Larp Couture

Once upon a time, a lovely and wealthy dwarven woman owed a debt...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:22:44 -0500

Once upon a time, a lovely and wealthy dwarven woman owed a debt to a young artist. Our dwarven lady was a forgetful sort, and our poor elf somewhat suspicious, having been jilted by patrons in the past. As time passed, the artist grew angrier and angrier as the lady refused to answer the letters they sent, politely inquiring as to payment.

Our artist could not know that the lady was not at home, having travelled to the country to visit her family for some weeks. Finally, the artist took to hanging about on the street where the lady lived, paying bribes here and there to keep the local guards and servants amicable to their presence. After a week of this surveillance, the artist saw the lady return, carriages a bit dusty and sooty with travel. The artist approached the lady at once and demanded satisfaction.

“You have had my painting for several months, my lady. I require payment!”

At this our dwarven lady blushed a deep bluish color. “Oh, my dear friend. You must think me terrible!” She cast about at her pockets, which were empty. Then, in a moment of brilliance, she plucked off the buttons that held the empty pockets closed. “Here, these will do for your trouble.” Then she swept inside.

The young elf stared at the pair in their hand. The buttons were made of mythril backing, with fine gold vines rioting across and a single tiny polished ruby in the center of each. The sale of one provided the artist with funds to live and study and paint for an entire year, and the preservation of the other provided the artist with inspiration for many a year after that.

Buttons began as ornaments; the oldest examples were found in what is now Pakistan, and date back about 5000 years (source). Their history in the West as the ubiquitous closure doesn’t start until much later; the first button-maker’s guild opened in Paris in 1250 CE. By the middle of the 1300s in England, amongst the wealthy, only the incredibly out of date would wear clothing that didn’t require buttons to mold their form to your shape. (source)

This is something of an introductory post; the vast variety of buttons in the world means that there is material here for a whole blog just for them. However, some things to keep in mind:

Earlier buttons tend to be disks or domes with a shank (a loop through which thread is passed to fasten the button to the garment).
Sew-through buttons with at least one hole (more often two or four) didn’t start in the West until around the 1700s.
Buttons were often a fashion item, so they can give quite a lot of information about the person wearing them.

(source)

While I would probably balk at a game whose costume rules included something so finicky as buttons, it can be fun to contemplate when designing a costume. They can also serve as an identifying badge; remember that many buttons were non functional, and so sewing on a decorative button or two on the garments of your members can show allegiance in as subtle or as bold a way as you desire.

Vintage Buttons Lot of 5 Large Mid-Century via Pillowtalkswf. Celluloid. Ships worldwide. $9 USD

Vintage Unusual Habitat Button, Rose and Leaves via Legacy Buttons. Plastic. Ships worldwide. $13 USD

Antique buttons, Lot of 6, Thread bia The Lady at Skiers. Some wool, some silk. Ships worldwide. $27 USD

Shown Above: Rare Vintage Habitat Button from the 18th Century via Linda’s Buttons. Copper, glass, grass, and moth. Ships worldwide. $588 USD

RIP Kepler ~ If You Think Cosplay Competition is Rough in the...

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:36 -0500

RIP Kepler ~ If You Think Cosplay Competition is Rough in the US… ~ A Little Moment of Pleasure ~ Do You Hear Tell? ~ Humans Make Art ~ Steamfunk & Rococoa ~ Dear Darling Dandies

Image Credit: Equipment Trial #3 by David D. Used via a CC BY 2.0 license.

It is the early-to-mid 1600s. You are bold. You are beautiful....

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:01:07 -0500

It is the early-to-mid 1600s. You are bold. You are beautiful. You are free- for now. But Oliver Cromwell calls you godless, and Oliver Cromwell is determined to destroy your King, Charles II. Cromwell is a dangerous man to cross. You are, quite possibly, doomed.

Cavaliers was a pejorative name for the supporters of Charles II. The name was quickly reclaimed by the people it described as a positive thing; they called their enemies (the puritans), “roundheads”. The differences in dress between the two groups were not extreme to our outsiders’ eyes, but one of the chief differences was the extravagant feathers that graced the wide-brimmed beaver felt hats of the cavaliers (source). So, if you consider yourself a loyal servant of the monarchy, get your feathers and let us ride!

