, worn artfully together.
The effect is always artful. Virilo have spent years in training, including in purposeful style. Even where an overt cut might veer on the gaudy or garish, it will be balanced with tasteful fabrics, subdued colors, or sheer cost. Likewise, less overt styles will be enhanced with brighter colors or more ostentatious jewelry; while a noble's fashion might be served with tasteful subtlety, a virilo is a deliberate ornament and should never be overlooked.
A virilo's costume will include Virilo Jewelry, and like their clothing, virilo jewelry is intended to draw attention. Sprays of worked precious metals may flare about ears or eyes. Fine links of chain drape the torso or legs, often in intricate patterns, to draw the gaze and to lend a faint music to their movement. Some will dot their skin with tiny precious jewels, cut in facets to throw back light.
Forward-thinking virilo will acquire gifts of jewelry as often as possible, both to augment their ornamentation in service and to fund their inevitable retirement as they are replaced by younger, fresher rivals.
His clothing—an open vest over his lightly muscled chest, a dyed linen kilt which barely descended over the long, lean thighs, and tiny flecks of jewels over all so that he flashed in the sunlight when he moved—revealed him in every sense of the word to be a virilo, an expensive specialist trained in the art of exquisite pleasure. As Kayvin’s eyes fell on him, he shifted into a posture which displayed himself to best advantage and bowed his head.
Item type
Clothing / Accessory
Nice article :D This is an interesting concept and basically what wives of kings and nobles had to do in our world. What would the difference be (in term of aesthetic) between the Virulo and the spouses?
The virilo are much flashier! The idea is that a spouse brings land, money, or alliance and represents connection and stability, while the sera qadra and virilos represent insuppressible power and masculine conquest. (All that glory-seeking from war had to be replaced when war ended, and we've got to get our superior status somewhere.) Thanks for commenting!
Ah, I like the distinction between both :D I like the idea of using the virulos to represent conquest and masculinity as that's what people did (and maybe still do :p ) in France. Though in the real world mistresses were trying to appear respectable for the most part and to look just like wives. But then, it's also probably because the church has always highly disapproved of having mistresses...