Monophyly and the other phylies

The LCT-01 tree is organized according to a hybrid phenetic-phylogenetic configuration. A pattern, design, colorway, or other unit of classification from outside the LCT-01 can map to the LCT-01 in three primary ways: mono-, para-. and polyphyletically.

The phylies

Monophyly simply means that a group is a clade; if you cut it out of the LCT-01 tree, it is a full tree.

Paraphyly means that if a group were to be cut out of the tree, not only would its stem have to be cut, but a few branches would, too.

Polyphyly means that to cut this group out of the LCT-01 tree, you would have to make multiple cuts and end up with a pile of multiple trees.

How we divide groups

The high ranking groups of the LCT-01 tend to be split phenetically, while phylogenetic splits become more common at lower ranks. Because of this, it is very common that a pattern will be split polyphyletically.

One major example is the Deer & Doe Magnolia. While “officially” (in the sense of strict adherence to pattern instructions without any hacking) the Magnolia has sleeves, there exist people who have made sleeveless versions of the dress. Because sleeveless garments are part of the class Helistola, while sleeved garments can belong to other classes, which in the case of the Magnolia (whose sleeved versions are part of Magnolistolidae) would be the class Vecostola, the Deer & Doe Magnolia is thus, polyphyletic.

A group defined as “everything in your wardrobe” is almost surely a polyphyletic group too; in there, there exist many designs and patterns. Unless you own every single garment on Earth ever, or you only wear a single onesie pattern. (If you only had one pattern of every basic, that would be polyphyletic. For a fully monophyletic wardrobe, you’d need onesies.)