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The Garments of Caean
In Caean, clothes weren't just for wearing - they were a whole philosophy of life. In the Ziode Cluster, though, things were different - Caeanic clothes were forbidden, their powers unrecognised, their scope unfulfilled.
But when Peter Forbarth looted a wrecked Caeanic freighter and found the ultimate garment - the legendary Frachonard suit - he'd discovered something of unimaginable potential.
For clothes didn't just make a man - they WERE the man! And Peder's new suit took him over, changed his character and set him off on a wild and spectacular odyssey across the galaxy.
But what had it done to the man inside ?
But when Peter Forbarth looted a wrecked Caeanic freighter and found the ultimate garment - the legendary Frachonard suit - he'd discovered something of unimaginable potential.
For clothes didn't just make a man - they WERE the man! And Peder's new suit took him over, changed his character and set him off on a wild and spectacular odyssey across the galaxy.
But what had it done to the man inside ?
222 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
6 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
About the author
Barrington J. Bayley
72 books40 followersBarrington J. Bayley published work principally under his own name but also using the pseudonyms ofAlan Aumbry, Michael Barrington (with Michael Moorcock), John Diamond and P.F. Woods.
Bayley was born in Birmingham and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked in a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Force in 1955; his first published story, "Combat's End", had seen print the year before in UK-only publication Vargo Statten Magazine.
During the 1960s, Bayley's short stories featured regularly in New Worlds magazine and later in its successor, the paperback anthologies of the same name. He became friends with New Worlds editor Michael Moorcock, who largely instigated science fiction's New Wave movement. Bayley himself was part of the movement.
Bayley's first book, Star Virus, was followed by more than a dozen other novels; his downbeat, gloomy approach to novel writing has been cited as influential on the works of M. John Harrison, Brian Stableford and Bruce Sterling.
Bayley was born in Birmingham and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked in a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Force in 1955; his first published story, "Combat's End", had seen print the year before in UK-only publication Vargo Statten Magazine.
During the 1960s, Bayley's short stories featured regularly in New Worlds magazine and later in its successor, the paperback anthologies of the same name. He became friends with New Worlds editor Michael Moorcock, who largely instigated science fiction's New Wave movement. Bayley himself was part of the movement.
Bayley's first book, Star Virus, was followed by more than a dozen other novels; his downbeat, gloomy approach to novel writing has been cited as influential on the works of M. John Harrison, Brian Stableford and Bruce Sterling.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 13, 2025
The Garments of Caean, published in 1976, is a sprawling, stentorian dark space opera layered with that indelibly rich imagination, novel bizarreness, and sharp-knifed prose that I’ve come to expect from Bayley. If there were such a thing as a healthy diet composed strictly of sugar, Bayley would be its primary chef.
To outline a Bayley story would be like trying to catch 100 dinner plates hurled at me from above. The ideas flooding Garments are multitudinous and yet completely coordinated with the underlying plot. Everything is just so visual. If some other madman could turn this into a film, it would be a feast for the eyes. There are scenes in the novel that conjure up the best of Fellini and Jodorowsky, with faces that gaze like a Modigliani painting, and a technical composure to match Stanislaw Lem. All the while, Bayley does this with limited description; he understood that it only takes a few light but deft touches, and the reader’s imagination will take over. It’s no surprise that Stanley Kubrick once asked for a copy of The Soul of the Robot, but sadly, that’s a film for an alternate lifetime.
The forefront of the story is about a mysterious fabric called Prossim, which has an unknown origin in a corner of the Txist Arm of the Ziode Cluster called Caean. The citizens of Caean adorn the “Art of Attire” and tend to dress in extravagantly ostentatious arrangements. Prossim has a peculiar quality from other fabrics in that it appears to integrate itself with human consciousness in a strange way. The Ziode Cluster itself is bifurcated culturally, causing xenophobic relations stemming primarily from the main region of Ziode (reflecting our culture and world) and the peoples of Caean.
Now, if you want to read the other bits, like planets made entirely of flesh-eating flies, a secret government of naked men, the all-powerful Frachonard Suit, and a warring faction of cyborgs dwelling in honeycombed asteroids, go pick up the novel.
