Five Things To Improve Your Renaissance Clothes

So you’ve been coming to Faire for a while, and you’ve decided that you’d like to wear something more historical than what you have. You spent a lot of money on your outfit. You can’t just throw it all out and buy new stuff! Is there anything you can do?Yup! Here’s five little things you can do to improve your outfit today.

Wear a cap - Most women didn’t go around with their hair uncovered. Even upper class women had their hair specially dressed and coiffed. Common women typically wore white linen caps to keep their hair clean and tidy. Find a white linen cap or coif at one of the merchants and tuck all your hair up into it. If you can’t find a white linen cap, a white piece of linen wrapped around your head “do-rag” style is acceptable too.

Cover your shoulders- This one is really two. Number one: Pull your chemise sleeves up so they cover your shoulders. The “off-shoulder” look wasn’t done in the 16^th century. Number two: Wear a partlet or shoulder cape to cover your chest and shoulders. A simple rectangle of white linen pinned at the throat will not only make your outfit more historically accurate, it will also protect your skin from sunburn. No more red triangles!

Un-tuck your skirts - Wearing a skirt tucked up into your belt isn’t period-appropriate. Women in the 16^th century wore theirs hanging normally.

Change your boots for shoes - Boots were worn more for function than fashion in the 16^th century. If you’re not riding a horse, you probably shouldn’t be wearing boots. Luckily the shoes from this time period looked very much like “China flats” or canvas slippers. Pick up a pair for a few dollars at your local thrift store.

Unhook your tankard- People didn’t go to 16^th century taverns with their own personal tankard on their belts. The tavern provided drinking vessels. If you really feel the need to carry your own tankard with you, tuck it into a pouch and suspend that from your belt or put it in a basket and carry it.

Kass McGann

Conflict in Costume

I was struck by the post regarding principles for making documentaries, especially the element of finding your conflict. I started thinking that we need to start recording all of our ideas regarding the conflict that we can think of or that we might find as we enter this arena. These ideas are just the first that I could think of, but I know we need to keep digging into this question to find not just the surface conflicts but deeper ones.

1. Faire vs. Theater: I expected and have continued to discover a real distain for the Ren Faire costume compared from the perspective of the theater scene. For the larger documentary, I think this issue is going to be a key to connect the two areas. The Theater folks look at the Ren Faire as a silly place not to be compared with what they do. Much of the attitude comes from the fact that the patrons at Fairs come in costume.

2. Authenticity: While we haven’t gone to a reenactment yet, I expect to discover a conflict in the area of authenticity. I have a feeling that this will be key to the hierarchy that exists. This is also an interesting counter point to the Ren Faire which is based in history but only anchored there as a starting point.

3. Costumers are Dorks: This is an idea that we are counter with costumers are imaginative and creative.  It is quite possible that they are creative and imaginative dorks though, so I think we need to also show that MANY MANY people are involved in costuming on various levels. It is not so fringe at is seems. We will have to do research to help us develop this more. I think interviews with some academics regarding fan culture might also be really helpful.

I need to stop for now, but I want us to continue developing these ideas.

Reprinted with permission from Project Costume

Episode 1: Highbrow - Lowbrow at the Ren-Faire

The Bristol Renaissance Faire is filled with the most creative costumers and actors. We were struck by the commitment and passion of every participant, both paid and unpaid. The faire hosts over 200,000 patrons, or visitors each season and upwards of 400 performers each day. We learned from our interviews that a majority of the performers volunteer their time each weekend that the Faire is open through the summer. 

I have had no experience with Renaissance faires outside of second hand impressions from friends who have been involved. Coming into the faire, one of my main questions regarded how Ren-faires are perceived from the outside and from the inside. Each of the people we interviewed brought up the issue of Ren-faires being considered low-brow. When asked about this impression, the universal feeling was that while their reputation may not be high-brow, this was from lack of understanding of the skill and creativity of the events themselves.

Adam, a director of a troupe of street performers and an actor himself told us that he feels that the skill required for their improvisation is unique. While there is some scripting, each actor has a character to develop, rules to follow, interaction with the audience and maintaining high level of energy at all times. For instance, the fantasticals are fairy creatures. Each one is not only in full costume but also spray painted make up. These actors are never allowed to be seen out of their character throughout the day and this includes not speaking. They must maintain a fairy-like otherworldliness. Because of this, they are not allowed to order food from the vendors, but instead have to find creative ways of being fed by various patrons.

