The main plot covers a journey to a crashed planet by a con-man, Rialto Mast and Peder Forbath, a knowledgeable sartorial.

Due to the particular nature of the clothing -– so exquisite as to imbue the wearer with certain qualities – on Caean the skill of the designer is such that the title "supplants the functions of psychiatrist, priest, and molder of public opinion."

The secondary plot consists of a team of scientists who travel to a distant portion of the galaxy and manage to discover two completely unique forms of life.

Rhys Hughes reviewed The Garments of Caeans as "a colorful, dandified and frilly epic with poisoned lining and a denouement as abrupt as sharpened lapels."

"[1] John Clute commented on the "fairly sophisticated cultural anthropology" utilised[2] while Brian Stableford described the novel as "cleanly written and a joy to read.