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.

Woodland Elf

I am a fancy elf princess, after all! (haha, couture aranel...)

This was really fun! The top and skirt were created as part of my fashion line a few months ago, and I quickly turned them into an elf costume as well. I've always associated with the elves.

The bow is my combat bow, which I use in the SCA, on those rare occasions when I actually have spare time away from Arts&Sciences and teaching and I can play combat archer for the day instead. The arrow in the photos is a target arrow - the combat ones are super bulky so they don't penetrate armour!

You can see more photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/woodland-elf/

Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia Day is a beloved tra­di­tion in Swe­den. The orig­i­nal Lucia was a 3rd cen­tury Ital­ian girl who wore a crown of can­dles and brought food to those who were per­se­cuted. Another leg­end says that in Varm­land, Swe­den, where my fam­ily lives, Lucia brought food to the starv­ing vil­lagers at Lake Van­ern. St. Lucia Day is Decem­ber 13, which was pre­vi­ously Win­ter Sol­stice on the old Julian cal­en­dar. On this day, the eldest daugh­ter dresses up and brings Lucia buns to her house­hold, with younger sib­lings also in pro­ces­sion. The straw goat in these images is called a jul­bock, and many peo­ple in Swe­den have these fes­tive guys at Christ­mas time.

I chose to cre­ate a mod­ern, updated ver­sion of the clas­sic Saint Lucia dress, a white gown with a red sash, this one suit­able for my own fash­ion aesthetic.

You can see more photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/saint-lucia/