“My goal is to write good science fiction, the sort that blows your mind! I regard science fiction as the literature of the twentieth century, and the only one which future historians will bother to study as they try to understand our age.” - Barrington J. Bayley
To outline a Bayley story would be like trying to catch 100 dinner plates hurled at me from above. The ideas flooding Garments are multitudinous and yet completely coordinated with the underlying plot. Everything is just so visual. If some other madman could turn this into a film, it would be a feast for the eyes. There are scenes in the novel that conjure up the best of Fellini and Jodorowsky, with faces that gaze like a Modigliani painting, and a technical composure to match Stanislaw Lem. All the while, Bayley does this with limited description; he understood that it only takes a few light but deft touches, and the reader’s imagination will take over. It’s no surprise that Stanley Kubrick once asked for a copy of The Soul of the Robot, but sadly, that’s a film for an alternate lifetime.
The forefront of the story is about a mysterious fabric called Prossim, which has an unknown origin in a corner of the Txist Arm of the Ziode Cluster called Caean. The citizens of Caean adorn the “Art of Attire” and tend to dress in extravagantly ostentatious arrangements. Prossim has a peculiar quality from other fabrics in that it appears to integrate itself with human consciousness in a strange way. The Ziode Cluster itself is bifurcated culturally, causing xenophobic relations stemming primarily from the main region of Ziode (reflecting our culture and world) and the peoples of Caean.
Now, if you want to read the other bits, like planets made entirely of flesh-eating flies, a secret government of naked men, the all-powerful Frachonard Suit, and a warring faction of cyborgs dwelling in honeycombed asteroids, go pick up the novel.
“My goal is to write good science fiction, the sort that blows your mind! I regard science fiction as the literature of the twentieth century, and the only one which future historians will bother to study as they try to understand our age.” - Barrington J. Bayley
May 16, 2019
This is one of those odd little gems that has stood out in my memory as a really sublime sf novel. On the outset, it's a book about a psychic suit that bonds with, controls, and manipulates its wearer for amazing reasons which gradually unfold through the novel.
But the book is so much more than that: It freewheels through a variety of spacefaring human cultures who have evolved and adapted to their respective environments, and dissects with remarkable precision not only the role of fashion in human society, but also our concepts of body image and our sense of self, and how these these things impact our understanding of what it means to be human. (The best sort of scifi, in other words.)
Underlying all those great themes is the plot itself, which builds on those foundations to introduce its trickiest question: what we consider to be intelligence, and how our human centric perception shapes interaction with other lifeforms.
It really is a stellar read, an inspired and very original novel, combining two things i like (scifi and fashion) and putting it under a literary microscope in the context of cultural examination. Plus, I'm willing to bet you've never read the word "sartorial" so many times in a scifi novel before!
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But the book is so much more than that: It freewheels through a variety of spacefaring human cultures who have evolved and adapted to their respective environments, and dissects with remarkable precision not only the role of fashion in human society, but also our concepts of body image and our sense of self, and how these these things impact our understanding of what it means to be human. (The best sort of scifi, in other words.)
Underlying all those great themes is the plot itself, which builds on those foundations to introduce its trickiest question: what we consider to be intelligence, and how our human centric perception shapes interaction with other lifeforms.
It really is a stellar read, an inspired and very original novel, combining two things i like (scifi and fashion) and putting it under a literary microscope in the context of cultural examination. Plus, I'm willing to bet you've never read the word "sartorial" so many times in a scifi novel before!
