I recently went through the closet where I keep my SCA/RenFaire garb from ancient times. These were some of my favorites. All of them I made myself. They date back to when I was as thin as a CLAMP character. Now that I am no longer thin and unlikely ever to fit into any of these again, I’d like to find new homes for them. (As always, click on the pictures to see them larger and in better color.)
I liked to wear the cotehardie with bells, above, for dancing.
More cotehardies. The hood in the last picture was made for a different outfit, which perished in a fire soon after I made it. I customarily wore these with tights, frequently parti-colored or striped. There are sources for multicolored medieval-style tights, but I liked to make my own. Wearing leggings made of modern stretch fabrics might have been cheating, but I wanted to be able to dance freely without worrying about seams failing.
A simple dagged tunic. Nothing fancy: just useful, easily-washed everyday garb that I didn’t mind getting grubby in, yet nice enough to wear to court.
A houppelande that took an immense amount of material — the sleeves are huge. There was a matching hat, but that also perished in the fire. If you look closely at the maximum size picture, you can see a little dark smoke damage.
A satin doublet and a velvet tabard-like overtunic. There were pieced sleeves that went with the doublet, but they have disappeard. I wore these with a white shirt and red-and-white tights. The grey marks on the fake fur trim are smoke damage.
A simple blue doublet. I wore this with a white shirt and dark blue tights. This was my default outfit during my too many years in the SCA.
A friend handed me some glittery fabric and told me to do something with it. This is what I came up with. Here’s what it looked like on me back when my hair was short:
I generally preferred costumes based on 14th- and 15th-century styles, but this one is more 16th-century. I wore it with a white shirt and black, or black-and-red, tights.
I’m no expert tailor, and these are all amateurish, but they served their purpose and I enjoyed wearing them. A much more skillful friend made a few costumes for me that are designed and constructed better than any of these. Someday I’ll get a few pictures of them.