Musketeer Hat Adult Costume Accessory via Amazon. Polyester. Ships to US only. $12 USD

Leather Cavalier Hat via Dark Knight Armoury. Ships to some countries. $85 USD

Cavalier-Style Dark Brown Pirate Hat via Hats by Violette. Wool. Ships to US only. $95 USD

Ostrich-Plumed Cavalier Hat via Strongblade. Suede velvet and buckram. Ships to some countries. $139 USD

Image Credits:

Top Left: The Cavalier’s Kiss by Frédéric Soulacroix (1858-1933) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Top Right: The Proscribed Royalist by John Everett Millais [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Bottom: Banquet of the officers of the Calivermen Civic Guard, Haarlem by Frans Hals (1582/1583–1666) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Half the world is slowly marching towards summer; the other half...

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:59:51 -0500

Half the world is slowly marching towards summer; the other half is slowly sliding into winter. Every larper who doesn’t live in a desert probably needs their rain boots right about now!

The Wellington boot is the common ancestor of rubber rain boots in most of the world. The basic shape was made popular by the Duke of Wellington when he had a pair of Hessian boots altered around 1815. The Iron Duke was a military hero of the United Kingdom, and his style quickly spread amongst the wealthy young men of era (source).

The original Wellington boot was made of leather, but the industrial revolution was busy changing the face of Europe, and in 1850 this resulted in the rubber version of the boot. The leather version would see action in the American Civil War, while the rubbers would become a staple of trench warfare in World Wars I and II.

Nowadays they’re used in many parts of the world, in many contexts. Shown above is a clip from a gumboot dance, the modern child of a form of communication developed in South Africa by workers who were forbidden from speaking while working the mines (source). Think about that, when you’re crafting evil overlords for your adventurers to defeat, or when your characters are laboring under the rule of a tyrant- people have found ways to join together, in spite of terrible things. A boot that started as the fashion of foppish Englishmen became a symbol of oppression and freedom at the same time. Your characters will find their way to freedom- and in doing so, change the very meaning of things in your world.

Image Credit: Bootsa by Laura SA at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL, GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Happy DIY Friday! Today’s is especially for people who...

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:03:07 -0500

Happy DIY Friday! Today’s is especially for people who really, really, really wanted to make their own custom cuff links. Perhaps using the family coat of arms. Enjoy!

Things I Love Thursday: Now With 100 Percent More...

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:42:00 -0500

Things I Love Thursday: Now With 100 Percent More Flautists

Regency Pelisse ~ Larps and Forums ~ Gandalf the Greyer ~ I Stuck A Gear On It! ~ Lost Arts of the Stone Age ~ ZOMG STEAMPUNK LEGOS ~ Just for Love, a Unicorn Hoodie

Image Credit: IMG 029 by Fate Denied, used courtesy of a CC BY 2.0 license. From the Empire larp run by Profound Decisions!

It seems as though the French Cuff evolved along side the cuff...

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:08:09 -0500

It seems as though the French Cuff evolved along side the cuff link; however the “French” part either stems from Napoleon’s desire to hide the snot on his soldiers’ sleeves, or the popularity of the garment in France thanks to Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers”, or both; this is the sort of thing that’s going to require more offline research on my part, so expect a follow-up post. In the mean time:

1950s Pink and White Stripe Dotted Swiss Cotton via Oldclothes. Cut for people with breasts. Ships worldwide. $10 USD

Vintage Esquire Nylon French Cuffs Shirt via BarberryLane. Cut for people without breasts. Ships to US only. $10 USD

Vintage Ivory Blouse/French Cuffs via SarahKates. Cut for people with breasts. Ships worldwide. $30 USD

Shown Above: Brooks Brothers University Stripe French Cuff via A Days Work. Cut for people without breasts. Ships worldwide. $38 USD

The problem of how to artfully hold ones sleeves closed at the...

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:04:57 -0500

The problem of how to artfully hold ones sleeves closed at the wrist is a relatively recent one; as a common problem, it is more recent still. It implies a certain luxury of cut- there needs to be enough fabric for a gape in the first place, after all.

This is bore out by the history of cuff links as a fashion item. Prior to the 1600s in Europe, sleeves that needed to be held closed were closed with ribbons or laces. It wasn’t until the 1600s that buttons, connected by a bit of chain, became the trend. (source) (These are similar to the modern silk knot, which dates from 1901.)

