For discussion: Your favorite periods

[holyschist]

Some questions for discussion this week (and may influence which resource posts get started first):

1. If you have a persona or other reenactment focus, what period and place is that?

2. What is/are your favorite periods/places for clothing?

3. What period/place would you like to learn more about for clothing?

4. Are there any post-1600 areas of dress you're interested in as well?

Comments

[holyschist]

1. If you have a persona or other reenactment focus, what period and place is that?

My SCA persona is 16th century Spanish, probably about 1560s. This portrait of Elizabeth de Valois is an example of my favorite style.

One of my goals this year is to produce a distinctively Spanish outfit, either 16th or 14th century.

2. What is/are your favorite periods/places for clothing?

1580s English, 1560s Italian (a la Eleonora of Toledo), 1560s Spain, 14th century Europe in general, and 13th-14th century Mongol Empire.

3. What period/place would you like to learn more about for clothing?

Spain, really. I want to do some really deep research, which I suspect is going to require learning more Spanish.

4. Are there any post-1600 areas of dress you're interested in as well?

I'm kind of intrigued by English Civil War, but I hate sewing, sew slowly, and have nowhere to wear an ECW gown, so I'm unlikely to pursue that any time soon. ETA: Also Age of Sail, specifically British naval uniforms. If I lived on a coast, I'd be looking for a reenactment group.

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

1. I'm unofficially attached to a living history group, through the former high school of a friend of mine. They're centered in the 940's- though come to think of it, their group's "history" may have turned to the next century now. Their story is centered in Scotland, but my character is Irish, and was married to a Welshman. (Until he got dead during an etiquette lesson from an employee of my current employer, which I promptly thanked her for... long story.)
2. I really like the look of German styles, but I can't afford anything new right now, since I now have a full outfit.
3. Oh, I'm a firm novice when it comes to design and making stuff myself. Everything, please!
4. Pioneer Northern America, early 1800s.

[melannen]

Hi! I am not officially an SCA member, but I seem to spend quite a lot of time in their companies anyway, and I love period costume (and re-enactment in general.)

1. If you have a persona or other reenactment focus, what period and place is that?

12th-15th century English Midlands, as a sort of peasant/freewoman. Though I am of the opinion that since present-day me dresses in a mish-mash of styles old, new, and nonexistent, in a merry disregard for fashion, my re-enactment persona ought to be allowed to do the same!

(Actually, I went to Pennsic last summer, wore outfits I pulled out of my everyday casual wardrobe, and got compliments on my garb at least once a day. One cannot overestimate the value of a) proper headcovering, and b) outfits that are as worn as if they're everyday wear rather than costumes.)

Also, right now, I am doing a Tudor men's court outfit for an SCA wedding I'm going to be in. Crossplay=win, and so are crossdressing Shakespearean heroines. (I am hoping to be able to mix and match things like the doublet and the shirt to get most of a women's Tudor outfit out of it, too.)

2. What is/are your favorite periods/places for clothing?

I cannot pick a favorite! I like all of the SCA period! But in general, I'm more interested in what the commoners and bourgeousie are wearing than in noblewomen, which tends to be harder to source to specific times and locations anyway. And I tend to stick to Northern/Western Europe because I am neurotic about appropriation issues.

3. What period/place would you like to learn more about for clothing?

If I did set up a proper SCA persona, I would love to do an English nun from the High Middle Ages, of the not-terribly-pious sort who went to the Church in order to have a career rather than to be a religious servant, and do a completely accurate habit right down to the underclothes - one thing I really noticed at Pennsic was the extreme shortage of people in religious personae - but I would be starting the research pretty much from scratch.

I've also been collecting scraps for some time about middle-class 16th century Protestant German costumery. And in the "pie in the sky" department, I would love to be able to take an authentic 13th century Cahokian persona to SCA events - you know, actually play a local - but there is *so* little easily available research about North America in that period, and doing it badly would be far worse than doing it not at all.

4. Are there any post-1600 areas of dress you're interested in as well?

Early American colonial - 17th and very early 18th century, especially in the mid-Atlantic colonies. Also pre-Raphaelite, Artistic, and Reform dress in the late 19th century, leading to early 20th century fashion in general, though I lose interest shortly after Utility fashion in the 1940's (when hemlines start to creep ever closer to - gasp! - the knees.)

[zhelana]

1. 13th century Ukrainian/Russian
2. Russia. I do Viking because it's easy often though
3. hmm. some time easy to make?
4. Not so much.

