Carol, We dont discuss the Great Authenticity Issue on this list anymore. All the nasty arguments & bitter recriminations have been made. Find the old fights in the archives. Discuss it & you'll see a wave of unsubscribes. --cin Cynthia Barnes cinbar...@gmail.com
On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Carol Kocian <aqua...@patriot.net> wrote: >> - 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 > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
