misslj_author (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
misslj_author) wrote2012-11-18 11:30 am
misslj_author) wrote2012-11-18 11:30 am
Historical (and TV) Costuming.
This is where I out myself as a costumer and historical reenactor. Although neither of those are really secret. It's been a goodly number of years since I've done anything like this, for several reasons, most having to do with health issues. (And yes, I miss it a LOT). Anyhoodle, before I got involved in historical reenacting (not the SCA), I was studying a degree in History and Film Studies. As part of the history major, I took classes in Byzantine History, Late Roman History, Early Medieval History and Renaissance Italy. My present day love for Byzantium and the period of the 12th-13th centuries (particularly the Third Crusade) comes from both university and reenacting. My love for ancient Chinese history comes from my early teens, when I was learning Mandarin.
What I did in my hobby is called Living History. And what is that, you wonder. Well, wonder no more! Living History is "[...] trying to bring the past to life again by reconstructing the clothes, equipment, weapons, armour and tools of the past. This often involves extensive research into original sources by those who have a fascination for this. Fortunately for most of us they are willing to share the knowledge with the rest of us so we all have a good time!
Once the research has been done and the equipment made or purchased or borrowed we can start wearing the clothes; fighting with the weapons and following the craftsmen's skill with the tools." (-Tudor Times.)
I was chatting with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
acosmistmachine on Twitter about Star Wars and Star Trek and tattoos, and the conversation moved to the topic of costumes. I said that in my past, I'd worn a Star Trek costume, and it convinced me that in the Trek future, people had no bladders. The costume I'd worn was a dress uniform, so a dress tunic over the onesie affair, which, having had to use the bathroom while wearing it, I can attest to the fact that in the future, if it's Trek, we will be free from bladders. Also, these things are damn uncomfortable, because they are form fitting, so unless you're supremely self-confident, you're constantly sucking in your stomach or stressing about your arse. (I should hastily add that this is the ST: TNG costume.) The costumer who made this is an extremely talented woman who has a real eye for recreation of clothing, whether it be history based of media based.
So, here's a photo. Beneath the cut. I'm 25 in this (oh so young! LOL!) and I don't recall what I was saying when the photo was taken, but I'd be willing to believe it was something to do with having no bladder.
(These aren't the greatest scans, I apologise, and they were scanned not long after they were taken, over 15 years ago, which probably doesn't help the quality. But they're viewable.)
Click to see the full size image.
Behold. 25 year old me, in a Star Trek: The Next Generation dress uniform.
Moving onto a topic of costume that I am much more fond of - historical clothing. One of my good friends, who I am showing off here, because she is so damn talented, I can't even, sews a great deal of her gear by hand. That means a needle and thread, people. No sewing machines or overlockers. BY HAND. I remember her sewing a corset for a gown that was truly amazing and beautiful and breathtaking, and it took her *ages*. (This was a proper steel boned corset, btw.). So. Much. Talent. So, I'm featuring her first. Here she is, first in a Roman toga of a Roman noblewoman, then in a Tudor gown, and finally, with oneself. She's the one in the green silk Renaissance gown.
Next is my knight protector and another of my good friends. He makes all his own armour, by hand, over a forge. BY HAND. I am surrounded by super talented people! His cloth wares are made by a seamstress, but he makes all the armour, the weapons, the acoutrements. So here he is, first in his twelfth century formal chain maille, all the better for protecting my delicate self and the honour of my ladies, and then in his Highlander gear for sixteenth century Scottish warrior.
