Information and Musings on C&I and Research in the SCA
This shoe, found in Haarlem, Netherlands, dates from the early XIV century, and exhibits some real whimsy and style. The side laced ‘bird’ shoe with decorative perforations was probably worn over brightly colored hose, so it would have been quite eye catching.
SELF, YOU DO NOT NEED ANOTHER SHOE PROJECT RIGHT NOW.
But Self! These are so PRETTY.
Tang Dynasty (618-907) Bibliography
(Don’t mind the pic. We took our color schemes from ponies, because of reasons.)
Benn, C. (2010). China’s golden age: everyday life in the Tang dynasty. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
[Link]This was a great all-over source for me, especially since I didn’t want to just “do the outfits.” I would consider this a must-have for Tang Dynasty research.
Bonds, A. B. (2008). Beijing opera costumes: The visual communication of character and culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
[Link]This was interesting, but not super helpful for Tang. The appendix with garment diagrams, especially the pleating, was the only thing I used this for. It may be useful for other time periods, with the caveat that this is a modern stage interpretation of historic garments.
H. C. [user25056]. (2014, May 3.) How to wear a traditional Chinese garment called ‘Quixiong Ruqun’[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGSylLPJ42o
I’m not sure if I would have figured out how the skirt works if I hadn’t seen this video.
Johns, J. (4 June 2011). China’s disappearing clothing. We Drive East. Retrieved from: https://wedriveeast.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/chinas-disappearing-clothing/
This blog of a Fullbright scholar is centered on the history of Chinese breast-binding, but as I can’t read Chinese, her summaries of Chinese sources describing the evolution of undergarment was invaluable.
Ling, S. (14 Dec 2012). More on the Hezi (Undergarment). Dressed up dreams. Retrieved from http://dressed-up-dreams.blogspot.com/2012/12/more-on-hezi-undergarment.html
More interesting information about the Hezi – take with a grain of salt.
Ling, S. (22 Nov 2012). (An extremely long post on) Tang costume history. Dressed up dreams. Retrieved from http://dressed-up-dreams.blogspot.com/2012/11/an-extremely-long-post-on-tang-costume.html
Overview of Tang Dynasty clothing. Not many sources cited.
Mei, H. (2011). Chinese clothing. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[Link]This is a pretty slim volume, and she takes a lot from 5000 Years. Still, the information is good, if brief.
Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China. (2003).Secrets of Women’s Underwear in Ancient China. ChinaCulture.org. Retrieved from http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_artqa/2006-08/04/content_84371_4.htm
I’m not sure what to think of these little articles – you get no sense of real authorship. Still, the information is in line with what I found elsewhere.
Ravenfea (18 Jun 2010). Ramie fabric – the new (old) linen? Ravenfea: Maker of various fabric things.Retrieved from http://raevenfea.com/learning/ramie-fabric-the-new-old-linen/
Overview of linen vs. ramie.
Shaorong, Y. (2004). Traditional Chinese clothing: Costumes, adornments and culture. San Francisco: Long River Press.
[Link]
This is even slimmer than Mei’s book, but it goes garment by garment, so it’s helpful regardless of time period.
Vainker, S. (2004). Chinese silk: A cultural history. Newark, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
[Link]This was an invaluable source for me when it came to materials – it has lots of amazing photos of extant fabrics, and some great discussion about what weaves, colors, and techniques were used.
Zhou, X. & Gao, C. (1987). 5000 Years of Chinese costume. Tsui-Yee Tang (Ed.) Hong Kong: China Books and Periodicals.
[Link]If I could only own one book of this list, 5000 Years would be it. It’s huge, it’s got lots of great reproduction diagrams of outfits along with period illustrations, and it covers pretty much everything. I focused on Tang, but it has sections for each time period. It can be spendy, but I had success with interlibrary-loan.
If you’re interested in my overview/construction notes – I’ve got them right here.
