A more in-depth guide to planning garb

In other posts, I have covered the basics of planning garb. From basing it on a time and place, to getting ideas from art. But I've not yet explained how to research, find the right search terms, and understand what it is that you are looking at.

If you've already been thinking about a persona, then you may already be well on your way to researching an awesome outfit. Maybe you've decided that you want to be the daughter of one of the chaps who went over with William in 1066. A Norman damsel. Already this tells you a lot about what you would wear: The fashions of the 11th century, from France, specifically, Normandy.

Or, perhaps you've decided that you're the bastard son of some noble in the court of one of the Burgundian Dukes in the 1400's. Again, this will tell a lot about what you would wear, 15th century Burgundian fashion is pretty specific.

Or maybe you're a merchant from the Ottoman empire visiting Spain in 1300 and-something or other.

Or a clans-woman of the highlands of Scotland in the 12th century.

Or a 16th century Cossack.

By having an idea of who you want to portray, it gives you a place to start in choosing an outfit.

Time and place is a good starting point. It will give you the first search terms you will need. Typing, "Norman, 11th century" will give links to pages about Norman history. To get pages about what was worn, "Norman clothing, 11th century" is more useful.

Reading through a few pages, you will run across the term "bliaut" or "bliaud"several times. This is a useful search term for 11th century Norman clothing. Each time and place will have its own reoccurring terms. They're very useful, not just for information, but also for images of particular garments.

Other ways to find clothing from a specific time and place, is to look for art from it. And in some cases you can even find real garments, using the term "extant clothing." Try it, go to google, and type in "extant viking clothing." Do it as an image search, and you will find a lot of pictures of real (though slightly ragged looking) garments, worn by real vikings hundreds of years ago. You can do searches of other times and places, try "extant Elizabethan clothing" or "extant ottoman clothing." Some time/places will have more extant examples than others, but it is usually a good way to find articles about the actual garments that were worn.

When it comes to looking at art, be careful not to be fooled by Victorian era art. The Victorians were a little obsessed with history, and liked to make their own versions of the art.

Art is really useful for the 1400's onwards, because you can usually get the name of an artist, and look at more of their work. For example, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Pieter Bruegel the Younger, Dutch/Flemish artists, who painted a lot of art of the common folk, some including such detail, that you can see the seam lines of the garments, giving insight into how they were cut and constructed.

Once you have an idea of the sort of garments you want to make, you'll need to know how to make them. Patterns are what you will need. Most of the time, you can type the name of the garment into a google image search, and you will find multiple ways of making your chosen garment. And from there, you can start to calculate how much fabric you will need for your garment.

- by Laetitia de Harfleur