At 06:25 PM 7/14/2005, you wrote:
Oh, jeez, don't get me started. If I had a dollar for every fat SCAdian woman who seems to think that _huge_ clothes are somehow more modest/flattering/who knows what than clothes that fit, I would be a wealthy woman. A fat, wealthy, well-dressed woman.
As someone who's had to relearn a few things about personal fashion... I have come to realize personally that such large garments are an attempt, at least by me, to hide who I was inside by hiding behind the oversized garments I wore on the outside. It had nothing to do with fit, but personal body image and a lack of self esteem.
I recently made a modern garment that I thought would look attractive, and I am almost finished with it. But because my self esteem has returned, I realized when I put the garment on for fitting that I was wearing another shapeless shirt, and that I didn't want to hide myself anymore. So now it is in the closet awaiting the final collar facing and buttons, and is now unwanted. I will probably eBay it to someone else if I can finish it.
Mind you, I know fitted garments. I wear fitted bodices in my Tudor and Elizabethan gowns. I've enjoyed fitted peasant bodices as well. But those are "costumes" in that I am playing dress up and the character I put on isn't "me", while modern garments have to reflect the real me, who I am inside.
Other thought I have on your statement, perhaps we need to try and educate those people?
Take bras for example, I had to train my best friend when we were both younger that her skimpy, thin, no support bras were bad for her posture, looks, and even the amount of breast tissue her bras were *not* holding. It wasn't until I got her into a good department store, and had her properly fitted in a well supporting bra, did she even begin to realize what was right, and where she had gone so very wrong. It really perked her up, both in figure and mentally.
However, I am also all to aware that some people just either don't want to be educated, or ignore any advice for who knows what reason. There was one lady I have in mind who asked me two years ago for various advice on making a well fitted garment for her character (she was supposedly portraying something comparable to a Countess). As of last fall she still was wearing the frumpy muu-muu bag dress which she has worn for a year prior to asking my advice. I understand she still wears that same "dress", because she's so busy making everyone else's garb. However, she's the leader of her group... if she doesn't dress well for her station, how is she going to expect others to dress well for their station, especially when they are in court?
But I better stop before I go on and on and on.... Kimiko Kimiko Small http://www.kimiko1.com Fresno, CA, USA "Lady of the Wardrobe" for Isle of Mann Guild Portraying at California's Central Valley Renaissance Faires Lady Clifford, Countess of Cumberland (Margaret Percy, Eleanor Brandon, or Margaret Russell) _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
