One may be influence by the clothing shown in the above woodcut, and can be the beginning to during research of creating one's costume to play the persona of their choosing. The woodcut shows a small portion of the people's clothing to be of the Norman culure 1300s for religious service people along with a lady - maybe of noblity.

Where Do I Begin?

Persona Development will be one of the most important parts in developing one’s garment to play in creative anachronism of the era from 1066AD to 1603AD – western European culture. If you are a new player please read the information provided below, as this will help you in deciding on what type of garment one would wear during this period. I Christiana have taken seminars on the topic of persona development, and have even participated as a candidate in a couple of persona challenges. We will not go to that detail, but one may if they choose to continue their development of their persona. Costuming is the focus point on most personas that we put on display at events and demos while at place at most creative anachronism events and demos, and is the first thing that one sees. In mundane life, when you look at a person with a business suit, is he or she a business professional? Or if we look at a person wearing a belt with tools, and has a hard hat on, is this person most likely to be a trade’s person? And the list goes on. This also applies to persona as well. Are you serving in the military? Or are you a craftsman of the era you represent, or maybe a lady in waiting? These are questions that one must ask themselves, before undertaking the task of making a costume for your persona.

In developing your persona person, there are a few questions that one must asked themselves in developing the persona of their choosing. As you are reading through this post, you will see similarities to the mundane life, and I will for this time only will confirm with a few examples from 1066AD to 1603AD. This post will work for other persona that is older or even newer, but the general questions to ask yourself will remain the same.

Lets begin:
Question: Choosing a persona name, and what name should I use?

Answer: One must first take a look at a few requirements before choosing a name. Is the name period for the era, social status, and region that you are representing existed, and if so what was there a last name? In status of the upper class – second names may had existed, but for the most part the name would be you’re given, and say that your occupation may have been a charcoal burner, or a silversmith. It is possible to lets say your name might have been John Charcoal, or John Char or if you were a silversmith by trade it could have been Richard Silver or even Richard Silversmith. Last names could have even come about from regions that one may had lived in, (example – Robin of Loxley) or even come from Nicknames. An example would be John the Stinky (his job might have been a dunn remover- an occupation similar to the septic tank cleaner). These are just a few examples of names, and I Christiana will not go further into the subject. But one must start with the bare bones and names are where one will begin to create the persona. For our information I Christiana will be using my persona, along with a couple of other persona’s to help in creating a base to begin designing clothing.

In selecting a name: one should also take a look at the history of the region that one wishes to represent, as English may have not been the language used at the time. It may be Norse, it could be Latin, and the list goes on. Also region names have changed over the years of history. An example during the period that Christiana represents, the country of Italy was of smaller kingdoms. An example would be of Yugoslavia as this country was formed shortly after World War II and in the nineties has returned to its routes of several smaller countries. One of the era, that the Adrian Empire represents is during the 1400s England’s holdings on Normandy (France) by conquest.

Question: What era and region should I represent?

Answer: The Adrian Empire is of western European Culture and is from 1066AD to 1603AD - we have approx a 500-year spread. Please be reminded that most people of the era live for about a ½ century and that was considered old. Therefore if you were representing Norman period as an example, you would not be dressing in Tudor costuming and likewise the same. You will also need to choose a country and region, as most citizens would have travel less than 20 miles from their given birth place. There are exceptions, to the rule, and these may have been traveling merchants, military, royalty servants and council and more. Choose a year, and region. An example is Christiana Elizabeth Constable represents the year of 1593 in the region of Yorkshire, England in the town of Beverley and is 53 years old during the rein of Queen Elizabeth. Now we have the name and we have the year that she represents along with her region and age of person.

Question: What was the persona’s life skill?

Answer: In designing the garment one is going to present while playing the persona, one needs to know of what life skills does their persona represent. Lets look at John Charcoal. We will give John Charcoal the year of the 1590s for representation of the era, and lets say that he lives just outside Beverley. It is quite possible that Christiana may have met John, but most likely has not, as Christiana represents the wife of a very wealthy merchant that has a steward employed in their services. Under orders the steward would order the charcoal from John, and therefore John Charcoal may not be mingling with the wealthy merchant class. Would John Charcoal be wearing wealthy merchant clothing of silks and finery? The answer would most likely be no, and he would most likely be wearing hand me downs, or cloths of linen and wool as these would be common materials available to the era for the working class of people.

