LWA

LWA, initials standing for "Ladies Warrior Accouterments" , is a woman's fine clothier that has operated out of Arindell since the early Golden Age. The company was sold or went out of business several times during recorded history, but was always brought back in some form or another and always operated around its four core tenets: Quality, Functionality, Sensuality, and Discretion.

History

The early Golden Age was notorious for highly modest sensibilities. Both men and women were expected to show as little skin as possible, and going unclothed or scantily dressed was considered highly improper. This was largely a response to events near the end of the Mage Wars, in which forced removal of clothing was a common form of degradation. Pillaging hordes of former Marconian soldiers were known to round up entire villages, force everyone to strip, and burn the clothing. Since most commoners in that era only owned one set of clothes, this was a serious problem.

Thus, during the Golden Age, while going uncovered was not associated with immorality, it was considered uncivilized. Even laborers working in the summer were expected to be covered from neck to ankles. Bare arms were considered acceptable, but legs and torsos had to be covered.

Amidst this era, Emily, the fifth Pendragon of Slayer Dragons found she had clothing requirements that could not be met by her personal seamstress. Working together with funding from an unknown source (possibly monies available to the Slayer Dragons, though some scholars think the seed investment may have come from High Mountain), the first iteration of LWA was founded.

Purpose

Standard ladies' undergarments available at the time, were heavily ill-suited to the requirements of Pendragon. For a highly active warrior, then-common whale-bone corsets were too restrictive, and existing brassieres could not properly provide the support and comfort she required.

LWA was founded with three professional seamstresses, an engineer, an artist, and a business manager to ensure the brand could be economically viable. While Pendragon Emily would stop at nothing to meet her requirements, she did also feel that she could provide a service of value to other women.

Another common problem of the era was, simply, shopping. With the heavy stigmata surrounding the human body, the purchase of undergarments was an issue for both genders. Fitting rooms at clothing retails were not then in practice, and returning merchandise, especially undergarments, was highly uncommon. For woman in high society or those wishing to maintain the air of correctness required at the time, a simple trip to a store that specialized in undergarments could attract unwanted attention. It was especially a problem for the office of Pendragon, which was why Emily employed a personal seamstress in the first place: a luxury few women of the day could afford.

While changing public opinions would eventually negate the need, LWA felt that discretion and privacy of its clientele were paramount. LWA outlets did not advertise or post signs, their shops were never on the ground floor, and they incorporated discrete, nondescript entrances, usually through other businesses.

LWA stores were not even called shops, but offices. They took a heavily personalized approach to clients. While modern manufacturing techniques would eventually help, each garment produced by LWA was an entirely custom-made piece. The engineering side operated a workshop which fabricated machines to assist with the manufacture, as well as any components that were not fabric. The company also had a strict "by women, for women" mentality, and during its first century of operation, employed only women. This attitude was occasionally relaxed in later generations for "non-customer-facing roles", but was generally a feature of most iterations of the company.

A further service, originally unique to LWA, was the production of garments that were aesthetically pleasing. At the time, undergarments were always white, and as plain and functional as possible. LWA was the first shop in Arindell to sell colors, patterns, and styles of underclothes, and even began producing apparel that would have been considered extremely scandalous at the time. Due to LWA's strict policy of discretion, the general public was scarcely aware that such things existed. It was considered a "lady's secret" and not discussed in polite conversation.

Lady Warrior Shops

As modern manufacturing techniques entered the picture in the early-to-mid section of the Age, LWA opened a string of subsidiary stores called 'Lady Warrior', which sold mass-produced copies of LWA-designed garments. While Lady Warrior shops were not the first to begin openly selling "scandalous" undergarments, they quickly earned a reputation for quality, service, and discretion.

Lady Warrior stores retained the same plain, nondescript guise of their parent-company: they lack display windows, and the fronts are usually simple white facades bearing the name. The entrance is always designed such that passers-by cannot see into the store, and many LW store fronts incorporated a "back entrance": usually a secret passage through another shop. While not necessary given the sensibilities by the time Lady Warrior appeared, it was a playful throw-back to its roots.

By the mid Golden Age, most LWA offices were operated in Lady Warrior shops, and the company had largely shifted providing confidential, high-end custom lingerie to discerning clients.