Why?

[mmcnealy]

 

Not sure if its the weather or the season, but in response to Jen Thompson's thoughts earlier, here's what motovates me to create historical costumes.....ta da! Hats.

Yes, hats. The one element of costume that is usually thought of as an afterthought. For most costumer's, its about the dress and they don't take the time to do the headdress *right*, if they bother with putting anything on their heads at all. (Nothing urks me more than a gable headdress with bangs! ARGG!).  If you want to make the outfit unique, make the headdress, cause the other people probably didn't even bother (but they will have spent 100+ hours sewing on pearls and other beads).

I care about the dress, but for me, the dress is the reason to wear the headdress that goes with it. Once you have the headdress and the dress, well then you need the belt, purse, basket, tent, table..... in essence the entire ensamble.

But on a more serious note: When I have a dress that I want to make, and somebody else has already made it, I don't read their work. I sit down and come up with my own theories and my own methods. This is made easier because I  focus on the less popular German stuff, the common ordinary middle class to upper middle class people stuff, there aren't that many established theories out there in Hunnisett et al.   I am neither a Saxon court princess or a kampfrau and never will be.  I'm a big believer in getting ones inspiration from period art sources and then using extant garments and pattern books to figure out the construction details. For art sources, I like woodcuts and drawings the best, paintings are a close second.

No matter what the style or the era, you as a costumer have a choice, do your own research or use somebody else's. Personally, I prefer my own so I can come to my own conclusions about how things were made, my own construction techniques and pattern shapes. This is why I really don't read a lot of dress diaries anymore, I don't want to be confused by someone else's conclusions, I want my outfit to be unique and for me to be able to explain in excruciating detail why I chose to do things the way I did things.  All this research of course takes time, on average about 8 months of research, contemplation and design goes into each outfit. Some, which haven't been made yet, will have been in the RCD phase for almost 2 years by the time they are made. Part of the delay can be chalked up to grad school, part of it because it took that long to get the questions that I had answered through period sources.   

As to why I don't post to the web a lot of my projects until they're finished,  its because I'm still working out the details. Plus I'm a perfectionist, so it really bugs me to back-track and admit errors online, its bad enough having to rip the seams out, let alone admit that the project turned out looking like crap and its a "Do Over" dress.

 I hope this better explains my costumer psyche. 

Comments

[flummoxicated.livejournal.com]

Preach on! Accessories are a make or break part of the costume.

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Amen sista!