[Ansteorra] Largesse gifting

[Bree Flowers]

First of all, period attire does not require "laurel level skill in
construction". Many period patterns are easier to construct than the
Simplicity ones and use a lot less fabric, so even if you are using
nicer fabric it doesn't need to cost more. But if it doesn't result in
the look you want, that doesn't really matter now does it?

I think what bugs me about this whole thing is it's either okay or
it's not. If you let people wear this stuff, and if the rules say it
is acceptable, it's kind of elitish and snobby to use words like
"enabling", "tolerating" and "falling into a trap" when discussing
these choices. No, I'm not volunteering to be on some bodice-police
brigade, because the rules say it's okay, and that's all there is to
it, it's OKAY! When new people come to me with some lovely thing they
already own from their ren-faire days and ask if it is appropriate for
SCA wear, I'm honest. I tell them that it is not an accurate
recreation of any garment in the history of our period, but that they
won't look out of place wearing it either and that there will probably
be other people wearing similar things. I'm also quick to add "if
anyone gives you any flak, thank them for offering to help you make
your next ensemble".

Incidentally, with regard to the "you can't compare clothing to
armour" argument, yup, the two examples I mentioned were safety (but
they also happened to be the ugliest ones I could think of). Other
places have recently banned visible plastic armour and modern footwear
from their tourney fields, and you can't argue that is for safety
reasons. And for another example, we've banned compound bows in many
(all?) archery competitions, and I'm not entirely convinced that's
solely a matter of safety either. It is within our power to make any
rules we want to, the key there is the "want" part. It's not really
that we "can't" ban anything, it's that we "won't" or we "shouldn't";
we aren't unable to do it, we choose not to.

My clothing is pretty good to my eyes, but my feast gear came from the
dollar store, my camp furniture is from Ikea, my wedge tent is on 2
uprights not an a-frame and my longbow is made of fiberglass (at least
in part). I made the uprights on my tent myself, I could have made an
a-frame but it wouldn't have fit in my vehicle, so I made a CHOICE to
be out of period. People in glass houses.. yadda yadda. So if my buddy
really likes modern machine-made trim, I can't see how someone gifting
him with some of the stuff is a bad thing, while giving him hand woven
stuff in the hope that he'll see the light is a waste at best, and
insulting at worst. Good gifts are gifts that will be used and loved.
At least that's how I see it.

~Eve