The modern form of cuff links were born in the 1880s, when George Krementz invented a machine that was capable of producing them; the industrial revolution and economies of scale meant that cuff links were much cheaper to obtain. (However, it wasn’t until the 1920s that the T shape shown above was invented.) Combined with their popularity, this also made them much more common across Europe and its current/former colonies.

The end of their ubiquity came around the 1970s, when shirts with buttons already on the sleeve largely replaced the French cuff. (source) Nevertheless, the French cuff has never entirely fallen out of fashion, which means cuff links are still readily available.

Set of 10 Vintage Cufflinks by Cockroach Shop. Ships worldwide. $2 USD

Rectangular Silvertone Chainlink Cufflinks by The Foundry 12. Ships to US only. $8 USD

Shown Above: High Seas Cuff Links by The Lysine Contingency. Ships worldwide. $17 USD

Wrap Around Black Leather Cufflinks by CuffCuff. Ships worldwide. $48 USD

Today’s DIY Friday features a denim bandeau. The project...

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:00:50 -0500

Today’s DIY Friday features a denim bandeau. The project uses elastic, which is a relatively new technology, but the effect closely resembles ruching.

PS The DIYer is on tumblr!

Things I Love Thursday: Featuring the Most...

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:58:37 -0500

Things I Love Thursday: Featuring the Most Cheerfully Menacing Photo I Have Ever Seen

The Crazy Costumes of Maurice Grunbaum ~ I Want You To Lick My Ice Cream ~ 38 THOUSAND Historical Maps Digitized and Free ~ So, Knutepunkt 2013 Happened ~ It Came With Instructions ~ Punny Cattle Branding for Fun and Profit

Image Credit: IMG_075 by Tom Garnett/Fate Denied. Used courtesy of a CC BY 2.0 license.

Emergency! Emergency! This awesome kickstarter only has five...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:32:34 -0500

Emergency! Emergency! This awesome kickstarter only has five more days to meet its goal and I reeeeeeeeally want this movie to exist!

The story is told through the eyes of Karen, a new LARPer who is unsure how she is going to fit in when she joins her older sister’s overly enthusiastic adventuring group. Reclusive Karen is thrown headfirst into the fantasy world of Mariador, a land where magic flows freely and conflicts are often resolved with the blade of a sword. Things seem to be going well until she mistakenly opens a mysterious treasure box, releasing an evil into the world that has been kept secret for aeons.

Working together with new friends, she’ll have to undo the damage she’s caused, learn the rules to the game, and avoid dying if at all possible. Like LARPing in general, it’s full of exciting action scenes. Swashbuckling adventurers. Dangerous caves. Heroes. Evil monsters. Terrifying apparitions. And – most importantly, some would say – bacon. - Basic Adventuring 101

One of my earliest posts was about the use of denim in larps,...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:49:00 -0500

One of my earliest posts was about the use of denim in larps, and I’m excited to say that I’ve learned denim is, in fact, even older that I’d thought.

The images above were part of an exhibition called Il Maestro della Tela Jeans. This exhibition displayed the works of a 17th century artist whose favorite subject were the people, and the people wore blue twilled cotton cloth from Genoa, called Genes in French- which led to the name jeans. You can see more of the artist’s painting here.

Apparently, the startling innovation of Levi-Strauss was not the color or nature of the fabric- just using rivets to reinforce the weak points. If you’re in a historical setting, the use of rivets would be a huge marker for time and place, but the technology involved to rivet jeans is actually quite simple, and well known to most armor-makers. (You can see armor with rivets here). That leaves only the zippers as a genuinely modern invention.

Denim Pocket Square by SquarExtraordianire. Ships to US only. $8 USD

Vintage Maxi Jean Jumper via Vendage Tresors. Ships to US only. $34 USD

1950s Military Sailor Jeans via CorkSpork. Ships worldwide. $45 USD

Rustic Full Utility Denim Workshop Apron by Meyer Textile Co. Ships worldwide. $49 USD

Image Credit: The boy is in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons; The family is in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s DIY Friday features weaving, on a simple handloom...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:13:52 -0500

Today’s DIY Friday features weaving, on a simple handloom made from a picture frame.While it’s much smaller than a full size loom, it has the advantage of being portable You can use it to make small projects in an afternoon, or as a prop for your character when they have some down time.

