Renaissance Costumes and its Sub-Culture

Renaissance was the age when set ideals of society in Europe were broken and new ways of thinking emerged and supported. This period has given rise to inspiration for the modern world, for people who want to make a change in the traditional ideas and lifestyles. This is also reflected in the degree of freedom the Renaissance society had in its dress, the range of colours, outfits and patterns of clothing. Renaissance costumes had a variety of clothing for men and women. A Renaissance outfit included cloaks, robes, capes, tunics, shirts and trousers. Renaissance costumes could be made of velvet, silk, satin and lined with fur and brocade for the nobility. On the other hand, common people’s Renaissance clothing was made of cotton, linen, flannel and sheepskin.

In contrast, our industrialised societies have much less freedom in forms of dress, colours and styles. As traditional societies become industrialised, the wide range of clothes gradually becomes less in use in such industrialised societies. However, as opposed to the Renaissance society, dress is not class-bound in modern society. Hence, some people in modern times are trying to combine the freedom in the wide range of dresses from the Renaissance period with the freedom from class in modern society. Of course, it means that only those can wear a certain dress who have the money to afford it. Hence, a complete freedom from class is not possible in this attempt.

Pirate clothing is an important of this experiment described above. It has become fashionable with the notion that an outlaw of history can be perceived as a person trying to redefine his or her society. This dress projects this image by using the fashions from the pirate clothing of history, but in a modern setting by men who are not really living in contradiction to the law, but live outside the mainstream culture. The most popular dress from the Pirates’ costume is the shirt.

These are usually long and loose-sleeved with frills and brocades and available in dark and white shades. Accessories with pirates’ costume often include a carved, embossed and engraved sword. It gives a mediaeval look to the Pirate clothing ensemble, eventhough it is no longer required to carry a sword in the modern world.

The renaissance sub-culture of clothing and accessories underline the fact that a historical aspect of culture can be re-defined in a different environment to make a completely different and even opposite statement.

Various Ways to Wear Renaissance Clothing

Renaissance fair is the time when you get enough opportunity to express yourself. It’s time to strengthened the bonding among friends and families and enjoy medieval way of leaving. This festival provides you a chance to show your capability of enacting like the characters of medieval period. Started in early 1950’s, people in this festival get a chance to dress in renaissance costumes. They enjoy food, music and theatrical performance based on the life of legends of the bygone eras.
Many people attend these fests on regular basis but for some persons it is once in lifetime opportunity. If you are one of those lucky person who is about to attend such fair then apart from renaissance dresses there are other things provided below to consider.
First thing you need to do is - keep your sunglasses or eyeglasses at home while taking part. Obviously nobody in earlier period support sunglasses. They will look awkward and ruin the appearance of renaissance clothing. If it is important to use lens then use contact lenses.
After sunglasses, here comes the accessory second in list. They are the most vital part in shaping the whole appearance and give finishing touch to look. Accessory provides the room of improvement for medieval dress and its range varies from embellishing medieval clothing to headgears to armor and many others. No matter from where and what you purchase, accessories have tendency to personalize the ‘brought costumes’. To get an accurate look apart from medieval outfit, a little make up and require accessory will do a great job.
Third one is hair, during middle age whether men or women most importantly noble women had their unique sense of styling hair. No women in those periods used to cut hair. All had long similar looking hair unlike today’s women who have freedom in to choose the length and style. Mostly the hair of married women was confined in a bun in the back of head. So when you have a few days on your hand before the feast, try to find out the perfect hairstyle.
The last here is shoes. No outfit is complete without them. Either you have wrong pair of shoes or you don’t have and in both the cases you end up ruining your look. If you don’t have time or budget to buy an appropriate pair of shoes then go for black shoes or crystal shoes. For instance, to look like a pirate not only pirate costumes even pirate shoes, bandana, sash, hat and sword are equally required. For adding more effect an eye-patch and rope are considered.
Above mentioned points will help you in achieving the desired look you want. Now-a-days designers know how to make period clothing environment friendly, versatile and in budget of consumers. They use various materials to make alluring and exquisite dresses of velvet, cotton, brocade and satin fabrics. These clothing along with accessories will adorn you with glamorous and elegant look.
For a right renaissance costume do research. Take ideas from magazine, newspaper, books and internet. While medieval themed costumes available offline too but buying online is far better idea as it can provide the same quality of outfit at a reasonable cost.