#bookstagram #instareads #bookaholic #bookcollection #collectiblebooks #booklover #bookporn #bookcommunity #booklife #bookaddiction #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #bookworm #bookcollecting #instabooks #booknerd #bookcovers #sciencefiction #scifi #retroscifi #scifiart #scifibooks #bookstagrammer #bookreviews #bookreview #5star #5starbook
May 5, 2021
Absolute genius! On one level, a space opera romp, The Garments of Caean has so much more to offer. The narrative is pacey throughout; with cyborg battles, alien cities and intelligent plants, you can’t fault Bayley’s imagination. He also has a remarkable vocabulary. His prose is clear and fluid, and the descriptions are exquisitely succinct. The question is, how do you pronounce “Caean”? No clue is given in the text. The reader is implicitly invited to make up their own mind, as is the case with the novel’s “meaning”. The deceptively simple symbolism is startlingly vibrant. The old science fiction tropes are revisited afresh but what they signify is open to interpretation. Like a perfectly cut gem, the symmetry is beautiful no matter the angle from which it is beheld. But that’s not to say that this is a work of relativism. Bayley plainly disapproves of corruption and vice, as is evidenced by his parodying of it. Unfortunately, the American publishing house Doubleday didn’t quite appreciate that. They edited out most of the comedy and the first half of the novel is a little out of kilter due to this. That is a very minor gripe, however, and there is an unedited British version available, if you can find it. I recommend you do, because the Garments of Gaean is as close to a perfect example of British New Wave Science fiction as you’ll find. Highly, highly recommended.
April 14, 2013
Barrington Bayley was one of the world's great underrated SF writers. *The Fall of Chronopolis*, for example, is both an entertaining time travel story and an exercise in Lovecraftian horror. Unfortunately (as he's now dead) we won't be seeing any more of his output, which is a great shame.
It took me a while to read this one. This is usually a bad sign. But this is typically off-the-wall Bayley, based on an idea (clothing that transforms the wearer) guaranteed not to be found anywhere else in literature outside the works of Gottfried Keller - and this is what you read Bayley for. Exactly *how* this situation comes about is a mystery that unfolds throughout the book (with, admittedly, a lot of logical photic tunnelling - the 'how the heck did they conclude THAT from THAT' effect). Did I sympathize with the hero? Yes, but not much, if I'm honest. Was there a credible villain? Most definitely. Did they die? Oh, most horribly. Did I want to know what the Big Secret was? Yeah, I suppose so. Did I end up knowing what it was, and was it ultimately rather disappointing? Yes, and a bit. Worth a look.
It took me a while to read this one. This is usually a bad sign. But this is typically off-the-wall Bayley, based on an idea (clothing that transforms the wearer) guaranteed not to be found anywhere else in literature outside the works of Gottfried Keller - and this is what you read Bayley for. Exactly *how* this situation comes about is a mystery that unfolds throughout the book (with, admittedly, a lot of logical photic tunnelling - the 'how the heck did they conclude THAT from THAT' effect). Did I sympathize with the hero? Yes, but not much, if I'm honest. Was there a credible villain? Most definitely. Did they die? Oh, most horribly. Did I want to know what the Big Secret was? Yeah, I suppose so. Did I end up knowing what it was, and was it ultimately rather disappointing? Yes, and a bit. Worth a look.
October 12, 2020
Wasn't initially attracted to the sartorial tack, but this turned out to be among Bayley's best / most inventive efforts, literalizing & extrapolating on the old saw "clothes make the man." Some fine pulp-Symbolist descriptions of planets & their "cultures"; crisp, cynical characterizations (esp. of the "sociologists") that put me in mind of Chester Brown's work; and wild speculations around the central theme. Nice bonus: a key subplot suggests Bayley had been reading Moderans.
February 28, 2008
Really! I swear I'm an intellectual! I mean I only read this stuff when I'm weak or drunk or something!
July 13, 2009
An original, darkly humorous piece of science fiction fluff by Barrington Bayley.
January 31, 2021
Het beste punt van dit boek is overduidelijk dat het uniek is. De schrijver brengt een zienswijze op kleding die je nergens anders vindt op een doordachte en konsekwente manier. 2 verhaallijnen lopen lange tijd parallel en groeien dan uiteindelijk naar mekaar toe.
Jammer genoeg blijft de utiwerking van de personages tamelijk oppervlakkig en is de spanning ook niet bepaald te snijden. Dat maakt dat het boek wel makkelijk leesbaar is maar op bepaalde ogenblikken eerder saai aanvoelt en niet altijd uitnodigt tot verder lezen.
Allerlei scenes worden aangebracht maar hun potentieel wordt zelden echt benut, er wordt iets gesuggereert en daar blijft het dan bij. Vaak ook zonder betekenis voor de rest van het verhaal.
