Layouts & Dressing

Tudor Dress

It seems a few educational establishments are using the 'Tudor Dress' album as a resource, to show the stages in the way an early Tudor lady was dressed. There are very few things on the net that show this.
Dressing & layouts has been on my mind a lot lately and we're making changes to the website. The first one being that we've given 'Music' it's own sites. If you're interested, the music workshops are here and the ceilidhe band is here .
This is going to give us more space to show you what you want to see.

A Nice Warm Coat...

I really can't believe that it's been six weeks since I last posted on here! The time has just flown.
First there was the 'Christmas rush' and trying to get all the orders out on time. These included a new outfit for Mr White who was appearing in a 'Dickens' production over Christmas - at Williamsburg! We made him a nice warm outfit as it normally snows in Virginia at this time of year, unfortunately the weather had other ideas - and delivered 70 degrees of warm sunshine!
Then I came down with flu' and recovered just in time for us to fly to Spain for the holidays.
Now in the campo (countryside) it has cold nights but in the daytime reached about 20, which was very comfortable. -A little better than an outdoor event I did in Peterborough, in November, where it was minus 6!

Now back in Britain where the new year spreads before us like virgin snow, or should that be Virginia snow?

Blood, Guts and Gores

I've been toying with the idea of adding videos to this blog, or another suitable host. I have but one problem, what would you like to see? Each period seems to have it's own bugbear. On the living history forum here in the U.K, the thing that gets medievalists 'punching the wall' , is the problem of inlaying gores into skirts. For E.C.W. the thing that makes you furious, seems to be tassets. The 18th C 'quandaries of note' are Frock coat tails and stays. A lot of people tell us that they have project that is stalled for the lack of someone to say "try doing this or that". Well here's your chance, to save your sanity! How about a video on measuring to fit? Toiling? What would you like to see? Or, more relevantly, what would be useful?

Lethal Beauty

The fashion shows at T.O.R.M were a great success. We were trying to get away from the 'same old, same old' format and instead, concentrated on characters from history. The theme this time was 'Lethal Beauty' bringing in, among others, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Caravaggio, Lady Ferrars, Dick Turpin, Black Bart, Anne Bonney and Mary Anne Cotton. A lethal collection indeed! The picture shows Rachel from Tamworth Castle trying on her new Medieval Hennin - after her appearance as Typhoid Mary!
The show finished with a WWI soldier going through the actions of the poem 'The Naming of Parts" by Henry Reed. He then presented arms while the 'Last Post' was played. Very moving.
How many people does it take to put on a fashion show? The answer is LOTS - and we'd like to thank every single one of them.

Portrait of a Black Knight

Splitting the web albums wasn't that successful as there were still too many shots in the 1700-1920's one, making it a devil to load! So I've done it again, splitting that in to two and making a new album for Victorian and Edwardian - All the albums are here. Ten of costume.

We've also had a couple of good shots sent us, John White provided three pics of his Henry VIII clothing in action
Ian Pycroft of "Black Knight Historical" also sent us the picture shown, wearing his new 18th C. outfit for the first time. He was also kind enough to say that he "Received many compliments - it was worn with much grinning and that he felt like a millionaire..".
Ian runs a lot of Historical events, normally in the East of England. His last event at Mannington was said by someone to be "the best multi-period show ever". Shame we missed it. Still, if you're in the area, Ian is running the Historic Christmas Fair in the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral 12-14th December.

Pictures & Dynasties

Various (1700-1820)

It is generally accepted that the medieval period finished at 1485 and this was the start of the Tudor dynasty. It is not so easy to do so in historic 'fashion', as people did not throw away all their clothes just because there was a new king on the throne!
A long time ago we decided to split the time periods like this in our slideshow and so far it's worked reasonably well, except for those customers who are on the cusp of changing periods.
I mention this as I've had to split one of the web albums into two as it was just taking too long to load. Now we have 9 albums that may be of interest to 'the costume conscious' . If you would like to see them all go here.
The pictures will take you to the one I've split. Previously called 'Various', they are now called Various(1000-1700) and Various (1700-1920's).We hope you like them.

Various (1000-1700)

Tudor Royalty

Elizabeth I

It does seem to be Tudor month here at Chimera, and Tudor Royalty at that. First we had Henry VIII for Mr. White, made from the customers' own materials - with two pairs of breeches, one with codpiece and one without, for audiences of a 'nervous disposition'-or schools! John is a consummate performer and with the anniversary of Henry's accession to the throne next year, we think he will be very busy.Three weeks in production,this outfit!
Next, a costume inspired by the portrait of Mrs. Elizabeth Buxton, in Norwich museum. The outfit consists of ten pieces, chemise, bumroll, stays, (see 'Tudor Bodies' posting) wheel, petticoat, skirt, bodice, Embroidered stomacher, ruff and supportass.This one took one month to complete!
Kirsty does look very regal - and very like Elizabeth I.

King Henry VIII

Leading Characters

The theme for the fashion show at T.O.R.M this year is 'Lethal Beauty'- in all it's aspects - from dangerous people to weapons and even to make-up. As you will probably know the 'white face' make-up used for hundreds of years contained copious amounts of lead which lead (forgive the pun!), to skin diseases and even worse. One of the best methods of duplicating the 'white face' effect is to use Titanium dioxide and talc. It is best to avoid modern cosmetics as a) They don't give the right 'look' and b) although they won't kill you, they will cost you an arm and a leg!
I must admit I find the only people with white faces that really annoy me are clowns!
If you go to T.O.R.M this year expect to meet up with Henry VIII -and possibly 'Good Queen Bess'
Leading characters if ever there was.

Trades and Guildworkers

A couple of posts ago, I showed you a picture of 'Tudor paned hose" in the process of being made. Originally, a lot of different craftspeople/ guildworkers would have been involved in the making process of certain items. At various periods, Silk workers, Dyers, Weavers, Voiderers, Clothworkers, Fullers, Broiderers, Tailors, Gold smiths, Leatherworkers, Girdlers, Buttonmakers, Hosiers, Hatters, Cappers, Milliners, Lacemakers, Narroware makers, Cordwainers and Ruff makers could all be part of the workforce to put together a single outfit - and what each did changed over the centuries. There are still small numbers of people carrying out these very specialised skills. Nowadays, it is more likely that you'd buy your shoes and belt from elsewhere and your tailors' role has magnified to absorb all those skills that are less available. Traditionally the tailor worked solely for men and the ladies were garbed by competent seamstresses - again, this has changed and most tailors, historical or contemporary, will undertake commissions for either gender. Indeed your tailor may not be a man!
The picture shows the final finished hose - and thanks to the invisible man for modelling them for us!

Rifleman Harris

We just got back from the Military Odyssey at Detling in Kent. Lots of visitors came to the stand and we had quite a few people collecting finished items including that wonderful actor Jason Salkey and his wife.
Jason was in the cast of 'The Memphis Belle' & 'The Turn of the Screw', but you'll probably remember him better as 'Rifleman Harris' in the Sharpe series. Jason sells a series of marvellous DVDs covering the making of the shows. If you're interested in 'Sharpe', or an hilarious look 'behind the scenes', I highly recommend them.
Anyway, we'd made a new shirt for Jason and he was kind enough to give us an autographed photo saying "as good as the original!".
Gini spent a while repairing his rifle jacket, so the sleeves are now reattached to the body -and it fits over his new shirt nicely.
Sometimes it's not the glamorous items that put the smile on someone's face but it's the simple things - like a new shirt.