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As none of us can spend unlimited amounts of time and/or money on our reenactresses wardrobe, and we likewise do not want to make cuts in the way of authenticity, giving some thought on how to compose your wardrobe
to make few garments go a long way is probably a good idea.
The first thing you should ask yourself when planning a wardrobe is “Who is my character?”. Actually many people rather go by “I kind of like that dress”. This should, of course, also be the case, but it does, if
taken on its own, make for a rather motley collection of garments that may probably be more or less incoherent in date and style.
You should, therefore, know who you are going to be, and then start asking yourself what kind of clothes this person would have worn. Good questions to help you in this are:
- How old ist she? Will she wear girlish fashion or more matronly styles?
- What kind of social class does she belong to? Does she need formal wear or working garb?
- Can she be fashion-concious? Does she know and follow latest fashion, or is she a conservative dresser?
- Where does she live? Can she wear pretty city styles, or does she have to cope with dirty rural lanes?
- How well off is she? Can she afford many dresses of high ton or does she have to make do with a few?
In addition to this you should determine When your persona is a-gallivanting, so that you can start perusing the source material for inspiration. After all, it is no use to have lots of 1820ish dresses when most of
your events are set in the early Napoleonic Empire...
Since most events are of less than ten days duration, there is no need for large amounts of back-up clothing, and only if you strive to play the Duchess of Whatnot, you should, besides renting a carriage-and-four and
hiring some servants, reasonably bring more than one dress per day. (but you will see later on how to make two dresses and a few well-chosen accessoires look like six different outfits!)
Now that we have a good outline of what our character would wear, we can proceed to choose garments and build her wardrobe. To give you an idea how to accomplish a lot with as few garments as neccessary, I have
compiled three sample wardrobes for different social levels.
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