And finally, me. Like I said, it's been quite a few years since I've done anything, so time, hair dye, tattoos and piercings, have changed how I look just a little bit. But you know, I loved this hobby, and I learned so much while doing it, both from researching to get my costumes as historically accurate as possible, and training how to be a combat marshall for when the club I was a member of did public shows. (Combat marshall - yelling at knights in armour. Like a medieval tennis umpire. But with swords instead of tennis rackets.) First up, me in what is possibly my most favourite costume ever, which, to my great sadness I neither made nor owned (it was made and owned by the lady who made the Trek costume; jewellry and chemise is mine, though.): late Italian Renaissance. Then me, in gear that I did make and do own, my twelth century lady, holding her knight's sword. (Real sword. Real steel. Knight Protector made.) Finally, wearing my other favourite Renaissance gown that I made, dating to late Italian Renaissance.
ETA: While I remembered, foracosmistmachine, a photo of Byzantines from a Living History Conference I went to in 99. Empress Maria with His Serenity, Emperor Egfrothos Megistophallus Maximus Magnificus, and two very surprised Varangian guards behind them. (Click to embiggen.)
What I did in my hobby is called Living History. And what is that, you wonder. Well, wonder no more! Living History is "[...] trying to bring the past to life again by reconstructing the clothes, equipment, weapons, armour and tools of the past. This often involves extensive research into original sources by those who have a fascination for this. Fortunately for most of us they are willing to share the knowledge with the rest of us so we all have a good time!
Once the research has been done and the equipment made or purchased or borrowed we can start wearing the clothes; fighting with the weapons and following the craftsmen's skill with the tools." (-Tudor Times.)
I was chatting with
acosmistmachine on Twitter about Star Wars and Star Trek and tattoos, and the conversation moved to the topic of costumes. I said that in my past, I'd worn a Star Trek costume, and it convinced me that in the Trek future, people had no bladders. The costume I'd worn was a dress uniform, so a dress tunic over the onesie affair, which, having had to use the bathroom while wearing it, I can attest to the fact that in the future, if it's Trek, we will be free from bladders. Also, these things are damn uncomfortable, because they are form fitting, so unless you're supremely self-confident, you're constantly sucking in your stomach or stressing about your arse. (I should hastily add that this is the ST: TNG costume.) The costumer who made this is an extremely talented woman who has a real eye for recreation of clothing, whether it be history based of media based. So, here's a photo. Beneath the cut. I'm 25 in this (oh so young! LOL!) and I don't recall what I was saying when the photo was taken, but I'd be willing to believe it was something to do with having no bladder.
(These aren't the greatest scans, I apologise, and they were scanned not long after they were taken, over 15 years ago, which probably doesn't help the quality. But they're viewable.)
Click to see the full size image.
Behold. 25 year old me, in a Star Trek: The Next Generation dress uniform.
Moving onto a topic of costume that I am much more fond of - historical clothing. One of my good friends, who I am showing off here, because she is so damn talented, I can't even, sews a great deal of her gear by hand. That means a needle and thread, people. No sewing machines or overlockers. BY HAND. I remember her sewing a corset for a gown that was truly amazing and beautiful and breathtaking, and it took her *ages*. (This was a proper steel boned corset, btw.). So. Much. Talent. So, I'm featuring her first. Here she is, first in a Roman toga of a Roman noblewoman, then in a Tudor gown, and finally, with oneself. She's the one in the green silk Renaissance gown.
Next is my knight protector and another of my good friends. He makes all his own armour, by hand, over a forge. BY HAND. I am surrounded by super talented people! His cloth wares are made by a seamstress, but he makes all the armour, the weapons, the acoutrements. So here he is, first in his twelfth century formal chain maille, all the better for protecting my delicate self and the honour of my ladies, and then in his Highlander gear for sixteenth century Scottish warrior.
And finally, me. Like I said, it's been quite a few years since I've done anything, so time, hair dye, tattoos and piercings, have changed how I look just a little bit. But you know, I loved this hobby, and I learned so much while doing it, both from researching to get my costumes as historically accurate as possible, and training how to be a combat marshall for when the club I was a member of did public shows. (Combat marshall - yelling at knights in armour. Like a medieval tennis umpire. But with swords instead of tennis rackets.) First up, me in what is possibly my most favourite costume ever, which, to my great sadness I neither made nor owned (it was made and owned by the lady who made the Trek costume; jewellry and chemise is mine, though.): late Italian Renaissance. Then me, in gear that I did make and do own, my twelth century lady, holding her knight's sword. (Real sword. Real steel. Knight Protector made.) Finally, wearing my other favourite Renaissance gown that I made, dating to late Italian Renaissance.