Een belangrijke groep personen zijn sociologen, en de manier waarop ze de bal compleet misslaan en omgaan met gevoelens en emoties doet vermoeden dat de schrijver er echt geen fan van is.
Dus samengevat: uniek maar weinig diepgang en spanning.
Jammer genoeg blijft de utiwerking van de personages tamelijk oppervlakkig en is de spanning ook niet bepaald te snijden. Dat maakt dat het boek wel makkelijk leesbaar is maar op bepaalde ogenblikken eerder saai aanvoelt en niet altijd uitnodigt tot verder lezen.
Allerlei scenes worden aangebracht maar hun potentieel wordt zelden echt benut, er wordt iets gesuggereert en daar blijft het dan bij. Vaak ook zonder betekenis voor de rest van het verhaal.
Een belangrijke groep personen zijn sociologen, en de manier waarop ze de bal compleet misslaan en omgaan met gevoelens en emoties doet vermoeden dat de schrijver er echt geen fan van is.
Dus samengevat: uniek maar weinig diepgang en spanning.
Read
January 11, 2009I only read two stories in this collection so I will not rate it. “Sporting with the Chid” is the first I read and Alastair Reynolds described it on his blog, and I paraphrase, “as the most demented thing I have ever read”. I got to say it’s a contender. The Chid are an alien race who are genius at surgery and make some unfortunate space traveler’s animated and removed brains try to catch their bodies before they fall of a cliff. It’s pretty nuts and does remind of some Reynold’s similar macabre science fiction at its most extreme (“Diamond Dogs” and “Nightingale” for example). The other is “Man in Transit.”, about a man who lives his whole life on an airplane. This story could have fit nicely into J.G. Ballard’s War Fever collection.
September 1, 2022
There are actually two parallel plots about clothing in this book, though one of them is really more of a B plot. The premise is truly ridiculous, but it milks it for everything it's worth, and manages to maintain a good balance of humour and plot.
The 1978 version is "restored" per the SFE, not sure which version I read though the one I own is the DAW 1976.
The 1978 version is "restored" per the SFE, not sure which version I read though the one I own is the DAW 1976.
June 26, 2019
I have felt an odd urge to re-read and review Bayley's books recently. I first read them back in the 1980s, mostly second-hand, but often in unread condition. Michael Moorcock's obituary of Bayley in the Guardian states that at that time he undertook significant legal action against his publisher for remaindering his books without telling him, and that this caused problems with finding a publisher subsequently. I am afraid my reading is largely based on those illegal remainders, for which he was presumably not paid.
The trouble with writing about Bayley is that it is very easy to concentrate on his weaknesses - which are impossible to miss. Don't get me started on his 'sex' scenes and general attitude to women. I doubt if much of his readership is female. It is harder to define what makes him a highly readable writer.
The Garments of Caean is my favourite of his books. The concept is outrageous, but highly developed, the prose is colourful - Bayley owed a debt to Jack Vance when in this mood - and the characters are acceptable and amusing pawns.
The pleasure of reading Bayley is that, as has often been said, he combines traditional space opera values with genuinely bizarre New Wave ideas. Jack Vance also did this, but he was an infinitely greater stylist. Sometimes I like to think of Bayley as a fictional character in a Burroughs or Moorcock novel - or Philip K. Dick - if they had tried to imagine a wacked out old-school sci-fi writer with flashes of alien genius, inventor of strange worlds in a Yorkshire coal-town, they could well have come up with Bayley...
The trouble with writing about Bayley is that it is very easy to concentrate on his weaknesses - which are impossible to miss. Don't get me started on his 'sex' scenes and general attitude to women. I doubt if much of his readership is female. It is harder to define what makes him a highly readable writer.
The Garments of Caean is my favourite of his books. The concept is outrageous, but highly developed, the prose is colourful - Bayley owed a debt to Jack Vance when in this mood - and the characters are acceptable and amusing pawns.
The pleasure of reading Bayley is that, as has often been said, he combines traditional space opera values with genuinely bizarre New Wave ideas. Jack Vance also did this, but he was an infinitely greater stylist. Sometimes I like to think of Bayley as a fictional character in a Burroughs or Moorcock novel - or Philip K. Dick - if they had tried to imagine a wacked out old-school sci-fi writer with flashes of alien genius, inventor of strange worlds in a Yorkshire coal-town, they could well have come up with Bayley...
