Im a new player with sewing experience and I want to make a costume for League, and really I just want to post my inspiration and have someone go “yep thats fine” since if im making it, and cant use it for anything else, it would suck for it to be too off-brief.
Hey, and welcome.
I’ve kinda got good and bad news for you. The bad news is that several elements of that costume are specifically off-brief for the League and we are asked to avoid them. Broadly, we try to stick a good few decades earlier than Elizabethan costume, but how much earlier is a bit muddy.
Classically, we aim for a tight leg, rather than breeches or plunderhosen etc. So the puffed thighs wouldn’t really be appropriate, but a version that was slashed similarly but tight to the leg would be excellent. The sleeveless doublet could be modified to work, but two details aren’t ideal. Firstly, we try for high-waisted garments (dresses or doublets) for the most part, and even more importantly for a flat bottom edge to the hem if you can. That pointed front tends to make things drift beyond the era where our costume inspiration stops.
I reckon you could get a similar outfit that had a silhouette that is not a million miles than your image though - keeping the shoulders and collar of the doublet, but tweaking the hem, and having hose rather than breeches.
Thank you so much
Okay I like the sleeveless doublet because it means I can make fun attachable sleeves later. I will seriously reduce the pointiness but might keep about a buttons worth. The little flaps that hang from the hem I think I could also make look like cut slashes, either way I will make them from the same hose wool. And then (probably) a brocade for the main body pieces.
For the hose i am thinking vertical slashes is short rings like Landsknechts?
My next question is colours, obviously I can have white from underthings which is good with me, and the pictures are generally wine red, as the brief is autumnal colours and rich.
Is a deep dark blue or purple also suitable?
You have loads of freedom with colours, but purples and deep blues are absolutely spot on. What you might want to think about is which city you want the character to be from, as they have each got their own colour palette in play - it is not set in stone, but they are general trends.
Holbergers often go with sturdy earth tones. Tassato prefers autumn shades, especially red. Temeschwar could well go with anything, ibut ideally with a little fur trim somewhere. And Sarvos will love anything peacock-y, particularly nice blues.
Oh, and you are spot on with the landsknecht reference - it is one of the most common costume inspirations you will see on the field. The important thing there is to avoid plunderhosen, but otherwise you are good to go.
So when I said slashing at the thigh I meant a bit like this (top left) but lots of it: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/12103492737649252/
Im aware those are trousers, but presumably you can slash and stretch hose in a similar way.
On capes and cloaks, I am pretty sure I can have a side cape but for practical reasons I was thinking of making a dull coloured actually water resistant hooded cloak because we are in the UK and it rains. Or should I not worry about staying out in the rain?
Oh and capes are big and clever. I use a wool one, but you can absolutely get away with some kind of subtly treated one that resists the water better if that takes your fancy.
Front could be lacing, or could be a set of individual points (ties). I think spiral lacing was more common than cross-lacing for that sort of thing, so it looks like a zigzag |\/\/\/\/\| (with first and last sections being straight across) rather than a column of crosses |XXXXXXXXX|.
You might want a wrist-length cape for a bit of warmth and for stylishness, whether full circle or a one-side-only half-cape… perhaps a full one can also be worn as a half-cape anyway, with a strap under the opposite arm?
For colder weather, you might want a calf-length or knee-length warm hooded cloak (or perhaps have the hood or other protective headgear as a separate item).
A few people wear a casaque, which is versatile; for example when it’s cold my character wears one configured like a coat but then for playing the violin I can open a gap for my bow arm to be free and unencumbered.
Capes and cloaks are discussed on the work-in-progress wiki page https://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Look_and_feel_new_league
“Coats and gowns tend to be loose and flowing, with turned down collars. They are often worn open or unbelted where possible to show off the clothes below. They tend to fall from the shoulders, with tied in sleeves and false sleeves being popular. Cloaks of all kinds are popular for keeping off the weather, and often have decorative linings. Single shoulder or duellists cloaks are popular, more for fashion than warmth, as they are an effective way of showing off beautiful fabrics.”
Even if it’s good against the rain, it doesn’t have to be a dull solid colour! Also you could consider a lining or interlining of a modern fabric that will keep the water out; perhaps the “pump liner” fabric from the Nikwax Analogy range, as used in their Paramo clothing and by smaller independents such as Hilltrek and Cioch Direct; the latter two would probably be happy to sell the fabric.
In Astronomancy, there’s a constellation called The Wanderer, often depicted as an eye with many writhing limbs. Its meaning is “Things Are Not What You Think” or “Things Go Awry”: https://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/The_Wanderer
A cicisbeo?
I know of a handful in play (male and female) and their players seem to be enjoying it; they might be able to give advice OOC, and a mixture of collaboration and competition IC.
Will you be on your own (initially) or already part of some group? (Guild or church or Troupe or other…)
The Eye is also a very common image in Urizeni design, reflective of their hearth magic of witnessing, so i might on seeing that assume that someone was a recent immigrant from Urizen to the League (or a leaguer who was aping some of the trappings of Urizen for some reason).
Thank you guys so much for your useful replies.
I was already slowly dropping the shoulder rolls anyway because I was losing the will to see them in.
I’m going to take these suggestions of what players think of when they see eyes as backstory inspiration rather than stop with the eye business… maybe a Urizen family history.
Shoulder cape has of course been on my mind since Assassins creed 2 came out a thousand years ago.
I have someone who will be merchant princess and I their cicisbeo.
Good point! Though not everyone in the League will know that, so I don’t know how many people would make the connection. (Of course, that’s true of all the things I mentioned too.)
Oh, absolutely! That’s how I intended it: background information that you might consider using for possible reasons why your character wears eye iconography/symbology (and of course you might prefer one or more completely different reasons).
My apologies if it came across as suggesting you should avoid using eyes under the slashes: that was not what I meant at all.
Ah, that works nicely. The prince visiting Anvil for the first time, while most of the guild or carta stays behind.
I don’t think I’ve encountered “princess” used in this context, but rather “prince” used regardless of gender:
I’ve seen two people (in the same guild and coven) going around in matching half-capes in a striking brocade of metallic-gold and a dark colour. Even with just two of them, the fact that they match makes them significantly more notable and memorable.