Hi De,
Please watch for who said what when you snip quotes - it was
Carolyn who said that particular line!
>And the chain-mail-bikini crowd - wearable, but is it art?
-Carol
Comment:
Sorry to bring up SCA again but this reminded me of SCA in the early
eighties when from time to time a woman showed up in a chainmail
bikini and called herself a barbarian.
Well, if she had to call herself something, I guess, but most
people will agree that it's fantasy.
Having learned from experience or other people's experiences these
women started wearing the rabbit fur lined chainmail bikini.
I find it amusing that it took some experience. Chainmail has
been around medieval groups for a long time, and it's easy enough to
understand how it feels against skin and those who make it discuss
the importance of snipping the links without leaving burrs. Not to
mention the screams of the people who put on or take off their chain
mail shirts without wearing a cap. All that information tends to be
passed along when someone teaches how to make mail.
My impression is that some women wear unlined mail because it's
sexier. Someone at the Origins convention wears chain mail dresses,
and I've heard it's unlined, although I did not look too closely
myself.
Then when colored wire became available you got artistic patterns
with the chainmail bikini, sans the fur but lined.
I've also seen lighter weight wire, I guess aluminum. Fighters
would wear padded garments under their mail to distribute the weight.
Even with properly butted links, the mail will dig into the shoulders.
Also, twenty years ago I would see some mail shirts with brass
rings used for borders and sometimes inserted as designs. I'm not
sure if that's historic or simply something people do because the
structure lends itself to certain designs.
Renaissance Faires also would have a booth selling chain
mail/chain headdresses. They range in size from cauls to long veils,
a mix of chain mail, looped chains and jewels. Old techniques, old
shapes (veils), but the product is modern.
The only time I've seen one worn outside a "historic"
(Renfair/SCA/LARP) context was that Anne Rice wore one during a
television interview.
-Carol
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