There has been a change in the leadership of a living history program I am
in. The new person in charge wants revive the program, which has almost
become depopulated, and to make us look and act like a real living history
program. I am assuming that a higher standard of authenticity in costuming
will help both to attract new people and to improve things generally, but
I'm a costumer.
My questions:
What do you look for in a living history program you're considering
joining? What, besides the fact that it's a time period you're interested
in, would attract you to such a program and, time permitting, make you want
to come play?
The new person in charge has specified two levels of participation, one
full-time and one part-time. We will have a core of regulars, and room for
drop-ins who don't have the time nor the inclination to make a full-time
commitment. And he's allowing for days core people have to miss.
How authentic to the period should the costumes be at first? We have
several male characters who are wearing OK-looking generic working class
clothing from our period, and about three women in garments that are about
right for the year we've chosen (1901). Should we go easy on the
authenticity at first, and try to raise the standards later, or should we
change to the higher standards now, and try to raise the few older members
up to them?
What is the best way to tell people who have been doing the program since
it began, but whose standards of authentic costuming are not what the new
person in charge wants them to be, that they have to meet higher standards
now - if the new person in charge hasn't been in the program as long as
they have? The same question goes for me, the new costume mistress for the
program. My own solution would be to ask that when an objectionable
garment wears out it should be replaced by a better one. But I'm a
volunteer, as are all the participants, so the question becomes a delicate
one to ask.
Which 'cheats' are considered acceptable and which are not? Some of the
male characters are played by women with long hair, and they have always
braided it and let it hang down their backs. By 1901 pigtails were out of
use by working class men, even sailors. Should we insist that these women,
who aren't going to extremes to fool anyone but who do act like guys, do
something about the hair and obvious female anatomy? (BTW, the program's
female characters have always worn corsets, or at least looked like they were.)
I have just begun an inventory of the stock of costumes this program has,
and have compiled a list of "over my dead body" items I don't ever want to
see used in a program I'm costume mistress of. There's also a soft list of
things, like some of the mens' shirts, which read more like the 1850s than
like 1901, which I'd like to phase out or, if currently not in use, to not
issue to anyone.
The new person in charge also wants a list of costumes we need in
stock. I'm currently talking to him about getting participants to make
their own costumes, to save program budget money we no longer have. I have
rashly volunteered to help all participants do this (and the program's
historian has already roped me into a two-person shirt-sewing session with
her).
CarolynKayta Barrows
dollmaker, fibre artist, textillian
www.FunStuft.com
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