Elanthian Vogue/Charlatos 5126
Title: Elanthian Vogue: V (Charlatos 5126)
Author: The Looking Glass
Editor: Rohese Bayvel
Editor's Thoughts
Spring has arrived with a new kind of energy. Where Lormesta pared back and Fashanos hardened, Charlatos begins to reimagine what was worn thin by winter. In Icemule Trace, far from the polished philosophies of Ta'Illistim or the brutal spectacle of the Duskruin Arena, this renewal takes on a more personal, almost chaotically charming form. Here, within a quaint white brick cottage with a painted dilapidated pirate ship mural, Nonie's Shop hums with something raw and inventive: a space where craft is not tradition, but instinct.
At the heart of it all is Maylan - mop girl, cobbler, tailor, and a lot more besides. Her work does not follow the rigid schools of elven design or the inherited aesthetics of Vandre Chiras caravans. Instead, it is guided by feeling; by a curious, intuitive relationship with materials and an uncanny skill to see designs that work for everyone.
I invite you all to step inside this magical haven of crafting creativity with me and meet the Mop Girl of Shanty Town herself!
Charlatos Magic in Maylan's Market
Nonie's Shop or "Maylan's Market" is divided, like her craft, into pieces that only fully make sense when brought together. The eastern room is cluttered with salvaged curiosities - "junk," as Maylan calls it - the remnants of other lives and other adventures. The western room is where her creative talents take over: cobbling, crafting, tailoring. At the centre, quite literally, is where her vision comes into focus: a table of garments, mix-and-match pieces, and carefully constructed matching sets.
It is here that her work really shines in the shape of formal fashion. Skirts and trousers sit side by side, inviting recombination. Structured cotehardies share space with looser, more playful designs. This fluidity owes something to the Tailor Order Book, which allows patterns to be created, curated, and refined. Yet in Maylan's talented hands, such structure becomes merely a starting point. The book may hold the pattern but the essence of the garment is something she finds in the act of making.
If Bella's winter was about restraint and Gamac's Goods about movement, Maylan's spring is about play. Her inventory lends itself to:
- Patchwork layering, combining contrasting fabrics and colours into something unexpectedly harmonious
- Asymmetry, where one element draws the eye and the rest follows in suggestion rather than symmetry
- Coupled design, with matching sets intended for partnerships - romantic, theatrical, or simply whimsical
But I'll let Maylan explain!
"Come on in! Welcome to Maylan's Market! Oh…" Maylan stops abruptly, her eyebrows knitting with concern. "I mean Nonie's Market," she quickly stammers. "Don't call it Maylan's Market too loud, on accounta it makes Nonie real mad. Nonie is the owner of this place, and I'm just her mop girl. Nonie is an elf lass who lives round Icemule, and I s'pose folks got used to calling it Maylan's Market on accounta they see me round here so often."
"Nonie says that doin' all the sewin' and tailerin' is also what mop girls are s'posed to do," Maylan continues. "I didn't know that. I asked her about it once, but she told me that mop girls aren't sposed to ask questions. I didn't know that either. Nonie gives me real purdy materials to work with, and sometimes I get to keep the leftover scraps. And she gives me 30 whole silvers a day! Oh boy!"
Maylan ushers me into the eastern room. "Round here is a bunch of junk Nonie found adventurin'. I didn't make any of it and it's all real boring 'cept fer the toys. I want to make sock puppets to sell, but Nonie calls 'em ugly." With an indifferent shrug, she shows me to the western room.
"Round here is where I do the cobblin' and otherly crafts." Maylan lightly brushes her fingers over an intricately woven headdress of coral-kissed nacreous raven feathers and violet-dusked beads. "Nonie says these feathers are 'ethically sourced', but I'm not real sure." Moving to the counter, Maylan directs my attention to some radiant ruby red metal-threaded jacquard pompes. "This here is the shoe wall. I'm not used to wearin' two shoes, so sometimes I ferget to make the other. That also makes Nonie real mad." Maylan thumps her mop-fringed pegleg on the floor in three rapid successions before moving to the center room.
"I like tailerin' a whole lot." Maylan's eyes grow distant as her expression softens. "The first time I set to sewin', I felt that mana flow that all us magical folk know real well - the flow that knits our world together and runs in that constant thrum." A smile slowly forms on her face as she continues. "Sewin' feels a whole lot like healin'. When I take a fabric and start puttin' it to work, I can feel the shape it's s'posed to be. It feels right and whole, just like you folk feel when I'm puttin' yer bodies back to right," she explains with a wry grin. "I s'pose you could say tailerin', arts, craftin', and cobblin' are just healin' fer materials instead of flesh. Our world is all connected in ways I still don't understand real well, but I do know that mana is what binds it all."
"In the chest round here is mix and match stuffs fer folks to wear. Skirts and pants and whatnot. But I'm real proud of what's on the table. I make matching sets fer couples." Maylan showcases a high-throated peacock blue burnt velvet cotehardie with a scalloped hem, which is displayed next to a peacock blue burnt velvet tabard featuring golden scrollwork embroidery.
"Here," she insists, "try on mine own favorite," and hands me an open-back molten copper starsilk gown with off-shoulder sleeves. Maylan then holds a sleek molten copper starsilk doublet boasting variegated flared cuffs to her chest and adopts a comically aristocratic pose. "Aren't we a sportin couple now! Harrr!"
Suddenly I hear the sound of keys jangling, and Maylan gives an abrupt yelp. "Quick, get out! Nonie's comin' round and I didn't tell her 'bout this tour!" Before I can protest, Maylan unceremoniously shoves me out of the nearest window!
Maylan's Market is not polished. It is not consistent. It is not, in any conventional sense, refined. And yet, it may be one of the most dynamic expressions of fashion in Elanthia. Here, garments are not dictated by tradition or expectation, but by instinct, by material, by the quiet pull of mana through thread and hand. With the help of knitting needles, weaving snips, cobbling awls, and the unpredictability of her own talent, Maylan creates wonderful clothing and footwear that feels less designed and more discovered. We, at V, wholeheartedly approve and encourage you all to support this small business.