Now lets look at Richard Silversmith. He would mingle with the wealthy class and may socialize with this class, as he is a master of his trade, silver-smithing, but since he is a master he may have apprentices under him that do the hard work. The master would do the finely detail work and he would have the monies to afford better styles of clothing than lets say a labor, farmer, or even say a street beggar but the clothing would most likely be clothing of finer detail and textiles as set by the apparel laws of England and region of the era.

You may also ask what type of education that the person you are portraying had. Girls of the lower to middle class usually did not get schooling while the boys would, and if of the upper class to nobility girls and boys were both educated. This would have an effect on their social class of what one may wear also.

It should also be noted that some cultures pending the era, the woman of the era would have the power and influence of the house, while other cultures only consider woman a little bit more than domestic animals that had no rights. This will affect what a woman may wear also. Is the woman of nobility, or is she a servant or a farmer’s wife, or a street merchant? These are just examples.

Therefore it cannot be stressed enough before one begins making garments for their persona to do the research into their persona. So as a check list to get one started before going ahead with making a historical costume for their persona is as follows:

Name, Region, Era (year you represent) Social Class, Education, Life Skills. There are others questions to ask oneself if you wish to develop the persona further, but to begin costuming, one should ask these before starting. This will affect design, textiles and embellishments that one would wear. Please check out the post on Apparel Laws also.

Now lets return to the persona of Christiana Elizabeth Constable. We know that she is from Beverley, Yorkshire England, and that she lived in 1593 at the age of 53, and now we will answer the question of her life skills which is a wife of a wealthy deceased merchant, and that she may have been educated, and that there are servants under the care of the household of her deceased husband that she must look after. She would not be wearing rags like that of a beggar – No. And she would not be wearing the Servant’s uniform (usually blue wool uniforms), and she would not be wearing military garments either. So what would she be wearing? We know that she would be living under the Household of the Tudors rein – Queen Elizabeth, (the year 1593 and that Yorkshire is a part of England) and that she would be of the wealthy class. Therefore she would be entitle by apparel laws to wear refinements, and if she is willing to pay the apparel laws fines, can even wear garments of nobility. Also a refined lady may have travel beyond the 20-mile radius and she would have wealth to afford items from the Lower European Countries. This can allow for cross-cultural differences, as long as it is from the same era.

Question - What can I wear?

Answer - The persona will dictate what one can wear, which will also include notions, (examples – belt buckles, buttons, embroidery, etc). Even the style of the garment is influence by the era and culture and the method of making the garment. Remember, they did not have the advantages of modern sewing and textile equipment like we have today. Textiles were hand woven or felted, and were costly to afford. Therefore someone that is a labor, would be very limited to what they can afford, while lets say one of the wealthy class can afford more expensive fabrics and use the fabric less sparingly in making ones garb. A servant woman from the 1500s if one were to make the garment, might take somewhere between 4 to 6 meters at most, while on that portrays a wealthy woman may take beyond ten meters of fabric. It is the cut and design that will dictate the amount of fabric one will need, and the design will be of the social class represents of their era. If one is during Norse, the under-dress takes about 3 meters as an example for a persona. The historical apparel laws of the era and region will dictate colors of the textiles and the textiles, notions and furs used for garments, and by the laws of the creative anachronism group that one belongs to. Textiles should be of the real textiles that would have been used back in the era that one represents, but I Christiana have seem many synthetic textiles with blends of natural fibers that keep the cost down and look and handle the same as the real stuff.

In creating your persona for the Adrian Empire, one should and must stay away from the fantasy costumes that one may see in some of the movies. Unless it can be documented that this type of costume was worn in the era the persona represents, stay away from these type of garments.

Question - Where can I find information of what styles of garments they wore back in the era that my persona would have lived?