Tang Dynasty (618-907) Bibliography
(Don’t mind the pic. We took our color schemes from ponies, because of reasons.)
Benn, C. (2010). China’s golden age: everyday life in the Tang dynasty. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
[Link]This was a great all-over source for me, especially since I didn’t want to just “do the outfits.” I would consider this a must-have for Tang Dynasty research.
Bonds, A. B. (2008). Beijing opera costumes: The visual communication of character and culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
[Link]This was interesting, but not super helpful for Tang. The appendix with garment diagrams, especially the pleating, was the only thing I used this for. It may be useful for other time periods, with the caveat that this is a modern stage interpretation of historic garments.
H. C. [user25056]. (2014, May 3.) How to wear a traditional Chinese garment called ‘Quixiong Ruqun’[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGSylLPJ42o
I’m not sure if I would have figured out how the skirt works if I hadn’t seen this video.
Johns, J. (4 June 2011). China’s disappearing clothing. We Drive East. Retrieved from: https://wedriveeast.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/chinas-disappearing-clothing/
This blog of a Fullbright scholar is centered on the history of Chinese breast-binding, but as I can’t read Chinese, her summaries of Chinese sources describing the evolution of undergarment was invaluable.
Ling, S. (14 Dec 2012). More on the Hezi (Undergarment). Dressed up dreams. Retrieved from http://dressed-up-dreams.blogspot.com/2012/12/more-on-hezi-undergarment.html
More interesting information about the Hezi – take with a grain of salt.
Ling, S. (22 Nov 2012). (An extremely long post on) Tang costume history. Dressed up dreams. Retrieved from http://dressed-up-dreams.blogspot.com/2012/11/an-extremely-long-post-on-tang-costume.html
Overview of Tang Dynasty clothing. Not many sources cited.
Mei, H. (2011). Chinese clothing. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[Link]This is a pretty slim volume, and she takes a lot from 5000 Years. Still, the information is good, if brief.
Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China. (2003).Secrets of Women’s Underwear in Ancient China. ChinaCulture.org. Retrieved from http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_artqa/2006-08/04/content_84371_4.htm
I’m not sure what to think of these little articles – you get no sense of real authorship. Still, the information is in line with what I found elsewhere.
Ravenfea (18 Jun 2010). Ramie fabric – the new (old) linen? Ravenfea: Maker of various fabric things.Retrieved from http://raevenfea.com/learning/ramie-fabric-the-new-old-linen/
Overview of linen vs. ramie.
Shaorong, Y. (2004). Traditional Chinese clothing: Costumes, adornments and culture. San Francisco: Long River Press.
[Link]
This is even slimmer than Mei’s book, but it goes garment by garment, so it’s helpful regardless of time period.
Vainker, S. (2004). Chinese silk: A cultural history. Newark, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
[Link]This was an invaluable source for me when it came to materials – it has lots of amazing photos of extant fabrics, and some great discussion about what weaves, colors, and techniques were used.
Zhou, X. & Gao, C. (1987). 5000 Years of Chinese costume. Tsui-Yee Tang (Ed.) Hong Kong: China Books and Periodicals.
[Link]If I could only own one book of this list, 5000 Years would be it. It’s huge, it’s got lots of great reproduction diagrams of outfits along with period illustrations, and it covers pretty much everything. I focused on Tang, but it has sections for each time period. It can be spendy, but I had success with interlibrary-loan.
If you’re interested in my overview/construction notes – I’ve got them right here.
ROMAN BIBLIOGAPHY! And a #romanselfie
FIrst of all, have my Pinterest Board: [Link]
And a Pinterest for Roman rings: [Link]
Titles that are bold are things I have used personally and can vouch for.