ETA: While I remembered, for
acosmistmachine, a photo of Byzantines from a Living History Conference I went to in 99. Empress Maria with His Serenity, Emperor Egfrothos Megistophallus Maximus Magnificus, and two very surprised Varangian guards behind them. (Click to embiggen.)
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I love that gown. The silk was an amazing bargain, it was something like $4 p/meter, and with the green raw silk lining the sleeves, it ended up being prettier than I'd imagined. It was the second historically accurate costume I made.
I really love this hobby. I might not be able to be as physically involved these days, but I do still love the research and my friends, and all of it. I'm really looking forward to the Medieval Fair in May, a group of us are going for the day, and it's like my annual pilgrimage to hang out with other reenactors who have real steel weapons and armour.
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My brother is working on his degree on Viking Age Iceland though and does reenactments and fairs with his friends all the time. He's slowly but surely putting together his costumes. Which is taking a while because he wants to make as much of it has he can himself and is basically teaching himself how to sew in the process.
Very impressive stuff.
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Yeah, it does take a bit of time (and money!) to get a good kit together. I got my sword and dagger at mates rates, but it was still a lot, but so very worth it. One of my friends who does Imperial Roman reenacting has two sets of full Roman armour that he made himself, it took him *ages* to do, but the results are amazing. And another friend has just finished his four year project of Sassanid armour for mounted combat. It looks phenomenal, he really looks as if he's stepped out of an illuminated manuscript.
The Byzantine Emperor reenactor above has done years and years of research, too - he went to the anniversary Battle of Hastings reenactment some years ago, before leaving Australia, he got a historically accurate haircut and then had to fill in all sorts of paperwork to get his weapons and armour over to England and back, but he had an amazing time and made the rest of us quite jealous!
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And the armour!! Fantastic.
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I can tell you from experience, that letting people try on the gear works wonders for exposure and fund raising. At events and public shows, we would have a part of our table set up for 'get your photo taken with a knight and/or lady' and you could wear the armour or a gown, depending on what you wanted. We charged $1 per photo and took Polaroid photos. The public *loved* it, and would often give us more than the $1. We also sold gingerbreads in the shape of shields, iced with various heraldic designs, and banners, with the same icing. Those went for 4 for $1. And we had mini wooden shields, painted with the heraldic designs that we sold for $5 each. Every time, all of those went like hot cakes. Leather bookmarks, illuminated pages, all sold cheap and were usually gone by midday.
So if your museum is open to the idea of photos for cheap to raise money, it really does raise a lot. We were able to pay our insurance one year from members dues and proceeds from those sales. And of course, the public remembers how much fun they had, they have a memento of it, (plus the oodles of photos their friends/families take on top of the Polaroid we gave them), and they'd come to shows we were at because of their earlier experiences.
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I did pirates summer before last [got a novel out of it too :)] and we decided to do a kids event in the castle grounds. We made hats from black paper and cutlasses from pipe lagging and packing foam, painted faces with moustaches and scars, made eye patches, let them dig for treasure and sail paper boats in a paddling pool. HUGE fun and it was a free event but I think we might have to start charging in future. :( such a pity
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We found that keeping the money we charged low, or at a gold coin donation (because the Australian $1 and $2 are both coins), that we did better that way than charging a lot. What about something like a [insert period here] picnic? And if you could your local reenactment groups involved and put on a display, you could do a day fair or something? Another thing that people really seemed to be interested in was food. Could you maybe do something like a historical cooking class or something? That would probably go down really well. (Pun not intended!)
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