June 15, 2022
All'inizio ho trovato l'idea molto divertente anche se non sapevo benissimo dove avrebbe portato la cosa, tant'è che mi stavo annoiando verso la metà, complice anche la scrittura che non rientra nei miei gusti (scorrevole, per carità, ma non molto avvincente). Poi dal momento del contatto con i Caeniani diventa molto interessante sia per gli spunti antropologici-sociologici - può una società evolversi in maniera diversa dalla nostra, una società dove l'apparenza esteriore non è solo frivolezza ma rivela il carattere profondo delle persone -, sia per la questione di forme di vita aliene.
Sono soddisfatta anche se non è tra i migliori libri che abbia mai letto.
Più un 3.5 che un 3
Sono soddisfatta anche se non è tra i migliori libri che abbia mai letto.
Più un 3.5 che un 3
March 1, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Barrington J. Bayley’s novels — I’ve reviewed Collision Course (1973), Empire of Two Worlds (1972), The Fall of Chronopolis (1974), The Pillars of Eternity (1982), and Star Winds (1978) — are characterized by extremely inventive concepts, generally poor characterization, and an uncanny lightness combined with a dose of visceral brutality. In the works of his I’ve read so far he never leaves the galactic empire/space opera format and is utterly [...]"
"Barrington J. Bayley’s novels — I’ve reviewed Collision Course (1973), Empire of Two Worlds (1972), The Fall of Chronopolis (1974), The Pillars of Eternity (1982), and Star Winds (1978) — are characterized by extremely inventive concepts, generally poor characterization, and an uncanny lightness combined with a dose of visceral brutality. In the works of his I’ve read so far he never leaves the galactic empire/space opera format and is utterly [...]"
May 1, 2024
Reading a longish list of books I should have read 40 years ago but didn’t get round to. There are some interesting ideas but the awkward and (now very) dated style of writing gets in the way. Written in ’78 any self respecting sci fi writer should have moved on from ‘tapes’ and ‘dialling’ things don’t you think? Obviously all science fiction will become anachronistic at some point but this felt more like it was written in the 50s than the 70s. Apart from the dodgy sex scenes, very 70s that.
August 28, 2019
I read this many years ago but its originality and invention so impressed me that the book has stuck in my mind all this time. A clever and unusual tale set in an exotic far-future universe. Bayley's characters and worlds were always refreshingly different and a little off-kilter.
July 20, 2021
Well written with intriguing use of current issues.
December 15, 2025
If this was on a musical recording they'd call it a deep cut. A gem of a scifi book with a very odd and original idea. Bayley deserves to be read more.
May 6, 2013
re-read after something like 30 years I enjoyed this even more than the first time around. A highly imaginative novel with some very interesting and unique ideas told with a dry and rather dark humor. A totally underrated author and novel.
A definite "must read" if you enjoy sci-fi of the Heinlein, Blish, Anderson, Sheckley, Zelazny etc styles.
A definite "must read" if you enjoy sci-fi of the Heinlein, Blish, Anderson, Sheckley, Zelazny etc styles.
December 6, 2016
読む前は、服のSFって何だ！って感じだったが、読み進めて納得し、センス・オブ・ワンダーに震えた。確かに、服を着ると気分が変わるし、いつもと異なるテイストの服を着れば、他人が受けるその人の印象が変わる。服を着た本人も（一時的なものかもしれないが）性格が変わったかのように錯覚することもあるだろう。気づいているようで気づいてない状況を、あわや星間戦争なところまで物語を膨らましているのはさすがである。読む前の期待がそれほど大きくなかったこともあり、余計に心と脳みそにガツンときた。
December 16, 2012
A repressive civilisation searches for the source of a potential threat: the clothes consciousness of a rival planet. Intriguing premise.
June 28, 2015
Exceedingly strange but memorable book. Rather daft concept on the surface, but really digs deep and manages to somehow expound on fashion, self-perception, cultural divergence and evolution.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews