RenFaire Wear Part 1 - research

This is the time of year when Renaissance Faires are starting up all around the county.  Now, you don't have to wear a costume to join in the fun, but it can be even more fun if you do.

I think Renaissance Faires are so popular is because they allow the Renaissance to span about 300years and they welcome so many different costume styles. The classic garb for a lady is a wench outfit, but I've seen ladies dressed as beggars, royalty, pirates, belly dancers, even fairies and more.  What's the guy equivalent of a wench?  I guess some kind of festive get up consisting of knee pants, poet shirt and a vest or sash.  Although lots of the guys really like to do the pirate thing or it's their chance to wear a kilt.

Before making any kind of costume, research needs to be done and now these days we can do tons of research without getting out of our chairs.  But, to get started let me share some of my personal photos taken at the Renaissance Faire near me.

Here I am (not at a Renaissance Faire) in a subdued wench outfit.

A slightly different version of some easy to wear costumes.

Here is a colorful pirate.

Here we have a Great Kilt (predecessor to the modern Kilt) with a couple well dressed ladies.

This is great example of the basic RenFaire costume.

This is very fine royal attire, but you might not want to chew on a turkey leg wearing this.

And a pirate with a sense of humor, check out the fabric on his cuffs and coat front band.

And don't forget about hats!

You can see how much fun the people wearing costumes are having.  Of course, I didn't take any photos of people not wearing costumes.  They are probably having fun, too ... but not as much fun!

Here is a link to a website that lists almost every Renaissance Faire in the country. I recommend visiting some of their websites to look at their photo galleries.  
CLICK HERE

If you aren't ready for the time and money commitment in sewing a costume, your local thrift store can dress you very well with some changes here and there. I will be posting two tutorials, one for men and one for women on how to do that.

AND, if anyone has a Renaissance costume made with one of my patterns they would like to share, please send me an email using the form on this website and I will give you an email address where you can send images.

thanks