Exploring a thrillingly unusual British space opera focusing on “one of the five best-dressed men in the universe.”
In the galaxy-spanning human civilisation of the far future, Peder Forbarth is a nobody. Reluctantly, he joins an expedition to the hostile planet Kyre. The objective is to conduct an illegal salvage operation on a crashed freighter from the mysterious splinter civilisation of Caean. The result proves to be life-changing - because Peder Forbarth is a tailor, and the freighter’s cargo is of inestimable value: the garments of Caean. The Garments of Caean is a science fiction novel by the British author Barrington J. Bayley (1937 - 2008). While getting his start in comics in the late 1950s, he met Michael Moorcock, who was to become a titan of British SF and especially fantasy. The two became friends and collaborators; in the 1960s Moorcock published Bayley’s stories in New Worlds magazine and consistently championed his work. Bayley published his first novel, The Star Virus, in 1970. He is generally thought to have hit his stride in the middle of the decade, publishing a string of inventive, fast-paced novels which fused pulp SF tropes with New Wave innovations. Originally published by Doubleday in February 1976, The Garments of Caean falls in the middle of this strongest period. It is a rip-roaring, planet-hopping SF adventure which also deals thoughtfully with cultural exchange, self-image, and whether the clothes really make the man.
The novel moves at a brisk pace and comprises two distinct threads which are woven together late in the narrative. The main plot focuses on Peder Forbarth, hapless tailor from the planet Harlos in the Ziode Cluster - the “default” human civilisation in the book. He falls in with an unscrupulous rogue named Realto Mast, who devises the mission to Kyre. After fending off the planet’s hostile creatures which use sound as a weapon, Forbarth discovers the Caeanic freighter.
Inside, there is a cache of the extraordinary clothes which are made by the people of Caean and which form the basis of their aberrant culture. Forbarth takes for himself just one item - a legendary Frachonard suit, one of only five in existence. Its mysterious properties transform his self-image while he wears it, giving him uncanny influence over other people. Over time, Forbarth becomes increasingly beholden to the suit, and sets him on a new, more unsettling interstellar mission. The secondary plot begins very differently. It centres on the Ziode starship Callan, and its sociological survey mission. Brilliant but ruthless scientist Amara Corl has been tasked with understanding the roots of the clothes-obsessed Caeanic culture. The authorities in Ziode fear that war with Caean is approaching, and they desire a strategic edge to stave off defeat and assimilation. Journeying in the Tzist Arm of the galaxy, Corl and her crew encounter the “metalloids” and the “cyborgs”, two factions with radically different cultural views of their own bodies, and reckonings with self-image. If the Callan can survive the bitter war in zero-gravity between these cultures, they may be able to identify the relationship they have - if any - with the mysterious and powerful Caeanics.
The late Brian Stableford described this novel as “cleanly written and a joy to read”. It is an apt description. The Garments of Caean is continuously on the move, introducing new settings, characters, and ideas at an exciting pace. Bayley openly stated that he was “attempting to emulate Jack Vance”. As Stableford also observed, it is a primarily light-hearted novel and its sheer, brave oddness goes a long way. After all, this is a space opera centred on clothes - a topic which barely gets a mention in most SF.
Bayley has a lot of fun exploring the implications of the Caeanic culture, and especially of the Frachonard suit. Made of a unique natural fibre called prossim, it has a transformative effect on whoever wears it. Early in the novel, Forbarth rapidly ascends to a position of fame and fortune on his homeworld, largely due to the suit’s influence. Realto Mast, meanwhile, struggles to offload the rest of the haul. In the novel’s most comic episode, he has to deal with a frustratingly eccentric fence with a maddening love of practical jokes. The plot focusing on the Callan and Amara Corl has a different tone. In a surprisingly cruel moment, Corl traps a metalloid and a cyborg together in a chamber which causes them to fight to the death. This hardly seems like good sociological practice, even in the Ziode Cluster. This secondary thread is more action-oriented than Forbarth’s story, and includes a dramatic zero-gravity battle inside a disintegrating space habitat. However, it also serves as a clever counterpoint which explores Bayley’s themes from a different angle. The ending has proven a little divisive over the years, but it does provide a satisfying explanation of the Caeanic “Art of Attire” and the mysterious properties of prossim. The finale also serves as a good example of a conceptual breakthrough, often considered a integral structural element of classic SF. Interestingly, it could even have been an influence on a key element of the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. Some have identified Bayley as an influence on Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels, this is particularly true of Bayley’s next book The Grand Wheel (1977).
The Garments of Caean is the kind of science fiction novel that could only really have been written and published in the 1970s. It is freewheeling, fast-moving, and strange in a highly likeable way. It demonstrates well Bayley’s facility for fusing pulp SF tropes with the ambition and oddness of the New Wave. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise is that its special hook - the odd emphasis on clothes - is the jumping off point for some thoughtful sociological ideas. It is very easy to recommend to fans of British ‘70s SF, and especially to those looking for a unique take on the hoary traditions of space opera.
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