Alyssa, who we interviewed extensively, recently took the position of costume director. She had to face the issue of having her peers consider her taking a  step down in her career path. The theatre has the highbrow reputation that the faire lacks in reputation. We asked Alyssa how she felt about this and her love of her job and appreciation for this venue of costuming is clear. She feels that the interaction of the actors with the costumes brings a deeper level of creativity. Each of the actors work on their own costume to give them levels of detail that no costume director would have time or money to accomplish. This includes hand-beading, millinery, hand embroidery and stitching. Not only this, but each costume is transformed by the actor themselves. They spend so much time in the costumes that they learn to give them a life of their own by how their wear it such as tucking up parts or swinging the fabric as they walk.  These elements all add up to creative a collection of costumes that Alyssa feels can surpass much of the costume work that she experiences on traditional theaters.

Our impression was astonishment at the beauty and detail of each costume. We had high expectations for what we would see but we were blown away! We had four hours to spend at the faire and we felt that we were only able to touch the surface. We could have spent a least another day in 1574! 

We look forward to interviewing people from theaters and costume design fields as well as theater goers to get their impressions of these events for a counter point or possibly even support of the faire style theater.

While Shelby and I originally expected to only spend one day for the filming of this episode we are both eager to return. We had a wonderful experience with Alyssa and Adam who were so hospitable and open to us. I should also mentioned that the filming would have been a disaster without our crew, Joe who helped with communications and gear management and David who operated the boom with incredible skill as our sound director. Look for their mini-documentary titled “Adventures in helping our wife and girlfriend film at the Ren–Faire.” Good to see them getting into the documentary spirit.

Reprinted with permission from Project Costume

Episode 1: Renaissance Reenacters as Theater Costume

The Renaissance faire costumes hold a unique place in the realm of costume communities. While the Ren Faire can be categorized as reenactors, their rules and visions is distinctly different from many groups of this type. For many reenactors, the authenticity of the uniforms and clothes is of primary value. The era which the characters are drawn from provides a wealth of important details to those making the clothing. They often find original pieces and replicate the garments or the style of the garment in minute detail. The attention to detail spans from the type of stitching, the thread count of the fabric, types of buttons and more. Attention is paid to how the garments are worn and attitudes held while in the garments. 

The Renaissance Faire reenactors have a different spin on the use of historical inspiration. The people we interviewed saw the historical period, which in this case was 1574, as a major source of inspiration, but the authenticity often was traded for a theatrical point of view. 

Anchoring the community in a specific period provides a broad spectrum for individuals to choose and develop their character. The range of possibilities run from royalty, the court, towns people and more. Not only does it give a range of clothing options to choose from, but actual historical people to reinterpret through performance and dress. It gives not only a scope, but also a depth that can be felt through the diversity of the experience.

Where the Ren-Faire performers differ is their view of authenticity. From their perspective, the theatrical element can override the need for authenticity. For instance, in 1574 cotton was the most expensive and rare fiber content for clothe. Because of this the royalty would often be seen in this type of fabric while the lower classes would wear varieties of flax and woolen material. Today, cotton fibers read as common and even cheap because of its widespread availability. In response to this, Alyssa, the costume director, would use satin type materials for garments appropriate for a higher class character. How the audience reads the characters is significant for the experience. This perspective is clearly more in kind with a theater style costuming way of thinking. 

Adam, a performer and director of street performers designed his own garments. He, like many others hand made several specific pieces. His hat was of particular notice since he had obviously put long hours into its development. When he was describing it to us, he noted that the hat was in the style which his character would have worn, but that he exaggerated its height to give it a dramatic flare. These types of examples were a common thread and provides an important insight into the practices and values of the Renaissance Faire costume design.

*NOTE: one common element we have noted is that individuals in costume communities prefer the term garment, uniform or dress while costume is often considered insult. However, this is not always the case. Alyssa’s position is the “costume director.”

Reprinted w/ Permission from Project Costume