Clothing for Royals

I have become Chamberlain and Head of Wardrobe or the Crown Prince and Princess of Lochac; Ariston and Lilavati.

Right.

So my grand plans about a entirely 16th Century German festival have gone thoroughly out the window. Similarly my plans for a Saxon/Cranach gown before Rowany Yule are gone. I still plan to get it done in the next six months (hopefully before festival), but everything is going to have to take a back seat to a pair of Royals and kit for myself for a reign that is outside of my area in both time and place.

I can do this.

So. The reign is Successor Era Macedonian, with a King who was one of the Generals of Alexander the Great, and a Queen who was once an Indian Princess of the Mauryan Empire, but who has been married off for political reasons to the local military leader/ruler (the King). Theoretically this reign will be based on the Seleucid Empire, but there are a number of challenges associated with this project. Firstly, the practical issue is that three people's garb (the K&Q and myself) in an era that none of us has any clothes in, due to the-King-to-be's lack of historic interest in the particulars of garb, the-queen-to-be's focus on Indian in that era, which makes no sense given that she would have been heavily Hellenised after being married to a high ranking Grecian, and my focus being some 200-300 years earlier.

They will each require:

• Two sets of top quality court garb; one for step up, one for step down.
• At least three sets of nice every day wear
• At least two warm things
• Shoes
• Belts
• Hats
• Kit as required for particular peerage ceremonies. 

These last will pop up as we go along. There will be at least one of these that I'm aware of that will require particularly involved kit, but I am as yet not allowed to divulge that information. I may post about the dratted thing after the ceremony is done.

I will require:

• A nice set of court kit so I don't look like a slob
• Maybe another two sets of everyday wear, but I'm willing to cut that down to one, because some of my other kit will be good enough that maybe four people in the kingdom will know it's the wrong era (except you lot, but I'm not telling you which of it will be wrong).
• A set of kit for that peerage ceremony, because I need some from that time period anyway.

This is achievable, especially since I am currently a woman of leisure due to Uni holidays. Easy as pie, right?

Panicking aside, this is era has a number of interesting issues, which brings us to the second problem: sources for the dratted garb. Asia-Minor has been torn apart by war at this point, be it by Alexander's initial conquering, or be by the wars between the successors, who each decided that "to the strongest" meant they should get the Empire. War torn areas are not historically known for their fine art. This is not to say there is none, it just means that a lot of the sources that are useful for garb (particularly for women) are not being manufactured in the same scale, so very few of them survive. The men are somewhat easier, because there are friezes and frescoes showing war scenes, which give a better insight. For the sake of this reign, I will be working primarily from the Tanagra figurines for Lilavati and myself and said friezes and frescoes for Ariston. The sole convenience of this era is that there is a slightly ungodly quantity of written records from the conquest of Alexander, several of which are likely to prove useful. More posts incoming as I get moving on the work and the research.

Wish me luck.

Ancient Myths: The Simple Greek Chiton

There is this habit in the Society of viewing all Ancient garb as potato sacks, useful only for extremely hot weather or for new people who need garb fast. As a great lover of Ancient Greek garb and the grace it can display, this has rubbed me up the wrong way for a long time. This project is aimed at a particular case in which the accepted thought is not necessarily true, and to display some of that Ancient beauty and grace to those who are not familiar with it.

The accepted knowledge

The accepted school of thought on chitons (ancient Greek dresses. Literally, tunic),is that there were only two varieties (Doric and Ionic), and that each of of them consisted of a single piece of cloth, pinned at the shoulders and sometimes sewn down the side. In the case Doric chitons, for women, they sometimes have a peplos, traditionally thought to be an extension of the same piece of fabric, folded down at the shoulder (See diagram below). Note that chitons for women are always ankle to floor length (outside of ceremonial occasions) and are fastened with dress pins (which were sometimes up to a foot long), or later, after dress pins were made illegal, fibulae (ancient safety pins), or - and there is some discussion about this - buttons. Finally the garment is belted at the waist or slightly above, in order to give a slightly empire cut.

Diagram 1: The traditional view

The counter theory

It is my belief that the commonly accepted knowledge that Doric chitons with peploi fails to account for the documentary evidence, and also is less practical than it otherwise could be. For this reason I have constructed a number of garments which consist of a separate skirt and top. 

The first reason for this is one of drape. The problem with Doric chitons that follow the traditional school of thought is just how much of the body is visible given the neck hole. The nature of the full width fold corresponding to the full width skirt means that a great deal of side and torso is visible, something that is seen in neither the pots nor the statuary. These depictions almost always show a lot of fabric in the skirt and that just isn't realistically viable with the fold method most of the time.