The World of Roman Costume
by Judith Lynn Sebesta and Larissa Bonfante
University of Wisconsin Press, 1994
[Link]
Dress and the Roman Woman: Self-preservation and Society
by Kelly Olson
New York: Routledge, 2008
[Link]
Cosmetics and Perfumes in the Roman World
by Susan Stewart
Stroud: Tempus, 2007
[Link]
Roman Clothing and Fashion
by Alexandra Croom
Charleston, SC: Tempus, 2000
[Link]
Greek and Roman Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology
by Mary Harlow and Marie-Louise Nosch
Philadelphia: Oxbow, 2015
[Link]
Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture
by J.C. Edmondson and Alison Mary Keith
University of Toronto Press, 2008
[Link]
Anachronistic and Impulsive – Anna’s Rome: A View of Ancient Rome and Byzantium in the Current Middle Ages
http://annasrome.com/
by Her Excellency Anna Dokeianina Syrakousina
HE Anna is also on Facebook, and runs the SCA Byzanteam group, full of helpful folk. She is very approachable and awesome.
14th century Harley Quinn for Sketch_Dailies’ #harlequin prompt over on twitter! I am nothing if not predictable.
I need to see someone do this. Maybe I will… Hey zarhooie!
Creative depictions of consorts from the Babenberg Family Tree, a triptych created by Hans Part between 1489 and 1492. See more images here.
I selected a couple of my favourites to see if I could identify them. Some were easy but others posed more of a challenge! Here was what discovered about this small selection:
Image #1: Constantia of Austria
Born 1212 – Died 1243
Margravine consort of Meissen
MoreImage #2: Agnes of Germany
Born 1072/3 – Died 1143
Duchess consort of Swabia and Margravine consort of Austria
MoreImage #3: Uncertain
Described as Mechthild (Matilda), wife of Ernst of Austria. However, Ernst’s two wives were called Adelaide and Swanhilde.
MoreImage #4: Helbirga Babenberg
Born ? – Died 1142
Duchess consort of Bohemia.
MoreImage #5: Judith of Babenberg
Born c.1120 – Died after 1168
Marchioness of Montferrat
MoreImage #6: Wives of Henry II
a) Gertrude of Süpplingenburg
Born 1115 – Died 1143
Margravine consort of Austria and Tuscany and Duchess consort of Saxony and Bavaria.
More
b) Theodora Komnene
Born ? – Died 1148
Duchess consort of Austria
More
Since you’re new, I’m going to start with garb. For me, garb is the stepping stone into more detailed research, such as names, or even other handcrafts or music.
The only reference I have handy is from my own research into 13th century Spanish clothing. Spain is really a melting pot of cultures at this point, with Muslims, Christians, and Jews living in relative peace and harmony.
I’ve been researching 13th Century Spanish Christian garb (because the various cultures wore different stuff), and you can see what I have collected here: [link]
Alfonso X’s book of games is a great place to start for this kind of research because it depicts both genders and various cultures. You can view it here: [link]
Does that help? Was there something more specific you were wanting to look into? Let me know! 😀
What Vikings Really Looked Like
Basically this is the best article and website about Scandinavia I have stumbled across yet.
Also: Viking women were pretty awesome.
There is some interesting info here on the appearance and dress of Viking women.
I briefly mentioned the book Pharaonic Egyptian Clothing (one of the few available surveys on, predictably, pharaonic Egyptian clothing) in my historical fashion master post some months ago, but I also mentioned that it’s out of print and a royal pain in the butt to get your hands on.
Seeing how I’m never one to selfishly hoard good reference (and I’m tired of checking it out of the library over and over again like I’m Belle or something), I finally scanned the whole damn thing and uploaded it HERE for you to download and peruse!
(point of note: this book was published in 1993 so there’s always a slim chance that some of this information might be considered out of date over the past twenty-odd years, but there are so few resources dedicated to the topic that I’m more than willing to take that chance.)
Enjoy, let me know if the link stops working, and go draw some historically accurate Egyptian people! NOW. GO GOGOGOGO.
YES THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
Boosting the signal. 🙂