Things I Love Thursday: Now With 100% More Bow Tie I’d...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:03:22 -0500

Things I Love Thursday: Now With 100% More Bow Tie

I’d Love To Play This Between Mods, In the Tavern ~ Ephemeral Spats ~ Girl Scouts Game Design Patch ~ So You Want To Be A Cosplayer ~ Tea Cup Lights

Video Source. I’d like to throw in my own two cents about what I view as some of the ways larps aren’t inclusive, and why people might not choose to change that. Larps take time; boffer larps often last two whole days from start to finish. That choice will have an exclusionary effect on people who can’t take off the two days you pick- so your options are to have a shorter game, or alternative dates, or some other thing. You can also choose to organize your game so that the majority of the players you already have can make it, but new players who aren’t free on those dates will still be SOL.

But you as group might not have the funds to reserve a site multiple times, or the time to run the game several weekends. And you as a group might want to experience the immersion of a days-long game, so shortening the time period will fundamentally change the nature of the experience. Shortening it will also be somewhat exclusionary to people who have a hard time role-playing and need the time to get into character and really experience the game.

The point being that nearly every design choice will affect someone negatively. You can’t get away from that, so make those choices carefully and thoughtfully.

Silk has a storied old history as a fabric fiber, but cotton is...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:00:57 -0500

Silk has a storied old history as a fabric fiber, but cotton is older- its earliest known use was around 5000 BCE. Not only is cotton older, it was developed in four different parts of the world near the same time (source).

India, the Arab world, Peru, and Tehuacan all had access to cotton long before Europeans did, as the Europeans were largely importing it (thus leaving it a luxury good). Meanwhile, the Mongol Emperors of China were subsidizing its growth, making it one of the cheapest fabrics available in China.

25 6 in by 8 in Natural Cotton Muslin Drawstring Bags by Celestial Gifts. Ships to US only. $11 USD (for all 25!)

Handwoven Indigo Cotton Table Runner from Thailand via dellshop. Ships worldwide. $30 USD

Vintage Edwardian Cotton Petticoat via VintageZipper. Ships worldwide. $35 USD

Antique Mens Cotton Flannel Night Shirt via funoldstuff. Ships to US. $59 USD

Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

There is one particularly unwelcome guest at the tavern this...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:18:58 -0500

There is one particularly unwelcome guest at the tavern this week. She’s small and almost perfectly round, but thin- like something squeezed out of the end of a tube of white paint. Tiny horns march down her back. Her delicate fingers mechanically stuff her mouth with mulberry leaves. Every few days, she takes a break from her constant feeding to spit. Her saliva is thin and ropy and she gathers it in her lap, foot after foot of the stuff in a glistening pile. The air hardens it, apparently. Then she shuffles into the markets and returns with an outrageous sum of gold, a portion of which goes to the tavern for her food and rooms, and the remainder to the sorcerer that owns her.

She’s a silkworm.

According to Chinese tradition, silk has been used for fabric since 2640 BCE, when a Chinese Princess was inspired by the beauty of a silkworm cocoon that had fallen into her tea. Archaeology pushes the date of silk’s discovery much further back, possibly as far as 4000 BCE, to a villiage that still mostly used stone tools.

Silk is a strand of protein formed by the saliva glands of silkworms when they make their cocoons, and the particular way these proteins wrap around each other results in a prism-like effect that makes it shine and shimmer. Most silk is made from the cocoons of silkworms that have been heated until they expire, which prevents them from initiating the cocoon-exit process (they dissolve the cocoon by producing another chemical to break through the fibers; picture spitting on cotton candy). There are wild silk providers for those who’d rather avoid the massive slaughter of little bugs.

The technologies to create silk is fairly simple: you need to be able to keep silkworms, grow mulberry, spin thread, weave, and possibly dye. This means silk is technologically plausible in nearly every larp setting, though it is a form of farming, so the earliest nomadic human groups might not have the ability to create it. Of course, if they know farmers, they can always trade. No, the limiting factors for silk in a setting are where silkworms thrive, what the trade networks are like, and how much it costs. This also means that silk-like fabrics can be reasonably included in those same settings- especially if you don’t feel like running through the mud in your very. expensive. garb. It’s nice when you can roleplay a character much richer than you actually are!

Image Credit: Silk Raw 01 by Kuebi = Armin Kübelbeck (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s DIY Friday features the Chlamys! Keep in mind,...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:40:29 -0500

Today’s DIY Friday features the Chlamys! Keep in mind, wraps are good for keeping cool when made of light fabric and keeping warm when made of heavy ones, so you can incorporate them into your costume year ‘round.

