This all started with a dare, of sorts.
I was having a conversation with my beloved husband-to-be, robk, regarding a web design project that a friend had asked him but not me to do. I was not taking it well. I want a design project, I said. I miss designing something.
Hey, gimme a chance here; I miss it too, he said. And what about your thesis?
My thesis? A web design project?
You mean you want me to blog my thesis?
My beloved is an awfully strange man, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.
I'm currently a Master's candidate in the Fashion Institute of Technology's Museum Studies: Costume and Textile program. Pending approval, my thesis topic will be the reconstruction of a the dress of an English woman of the upper middle class or minor nobility from around 1540, and a discussion of the ethics, advantages, and possible problems with the use of reconstructed historic costume in museum settings.
My advisor is Maria Ann Conelli. Dean of Graduate Studies. We get on awfully well, but we're already having differences of opinion - she thinks I should only make the outer dress; I feel that without the underpinnings (chemise, corset, etc.), the dress is inherently incomplete - a Renaissance gown can't be separated from its undergarments the way a modern dress can. She's worried that I won't be able to finish such an ambitious project in a reasonable time span. I'm convinced that she's never made a piece of clothing (although she makes amazing cakes for all our department parties) and doesn't really know how much work is involved: she's just looking at this immense thing that looks so much more complex than the tailored suits she's used to wearing and gets overwhelmed. We'll have to see how this plays out.
I'm very, very unsure as to whether there's anybody out there who is interested in this in the slightest. If you're not, and I turned up on your Google search, getting between you and whatever you were really looking for; I'm sorry for wasting your time and bandwidth.
If you want a quick-and-dirty guide to making yourself a costume for the Renaissance Faire you're attending in, my Gods, three hours, or are in love with the romanticized Pre-Raphelite vision of medieval and Renaissance clothing, or think that plastic boning is the Gods' gift to sempstresses, or are of the firm opinion that you can make a perfectly good houppelande by adapting a modern dress pattern, you will not find what you seek here. I am a scholar and a snoot. While I have no wish to tell other people how to clothe their bodies - and the Gods know that my wardrobe contains items which I wear and love while accepting their complete and utter historical inaccuracy - I'm going to be very, very strict about my scholarship for this project.
If, however, you are an unrepentant fan of history, fashion, books, or watching the slow yet inevitable descent of an MA candidate into utter madness, this is, indeed, a site you want to keep a very close eye on, or at least steal a desultory glimpse of now and then. I cannot promise regular posts, or entertaining ones. I will try for useful information for anyone else who has the courage (or foolhardiness) to begin a similar project. I'll include pictures as I come across them, and lots and lots of bibliographic information. Tidbits about my life - my family and friends, robk, our upcoming wedding, &c. - will, undoubtedly, make it into my musings.
To close, five books grabbed at random from the shelf nearest the desk:
Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion: The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c1560-1620. Hollywood, CA: Quite Specific Media Group Ltd, 1985.
This is a canonical work; it offers deconstructed drawings of a number of garments, and extensive notes on how they were made
Emery, Irene. The Primary Structures of Fabrics. Washington, D.C.: The Textile Museum, 1994.
A massive tome detailing every type of fabric structure known, or thereabouts, finally clearing up the knit vs. crochet confusion that seems endemic in many retail catalogues.
Eco, Umberto. Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages. Translated by Hugh Bredin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.
Most people interested in recreation or reenactment have read Umberto Eco's historical fiction; he also is a philosopher and theorist. This is a dense but elegant little volume.
Kipfer, Barbara Ann, editor. Roget's International Thesaurus, 6th edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2001.
I'd be lost without this book: another massive tome, it uses the old-fashioned thematic/categoric organization rather than the newer dictionary-style. I find it much easier and more enjoyable to use.
Kohler, Carl. A History of Costume. New York: Dover Publications, 1928.
I'm most likely going to make a few enemies by saying this - I know a number of people who consider this a bible of sorts - but I'm skeptical about this book in the extreme. Many of the costume illustrations are line drawings, the bibliography seems awfully skimpy for such a broadly based work, and there are no references in the text. It's a secondary source at best, and tertiary or worse in many places. It's OK if you have absolutely no idea what people wore during a certain time period and want to get a vague idea that you'll later explore in more depth, but that's about its limit.
That's about it for now -