Funny shaped edge on an (admittedly Ionic) chiton.
Attic drinking kylix - ca. 480 BCE
Photo taken in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

The second reason is clothing texture. There are a a very large number of pots depicting women wearing chitons with significantly different patterns on the peplos and the body of the dress. We have temple records indicating that dresses were embroidered, but also patterned weaving is thought to have occurred, and given the extent of the patterns and the class of the women wearing them, woven patterns seem more likely. Given this, it seems unlikely that the patterns in different parts of the same garment would be so very different, given the difficulty and therefore cost of changing patterns so radically mid-cloth.

You may have to zoom, but that's a solidly different pattern
Apulian (south Italian) Calyx-Krater fragment found in Greece - ca. 400-380 BCE
Photo taken in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

The third reason is access: whilst a traditional Doric chiton may be unpinned (or potentially unbuttoned) at the shoulder in order to breastfeed, re-pinning can be fiddly and annoying, especially when trying to handle a small child. The convenience of a separate skirt and top is that the shirt can easily be moved out of the way with greater modesty and speed.

The last notable problem is one of shape. Simply put, there are a number of statues where the points for the hanging corners of the peplos are just in the wrong place, and it makes no sense for them to be an extension of the simple rectangular shape.

Is that a belly button I see?
Attic Terracotta Amphora -  ca. 540-530 BCE
Photo taken in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Of course, none of this is conclusive proof, and I make no claim that the traditional structure didn't also occur, but with this much evidence, from this variety of sources, it's worth exploring alternatives.

Construction and alternatives

I have tried a number of different methods for constructing this kind of garb over the last three years. I. I have primarily made court garb, and so have used silk, which was well and truly available around the Mediterranean in the Classical and Successor eras which are my focus. Trade routes through Persia in the form of the Persian Royal Road (established in 500-330 BCE), through Alexander's empire and the subsequent Seleucid Empire were strong (Mark, 2014), and nobility would have had access to silk through India.

I have tried two skirt construction methods - pleating and gathering - though I feel that pleating gives a body of fabric most similar to what is seen in depictions. I have similarly tried two different shirt constructions, one with a diagonal line to achieve the asymmetrical look in some dresses, and the more standard, even cut that is seen more commonly. Lastly I have tried ties and a catch as alternatives for closing of the skirt. The closing method is not something that I have reached a conclusion on as yet. To my knowledge there is no particular evidence either way, and they both have advantages and disadvantages. Ties are adjustable and there is no evidence of hooks and eyes or bars (as on the champagne gown), but there is still the possibility of buttons, and I have never seen any evidence of a the bulk of a knot either. 

All in all, I feel that this solution closes almost all of the holes seen in the more traditional construction method.

Bibligraphy

Joshua J. Mark. “Silk Road,” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 28, 2014. http://www.ancient.eu /Silk_Road/.

And Sew It Begins

First up, I'm sorry. I can't help it I promise. The pun was there and I couldn't resist.

Now, I have decided to build a sewing blog. I do this because I'm a terrible costumer and because I need something to hold me accountable to actually doing my projects, rather than leaving them half completed in my sewing room, only adding to the already significant clutter.

I also do this because I feel that it will help my with my documentation and my thought process and hopefully counteract my complete inability to pre-plan. I have a habit of making dresses because they look nice, rather than because of their historical accuracy. This needs to stop, so I'm stopping it. If it's not well documented enough to go on my blog, it's not well documented enough to make (As a note, the blog is unlikely to be good enough to be a good reference for other costumers, at the very least in it's first few months/years. Please do not use me as a basis for your garb. My attempts will probably be pretty hopeless).

Finally, I do this because I have a very large amount of garb that I hope to make in a very short period of time. I fly out for Pennsic on the 18th of July. I will be dressing myself primarily in Ancient Greek and 16th Century German. I have all of my greek already. Before Pennsic, I would like to make:

• 1 doppelshurz
• 1 normal apron
• At least 2 low necked smocks and a high necked one if I have time
• 2 dresses
• 1 underskirt
• 3 pairs of socks (2 linen and 1 wool)
• 1 fake hair piece to cover my short hair
• 2 wulsthaubes

This is a lot of work, and I fully anticipate that I won't get it all done. Duchess Yolande has said she will help me with some of it if I need, but I want to do most of the actual work on my own. 

Wish me luck.