16th Century Venetian Man Garb

I finally have nice photos to share of our late 16th c. Venetian garb! We rarely wear this stuff because my boyfriend and I both prefer running-around / working - friendly garb at SCA events. This post is dedicated to his ensemble, and I shall post mine next.

This is based on fashion from late 16th century Venice, ~1570s. (I mixed and matched inspiration images, as one of my very favorite things about making clothing is the whole design aspect.)
The undershirt is made of white linen and was actually already in his wardrobe.
The doublet is made of red silk with detachable tie-on brocade sleeves.
The hat is black velvet with ostrich feathers.
The pants are black linen, made in the Venetian style.
The coat, or loose gown, is made of silk/rayon blend velvet and lined in black. The slashes in the sleeves show a blue brocade underlayer.

You can see more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/venetian-male-ensemble/

Inspiration at the Getty Villa

Here in LA, we have this wonderful place called the Getty Villa. It is filled with Greek and Roman era artifacts, and the whole place looks like a Roman villa. My boyfriend and I went there for a visit, and I wanted to share some images we took. It's costume inspiration time, Roman era style!
There are quite a few pictures here, enjoy!

 
 
 
 
 

Gold Faerie

This was originally a corset dress that was designed to match a pair of awesome gold glittery star shoes. It also made it into the fantasy world recently as a faerie costume. The model here is Jocelyne Watts. We named her faerie character Aurelia. I have found that many people do associate the aura- prefix with gold, but being a chemisty nerd, I definitely came up with that based on the fact that the latin name for gold is Aurelium, and hence its symbol is Au. Yay!

I made her accessories too - the circlet and the necklace.

You can see more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/aurelia-the-gold-faerie/

Steampunk Dark Phoenix

I wanted to do a steampunk version of Dark Phoenix from X-Men, and this is what I came up with! I did a corset with a stylized applique of her phoenix symbol. Then I made a bustled skirt with a chiffon train, striped stockings, arm warmers, boot leg warmer thingies - very technical terms here, and a huge collar to top it off. I really love this wig too. I wish I could always have my hair this color (except for at SCA events - since this is obviously not a period looking hair color ;p).

The photos were taken by Fremen Photography at Pacific Media Expo.

More photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/steampunk-dark-phoenix/

Mid-15th c. Flemish / Netherlandish Waisted Kirtle

My first waisted kirtle for the SCA! Of course, I have made a large number of modern waisted dresses with this type of fit before, but it's always monumental when it's a new historical style for me. ;)

This was based largely on Van der Weyden and Memling's paintings, mid-15th century Flemish / Netherlandish. This project actually began as an underlayer for a new "Burgundian" gown. However, it takes little time for a simple layer to turn into a whole complex project for me.

Nothing new was purchased to make this dress.
The kirtle is made from some linen I had lying around, which turns out to be linen/rayon blend. The sleeves are made from scraps of brocade I also had lying around. The belt is a scrap of velvet with filigrees and chain attached. I have a collection of filigrees, which was perfect! The veil is linen.
The front lacing loops are very small metal lacing rings, and the lacing cord is finger loop braided.

This is my second frilled veil, this one larger than the last. I'm not a very girly girl, but I really like the subtle "girly"ness of frilled veils, and I think I may make them my new "thing".

I also made a new underdress, but I can't fit it onto my incompressible mannequin, it's so incredibly fitted.