Also, there are some handy instructions here, to supplement the video!

Things I Love Thursday: Able Edition! Prologue: I’ve been...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:22:00 -0500

Things I Love Thursday: Able Edition!

Prologue: I’ve been wondering about the of accessibility in larps for a while, particularly my favorite style, boffer larps. I haven’t found many examples of games that take a proactive approach yet; if you know a larp that’s particularly awesome or particularly bad, please let me know! I want to learn more about this and I’d love to do an interview.

Also, I’m a bit nervous this topic, because I’ve got a pretty normative body, which means it’s entirely possible I’ll say or suggest something entirely foolish/insensitive/assholish at some point. I’m going to try and prevent that before it happens, but if you observe it and feel inclined to call it out, please do.

Archery for Amputees ~ Wheelchair Fencing ~ Monster Camp (Has A Larper Who Uses A Wheelchair? It’s On My To-Netflix-List) ~ Current Average Accessibility of Various Kinds of Larps ~ Indiegogo Campaign for Functional Fashion ~ MURDERBALL

If you’re still taking a break from talk about the Boston...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:01:06 -0500

If you’re still taking a break from talk about the Boston Marathon, or you’d find things related to it triggering, come back tomorrow and I’ll have a world of history and far away things for you. But don’t read this today.

The marathon is named after a battle- the Battle of Marathon. Marathon was the site of the battle in which the Greeks finally defeated an invading force. People did their best to kill each other, some to conquer, and some to keep their families safe. The Greeks won, and, as the myth goes, Pheidippides ran the 42.195 kilometers from Marathon to Athens, to inform them of the victory, so that Athens could know that it (and all of Greece) was still free- or at least, no less free than the day before.

Shown above is a statue of Hermes, the Greek god of messengers (among other things). He’s a bit worn with the violence of time- but he is still a god.

He’s wearing a Chlamys, a sort of half-cape that was a gendered garment in its day- only men wore it. It rather performed the function of a towel in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy- it kept the sun off, it looks fashionable, you could use it as a blanket, etc, etc.

It might seem odd that I’m thinking about all this, in light of the week’s events, but this is how I deal with things- I learn about them. This is a part of history that I can focus on, while we wait to learn about the present. I might wear one of these, one day, at a game. I’d wear it because war is a part of our games, and death, and laughter and sweetness and life, and it’s likely the runner who made that trek to Athens experiences all of those things beneath the cool shade of his chlamys.

If you’re looking for ways to do something, the Eastern MA Red Cross is here, and Charity Navigator is here. Be excellent to each other.

Image Credit: Statue of Hermes from Ptolemic Egypt. Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The dull red lights pulse softly. The human seated before you...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:01:00 -0500

The dull red lights pulse softly. The human seated before you appears entirely relaxed- and barely aware of your august presence. It is inspecting one of the patchwork bits of soft-circuitry near its navel. You cough.

It looks up, and its wet eyes fill with gratifying fear. Then it leaps to its feet, backflips away two paces, bows, tumbles forward, and pops up. Its patchwork clothing plays something your audiOS identifies as “bells.”

“I take it you are the Harlequin?”

“At your service!”

The Harlequin is a character from the Commedia dell’Arte. It goes back at least as far as the 1500s. The modern clothing pattern of diamonds appears in painting at least that far back- and being that old, the origins of the pattern are rather contested and there are, of course, variations. However, the fundamental thing they have in common appears to be that there are differences- differences in color, or in the shape of the diamonds, or in the fit of the garment. The word harlequin has even come to mean slightly mis-matched, in the antique world.

If you’d enjoy some delightfully in depth breakdowns of how the Harlequin was traditionally played, go here!

Black and White Grosgrain Ribbon Diamonds Pattern in 1.5 inches wide Argyle Jester Print via Scrap with Style. Ships worldwide. $5 USD

Watermelon Mini Harlequin From Michael Miller, by the yard; via Stitch Stash Diva. Ships worldwide. $9 USD

Mens 60s Mod Harlequin Paisley Hipster Classic shirt via Company V. Ships to the US only. $9 USD

Cute Vintage 50s Harlequin Blouse via Rock Doll Vintage. Ships worldwide. $44 USD

Moissi as Arlecchino by M. Schwarzkopf, Zürich [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons