the re-enactor's market
Nov. 29th, 2008 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonNote: My posts about Italy and the costume conference are going to be by topic rather than chronological - helps me order my thoughts better.
The 5th session of the conference was devoted to the use of Janet Arnold's work in historic interpretation. I'm not sure what the organizers were expecting or had in mind when they were organizing, but I know that a sizeable portion of the Americans present were SCA or similar. And despite the 4 day conference, I'm still not incredibly certain what or if there's a hobbyist/amateur re-enactment "scene" in Italy, though there is some professional costuming at historic sites (more below).
Before I continue, a note re: the SCA - I'm aware that some of the more hardcore academic sorts look down their noses at SCAdians, figuring that all they're interested in are the social aspects of the organization - dressing up while fighting/drinking/[insert everyday activity here]. Not so - I've been around the edges of the SCA for some years now and while there is the "cocktail party" aspect there have always been serious scholars, and as more information becomes available the standards for A&S competition seem to have tightened up. I've called this "graduating to Kalamazoo" but that might be snobbery on my part, but I don't mean it to be - it could represent a change in the SCA as a whole, or maybe I'm just meeting all the serious people in the organization - YMMV. But anyway:
People who wear historic clothing often/professionally are able to get at the real experience of treating it as clothing (something real people wore everyday) as opposed to costume (fancy/special occasion dress), and this was emphasized by each speaker, over and over. Modern people emphasize comfort over all and this really is a new thing - also, comfort is relative: if you're used to something every day it doesn't seem all that hindering.
This is something I've not quite embraced in my own costumes. I fully admit I cut corners for my own modern body's comfort (men's breeches are easier to move in than long skirts; linen is more comfortable than wool in the mid-Atlantic climate) and it's something I go back and forth on - on the one hand I'm cheating myself of the Full Historic Experience(TM) but on another I don't want to spend months of my life making something that is hellish to wear in summer or trips up my long, modern gait.
However, Jackie Marshall-Ward's demonstration of period dancing convinced me that I need to do something about my shoes - modern soles aren't great for emulating period dance moves (or fencing footwork). Her galliard performance proved that it's perfectly possible to be active in stays and farthingale, or if your doublet is tied to your breeches, if you move as they did (straight back, level footwork, arms below elbow)!
Historic sites in the US, UK, and Italy are all using costumed interpreters at some sites to make history more real/up close for visitors, and there are varying levels of accuracy though - again - the Janet Arnold books make getting it right easier. We visited the Palazzo Vecchio where we talked to an interpreter who was performing Isabella of Toledo. Deviations from the wholly accurate were made for instructional purposes, mainly in that she wore a farthingale though these were not worn in Italy it made clear to visitors that clothing was really different then (I question this - to modern eyes Renaissance clothing is plenty foreign enough - but hey, I don't do this for a living :P)
There are starting to be entire companies devoted to education through costume; Mark Wallis of Past Pleasures described how they educate their interpreters and even provide charts of how to put on their clothes. And I was pleased that they also had Brenda Rousseau from Colonial Williamsburg, describing how their standards and scholarship moved from $30 dresses made by a local woman for tavern servers in 1934 to the 800+ extremely well clothed/trained interpreters in C.W. today.
The crunchiest "ooh, I've gotta remember that" talk was Luca Costigliolo's talk on historic costume for the theater - given how much I and others vent about Hollywood's cutting corners here was a guy who not only showed that it's possible to get a period shape out of a modern body, but gave tips on doing so: never change the shapr or distance between darts, pad where necessary, and retain proportion!
Gave me some ideas how, where, and why to ratchet up the accuracy on my own costumes, though I'm not quite sure how/which of these ideas I'll use yet. I've described my anxious costuming elsewhere, and my next project will be an interesting experiment in whether I choke or forge ahead with what I need to do to learn more and do better.
But yeah, this may be the year for shoes/leatherwork.
The 5th session of the conference was devoted to the use of Janet Arnold's work in historic interpretation. I'm not sure what the organizers were expecting or had in mind when they were organizing, but I know that a sizeable portion of the Americans present were SCA or similar. And despite the 4 day conference, I'm still not incredibly certain what or if there's a hobbyist/amateur re-enactment "scene" in Italy, though there is some professional costuming at historic sites (more below).
Before I continue, a note re: the SCA - I'm aware that some of the more hardcore academic sorts look down their noses at SCAdians, figuring that all they're interested in are the social aspects of the organization - dressing up while fighting/drinking/[insert everyday activity here]. Not so - I've been around the edges of the SCA for some years now and while there is the "cocktail party" aspect there have always been serious scholars, and as more information becomes available the standards for A&S competition seem to have tightened up. I've called this "graduating to Kalamazoo" but that might be snobbery on my part, but I don't mean it to be - it could represent a change in the SCA as a whole, or maybe I'm just meeting all the serious people in the organization - YMMV. But anyway:
People who wear historic clothing often/professionally are able to get at the real experience of treating it as clothing (something real people wore everyday) as opposed to costume (fancy/special occasion dress), and this was emphasized by each speaker, over and over. Modern people emphasize comfort over all and this really is a new thing - also, comfort is relative: if you're used to something every day it doesn't seem all that hindering.
This is something I've not quite embraced in my own costumes. I fully admit I cut corners for my own modern body's comfort (men's breeches are easier to move in than long skirts; linen is more comfortable than wool in the mid-Atlantic climate) and it's something I go back and forth on - on the one hand I'm cheating myself of the Full Historic Experience(TM) but on another I don't want to spend months of my life making something that is hellish to wear in summer or trips up my long, modern gait.
However, Jackie Marshall-Ward's demonstration of period dancing convinced me that I need to do something about my shoes - modern soles aren't great for emulating period dance moves (or fencing footwork). Her galliard performance proved that it's perfectly possible to be active in stays and farthingale, or if your doublet is tied to your breeches, if you move as they did (straight back, level footwork, arms below elbow)!
Historic sites in the US, UK, and Italy are all using costumed interpreters at some sites to make history more real/up close for visitors, and there are varying levels of accuracy though - again - the Janet Arnold books make getting it right easier. We visited the Palazzo Vecchio where we talked to an interpreter who was performing Isabella of Toledo. Deviations from the wholly accurate were made for instructional purposes, mainly in that she wore a farthingale though these were not worn in Italy it made clear to visitors that clothing was really different then (I question this - to modern eyes Renaissance clothing is plenty foreign enough - but hey, I don't do this for a living :P)
There are starting to be entire companies devoted to education through costume; Mark Wallis of Past Pleasures described how they educate their interpreters and even provide charts of how to put on their clothes. And I was pleased that they also had Brenda Rousseau from Colonial Williamsburg, describing how their standards and scholarship moved from $30 dresses made by a local woman for tavern servers in 1934 to the 800+ extremely well clothed/trained interpreters in C.W. today.
The crunchiest "ooh, I've gotta remember that" talk was Luca Costigliolo's talk on historic costume for the theater - given how much I and others vent about Hollywood's cutting corners here was a guy who not only showed that it's possible to get a period shape out of a modern body, but gave tips on doing so: never change the shapr or distance between darts, pad where necessary, and retain proportion!
Gave me some ideas how, where, and why to ratchet up the accuracy on my own costumes, though I'm not quite sure how/which of these ideas I'll use yet. I've described my anxious costuming elsewhere, and my next project will be an interesting experiment in whether I choke or forge ahead with what I need to do to learn more and do better.
But yeah, this may be the year for shoes/leatherwork.
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no subject
Date: 2008-11-30 09:47 pm (UTC)