Answer - This question can be hard to answer since cloth is a natural fiber and is subject to decay over the years. In some of the historical digs it has been found some of the articles of clothing and jewelry that one may have worn in the time before pasting away. To find historical digs, one can search the web to fine articles on these historical digs that are from the Norse all the way through to the Tudor Age, but generally speaking these digs in old gravesites are usually of a wealthier class of people to nobility although there are exceptions to this rule like the bog people and the iceman.

We may also want to look at photos of paintings, but be careful here, as some of the artist may have painted illustrations of biblical nature. Try to find ones that are portrays of people that live in the time that your persona is to represent. Another source is woodcuts for what one may have wore. Some university press books and museum books will also contain information on the clothing that one may have worn back them, as it is usually universities and museums that sponsor the historical digs. Stay away from fictional books that represent the era that your persona represents.

Question – Can I mix my mundane life into my persona?

Answer – This is a yes and no answer, as this depends on what your living, hobbies and interest are? For an example – Lord Kasper Magunsen by mundane life is a retired woodcarver. Woodcarving today is mostly done by computer wood carvers, but in the days before computers it was done by hand, and Lord Kasper is an old world craftsman in woodcarving in mundane life. If he so chooses, he can definitely apply this knowledge into his persona as a master woodcarver for the era that he may represent in his persona.

Lady Christiana Elizabeth Constable in mundane life is semi retired by investments she made in her mundane life, but does contract work in cabinetry architectural designing, and garment fashion designing. All of these did exist back in the era that Christiana represents in 1593, but most likely would not have partake in cabinet making, and architectural designing as these would have be male occupations and that architects during her time frame were just beginning to come in as a trade. So we see that Christiana can use her fashion knowledge combined with a bit of research from her era and work as a seamstress, or embroider person, but she so choose to be a wife of a wealthy merchant that past away prior to 1593 that does not exist in real life, but inherited her husbands business in the importing of textiles; with Christiana’s knowledge on textiles was able to create a persona of a wealthy merchant lady.

Now lets look at John Doe – he is an electrician by trade in mundane life, but his hobbies lay in metalworking. What would be his best choice if he wanted to create a persona using what he knows already? Well working with electricity – this did not happen for at least another 400 years approx, therefore this trade is out of the question, but lets look at his hobby in metalworking. They did have blacksmith workers, and ironmongers. He could pending on his knowledge be a Master, the towns blacksmith, an apprentice, or even a labor to the master. This will dictate the style of garment, but please keep in mind the era and region.

So if one can take their mundane life and try to fit it into their persona, it can make it a lot simpler for one to represent their chosen persona.

Question - What if I want to play Nobility?

Answer – This is determine by the rules set forth by the creative anachronism group. For most groups, you cannot, and therefore should not pursue this route. This will also apply to religion as well. It is however noted that the Church was the one that had one of the strongest influences on the western European cultures, and did in some ways influence what one could wear. In the Adrian Empire unless you are entitle to, one cannot wear belts of blue, red, green or yellow, and or spurs and one cannot wear circlets, cornets and crowns unless one has the rank and title given unto them.

Closing

In answering a few questions to persona development, one can begin to create the costume that will be required of their persona and represent their persona at events and demos and to give the favor of the medieval ages without the pitfalls of the medieval ages. It should be noted that there is a lot more to persona development than just creating the garments, but this is only a start. As one wishes to advance, one can look deeper into the social life, holidays, culinary arts, how they purchase and traded, travel, education, and life styles and so on. As this is an instructional web post for creating clothing from the period of 1066 to 1603AD I Christiana have cover the basics to begin one in designing their persona’s garments.

If you do have a chance to see the museums of the old world, please definitely go on a tour of them. You will be amazed of what one will see what the culture was back than. Also if by chance you get a chance to work at a historical dig, you will be amazed if you find something in the dig. History can be fun and interesting.

Article by Lady Christiana Elizabeth Constable of ye Phasiani lacus Manerium
Vestairium magister Guild
January 15th 2012

Sources – Participation in Golden Swan a persona challenge 2010, 2011
Seminars on Persona Developments – October 2008, 2009, and January 2012