- Where do we draw the line between what is acceptable as historically accurate vs historically authentic?
- With modern sewing skills and fads (such as zippers), where do we encorporate those skills to aid in construction of period garments, or do we insist on using the period methods?
Historic activities run the gamut from immersion reenactment to a town's "history days" event, with different expectations and requirements for different events. Sometimes someone will ask a discussion list if something is OK, when really that decision is up to the event organizers or the leadership of a particular group.
Where you draw the line is different than where I would draw it, and it could even be different for the garments in the same outfit.
Absolute authenticity is a moving target, because the more we know, the more details there are that are harder t0 reach.
That leads into the next question — where to substitute modern skills. When more labor-intensive methods are used, for example hand stitching, custom weaving, hand-knitting and the like, the potential for clients gets smaller. Some of these methods become a labor of love, a desire to learn a technique for its own sake.
All costume, including the broader sense that all clothing is costume, is a deliberate effort to communicate something to the rest of the world. Appearance is important, the outermost layer. Some groups have the standard of hand stitching for visible seams, but machine sewn is ok for interior construction — for eras before the sewing machine was around. Underpinnings do make a difference in how the costume looks from the outside, but how much does it matter that the corset looks right, as long as it gives the right shaping. But once you have a reason to show the corset, its appearance becomes more important.
Beyond that, as above, it starts to depend on personal interest in a particular technique or a desire to learn the techniques of a particular era.
-Carol _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
