[NR] Northern Digest, Being 'In Period" garb
Caius Fabius
caius_fabius at hotmail.com
Thu Sep 14 13:20:16 PDT 2006
Sure, as we play in 'the Dream' longer, our clothing should, like the rest
of our display, become more accurate. It takes time and or money to be
correct for your period. For example, my hand spun, hand woven, hand dyed
100% woolen tunic is expensive in time and money. Then some do-gooder comes
along and tells me I am in inappropriate garb, because I obviously have
Greek or Roman clothing, and they are sure that SCA starts at AD800, or some
such.
The main "period pollution" that I am seeing, other than people not wishing
or being able to devote the time and money into period materials and
patterns, is the creep to 17th and 18th century costuming, especially
"Pirates", 'seadogs', their ladies and such, which has been more and more
on the upsurge after some very good and exciting non-SCA period Pirate
Movies.
Perhaps we could encourage more accurate costuming by having small awards
and honors for novice SCA participants, or even remembering to stop and
complement those who are doing a good job, publically! What if, at many
courts, the people who have done a good job, are just singled out for a nice
word. You don't need a specific award to have someone make a public
complement in a official setting! Of course, if someone achieves 'word
fame' for their costume or costuming efforts, an official award can follow.
I remember that fighting was a great place to ruin clothing. Beautiful,
fancy clothing gets torn, sweaty, bloody, rusty and oily. It is very period,
but I hated to ruin my court best on the field. (Of course, if I had been a
better fighter, I wouldn't have got my garb so messed up, probably). I can
see not having period clothing on the list field, we don't use period
weapons and we don't require period armor. It's probably not a great idea
to sneer at a lad in bluejeans and tennis shoes with a big wooden stick,
aircraft aluminium shield and hard plastic joint protection. It is
wonderful to be able to loan them a tabard to wear on the field, and maybe
gift them with something different to wear to feast...... :)
Wheel chairs and garb... always a problem. I wore suspenders to try and
hold my (non-period) trousers in place, while I spent months in a
wheelchair; but you still have the normal problems with mobility, dirty
hands, tunics getting stains in strange places, and people looking at you
like, "why is he even here" or talking about you like you don't exist. You
do the best you can, with what you've got, and any sensitive people will
recognize the effort you put into 'living the dream'.
Perfection? Not possible! You can't remove your fillings, get rid of your
small-pox vaccination scar, throw out all the things and bits that make us
modern. Would we force people to not wear glasses, stop smoking, and not
use a fork at a early period feast? Would we ask fighters only to fight
with real weapons and real armor, and have all knights ride horses?
Often it is the self-styled experts that do a dis-service, pouring water on
the newly kindled fires of excitement that burn in the heart of a new
SCAdian. The fellow that tells the young lady that her very colorful
costume is garrishly non-period for pinks and aquas (obviously hasn't read
Ovid), or the dear lady who tells a young fighter that tennis shoes are not
allowed, even though he has a tunic and has spray painted his tennis shoes
brown, may not be helping to build a proper dream. Instread, encourage,
complement and assist.
If someone just can't seem to find time, money or inclination to improve,
and they are awarded honors for fighting, service or arts; perhaps a
suitable gifting could be made, to support an area where they may not have
as much skill. Newcomers classes can teach different styles prior to
AD1601, and group projects with newcomers can give owners of Laurels and
Thistles a chance to show both their art and their diplomacy. Yule gifts
can also be helpful in improving the visual impressions of people who might
not otherwise improve their costuming, through sheer lack of knowedge!
with respects to all,
Caivs Fabivs
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