:-)

[elke_tanzer]

I'm not officially SCA; one of my goals is to not stick out as a total mundane the next time I happen to get invited to http://www.potrerowar.org/ as part of an existing camp for a few days -- I managed a couple years ago to blend in all right in peasanty garb, but I almost didn't manage even that on short notice.

One of these days I'm going to manage some age of sail outfits for myself... I cosplay various sci-fi and fantasy settings sometimes, and am just getting into steampunk, so any opportunity to learn basic construction techniques which I can later remix is always greatly appreciated. Nobody does fundamentals and details like the SCA folks! :-)

[pearl]

1. If you have a persona or other reenactment focus, what period and place is that?

I primarily have a 10th century Danish persona, but more generally I'm attracted to the Viking Age, especially outside of 'central' Scandinavia.

2. What is/are your favorite periods/places for clothing?
I love the Finnish and Baltic styles, around 10-12th centuries, and 16-17th c. Korean.

3. What period/place would you like to learn more about for clothing?
I wouldn't mind learning more about when those beautiful ruffled veils were in fashion, especially in Poland.

4. Are there any post-1600 areas of dress you're interested in as well?
I am interested in Victorian-era hairwork in mourning jewellery, but I've never thought about the clothes, I'd have nowhere to wear it.

[sporky_rat]

1. If you have a persona or other reenactment focus, what period and place is that?
Late 800's Novgorod area, Russia. I'm a Varangian! ....You have no idea how interesting that gets.

2. What is/are your favorite periods/places for clothing?
I like the very early periods - and Viking is almost period for my focus because at that time they were still more Viking than Slavic, but the Slavic was creeping in. I have a Slavic spelling of a Norse name - Olga instead of Helga.

3. What period/place would you like to learn more about for clothing?
Early early Russia

4. Are there any post-1600 areas of dress you're interested in as well?
Pre colonial India! ....That kinda comes out of left field...

[havocthecat]

I am not in the SCA! Because, oh God, it's a time suck that I do not have time for. Though I wish I did.

That said, I have been known to research Turkish, Persian, and other Middle Eastern garb of various eras, specifically because I want to know what's actually historical, and what belly dancers have come up with because it looks pretty, but is only vaguely accurate, if at all. Not that there's anything wrong with not-historical-but-pretty for belly dancers; I just want to know the difference, that's all.

(I'm sure this post wasn't directed at people like me, so feel free to ignore my comment, of course, if it doesn't fit with what you're doing.)

[dulcinbradbury]

1. 7th Century Ireland... leaning towards Northern Ireland, but, the archaeological evidence is scant enough that anything close is useful.
2. For clothing? What era don't I like? ::sighs:: I've often joked about going incognito in Elizabethan because no one would believe it was me.
3. Honestly, I'd love to learn more about my own period. There's just so little out there.
4. I love Victorian to be honest. I'd really like to make a full late-Victorian outfit.

[luscious_purple]

I'm definitely in the SCA (waves hello to pearl).

1. If you have a persona or other reenactment focus, what period and place is that?
LITHUANIA! (As pearl well knows.) I'm kind of a "secular evangelist" on the subject. Granted, the material culture of the medieval Baltic region isn't as well known as the cultures of Western Europe, especially on this side of the pond, but it did exist. Circa 1400 CE, Lithuania was the biggest country in Europe. So, my pet peeve is books that have titles like "Europe in the Middle Ages" or "Medieval Shoes" or "Battles of the Dark Ages" and don't mention ANYTHING about Lithuania. Sorry, authors, but your books aren't complete!

2. What is/are your favorite periods/places for clothing?
For garb that I have or want to get soon? I'm trying to get a little bit of garb from a lot of different eras, because a traveling Lithuanian woman would probably want to blend in with the local culture. :-) I have a couple of Italian Renn dresses, a Cavalier silk dress that gets lots of raves (but I didn't sew it), a sideless surcoat, and a bunch of tunic-type dresses. I want to make myself at least one Viking apron dress to match my barony's heraldry.

3. What period/place would you like to learn more about for clothing?
Lithuania! *grin* Seriously, there aren't a whole lot of preserved grave goods or paintings, especially from the pre-Christian days. I've seen some photos of early-period non-SCA reenactors in Lithuania, but I don't know where they got their clothing ideas. Very late-period Lithuanians seem to look pretty German from the few paintings I've seen online, so I have to learn more about the similarities and differences.

4. Are there any post-1600 areas of dress you're interested in as well?
Well, I have one -- count 'em, one -- photograph of my paternal grandmother, who died in 1934. I'd like to make a copy of the dress she's wearing in that photograph (circa 1932) and pose for a similar portrait. Just a tribute to the grandmother I never got to meet.