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

[melannen]

I am flat-chested enough that I have never *found* a Tudor-period bodice or doublet pattern that doesn't flatten me completely, so I have just more or less decided to stop worrying about it and just be an unfashionably flat-chested woman when I do Rennaissance. (Though if you have recommendations...)

For this outfit, though, I have a jerkin for the outer layer, so I think I'm tailoring the jerkin along masculine lines and then letting the doublet have curves under it. (I've actually been looking for a period-ish binder pattern, too, though I doubt I need one, but I would like to be able to wander around in only the shirt and pass; I found one for civil war re-enactors that I might use, but I'm kind of surprised I couldn't find anything SCA-oriented. Anyway that should probably be a top-level post on this community :D)

Since I am actively Christian (and while not Catholic, from a High Church Protestant tradition that's nearly as close to Medieval Catholic as anything these days) I don't have the same worries, but I do understand that issue, especially since it seems like most SCAdians aren't religious. Wandering around Pennsic - which in so many ways really is totally immersive - and noticing the almost total lack of anything Christian in otherwise-accurate periods that should be drenched in it was weird, though. Leaving that out is leavingn out half of what made the medieval world. (There wasn't even a non-denominational public eSunday prayer service or even a chapel on-site, which surprised me; there must be a few Christian clergy at a thing like Pennsic, and even the local renfest has a a chapel.)

And I think that there aren't the same appropriation issues around Christianity that there are around other cultures, since it is so dominant, as long as it's approached with respect, and nobody's doing things like actually mocking the Sacraments. I know there are some people who have religious persona - there was one at our camp, and there were a few monks and nuns around - and I think many of them are agnostic/atheist/pagan in RL. If a miracle happened and I did decide I had the time and energy to get really active in SCA, what I would love to do is help organize an umbrella group for people whose persona have a major religious element (Christian or not) that could do things like have a camp at Wars that's under the Benedictine rule and organize demonstration period prayer services and things.

I do get that a lot of people are uncomfortable dealing with religion, and especially religions not their own, though.

[holyschist]

Well, flat-chested was fashionable. The boobs-on-a-platter look is mostly a modernism. Even quite large-busted women in 16th century portraits generally don't show cleavage. This is what I look like in a doublet gown over a boned back-lacing kirtle:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosettastones/3523341034/

What I found for me was that a front-lacing, un-boned canvas-stiffened kirtle lifts what little I have just enough to give me a slight high bustline that creates a period silhouette under other clothing. I'm still nearly flat, but I like the look a bit better.

In generally, I've found front-lacing and less boning gives me more of a bust. But I also suspect that through the 16th century, except possibly in the highest class, heavily boned pairs of bodies or kirtles weren't common, and that the smooth cone look was achieved by layers of dresses (early Tudor women, for example, seem to be wearing at least three layers over the smock on their torsos, and probably more layers of skirts). This is all quite heavy and not always suited to modern climates, but it's amazing what multiple layers, some stiffened with canvas, will do to smooth things out. And working and middle-class portraits pretty widely show bodies that doesn't appear to be boned, and fewer layers--Italian, English, Low Countries, and Spanish--you see bust curves and wrinkling in all of them.

Anyway that should probably be a top-level post on this community

It should! I really want to do serious drag at events, not just obvious-girl-wearing-boy-clothes, and I've been wondering about binding options, particularly ones that would be comfortable enough for camping.

Leaving that out is leavingn out half of what made the medieval world.

It is, and see: SCA allergy to religion. I believe the rules are that you can hold religious services in your campsite, but nothing quasiofficial--so a site chapel would be out. I'm not sure. Perhaps it might be worth poking through Corpora?

And I think that there aren't the same appropriation issues around Christianity that there are around other cultures, since it is so dominant, as long as it's approached with respect, and nobody's doing things like actually mocking the Sacraments.

It's not so much appropriation--I agree--just not something I'm comfortable with because I'm never quite sure how much I do respect religion on a fundamental level. I just feel weird about playing spiritual dress up. But that's me, obvs, and I don't know how other people feel about it.