Given your considerations, you might want to think about something a bit earlier than the examples you mentioned. Fashions in 1350-1500 featured (warning: wild generalizations ahead) close-fit (e.g. cotehardie) or vast quantities of fabric (e.g. houppelande), neither of which may be very comfortable for her. Also, women's houppelandes seem to be belted nearly all the time. It's under the bust instead of closer to the lower back, but it still needs to be belted for the right look. (The pic you linked is an Italian style different from the houppeland... totally out of my limited area of knowledge.)
I would recommend looking at simple loose tunic dresses, like in the Manesse Codex (early 14th c. German manuscript). Maybe with a sleeveless over tunic in a contrasting color to dress it up a bit? http://www.manesse.de/manesse0-9.shtml This style looks pretty good on most people as long as you use a fabric that isn't stiff, and use enough fabric to allow it to drape nicely. It doesn't need to be belted at all. Just a thought... Catrijn _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
