The Handout for my Roman Women's Clothing class

This is the handout that accompanied the most recent class I taught with the assistance of my new roomie.  I'm putting it up relatively soon after the class was taught, since it was taught on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend!

Chic, not Shapeless

An Overview of Female Garments, Accessories and Style from the Roman Empire

Lady Petronia Casta and Lady Aemilia Rufinia

Email: lorihaigh@gmail.com or superladygeneva@gmail.com

The Roman Empire spans several centuries, from 27 BCE to 476 CE in the West, and 330-1453 CE for the Eastern/Byzantine Empire.  This class will generally cover women’s garments from the Western Empire, and give an idea of how to construct and wear these garments with an eye towards accuracy and comfort.  It will also give tips on accessories and hairstyles to complete the look.

Parts of the Synthesis

Let’s start working from the skin out.  Roman female undergarments are a bit controversial, like most underwear from early periods.  We have no surviving garments designed for breast support that I’ve come across.  We do have Latin terms for such a garment, strophium and mamillare, and some mosaics, frescos and a few statues that lead us to believe that such a garment existed, at least in some circumstances.  The mosaics that depict such a garment are colloquially known as the “Roman Bikini Girls,” and show a number of women engaged in some form of exercise, and are frequently referred to as gymnasts (Fig. 1).  The frescos that happen to show women in enough of a state of undress to display the strophium are frequently of an erotic subject matter (Fig. 2).  The statue below displaying a strophium is of the Goddess Venus (Fig. 3).

Along with the strophium, the Bikini Girls are wearing a form of underwear, called subligaria (Fig. 1).  There is an extant pair made from leather on display in the Museum of London (Fig. 4).  No one is sure if they were an every day garment or only worn during exercise and certain weeks of the month.  This leather pair is the only extant pair; if any were made of linen or wool, they’ve been lost to time.

The next layer out from the undergarments would be one or more layers of tunica.  Multiple layers could be worn for warmth.  These long garments can be wide tube-like garments in the case of the tunica recta (Fig. 5) or “straight tunic” or could have long sleeves, a tunica manicata (Fig. 6).  Roman clothing was segregated into male and female categories, and wearing items considered the opposite carried a bit of a social stigma.  Women were allowed to wear long sleeves, men shouldn’t.  Likewise it was considered unfeminine to wear short tunicas or to have your tunica be white.

Over the various tunicas, come various types of outer garment, and what one would wear is dependant on their station in life.  If unmarried, a woman would wear a fancy tunica as her outermost dress layer.  Only married women were supposed to wear the stola, a long, sleeveless overdress (Figs. 9-13).  There are several styles of shoulder treatment on a stola: splitting the fabric for the neck and gathering the shoulder line into a bundle (Fig. 9), a simple strap joining the front and back (Fig. 10), brooches pinning the back to the front (Fig. 11), gathering the top line of fabric into a binding (Fig. 12), even a braided strap joining the front and back (Fig. 13).  The stola could be either a solid color, or have embellishment, called institia, along the hem or on the straps.

Over top of the tunicas and the stola, if a woman was going outdoors, she would wear a large rectangular wrap called a palla (Figs. 14 and 15).  This wrap could be draped over the head and pinned to her hair for more coverage (Fig. 14), and was designed to cover the body for modesty.  A special version of the palla was the flammeum, a yellow/saffron colored veil worn by brides on their wedding day.  Togas were the outer garment for prostitutes and women convicted of adultery, specifically because it was a man’s garment (Fig. 16).

How to make the garments

Romans had access to linen, hemp, some silks and cottons, but the most common fabric for Roman clothing is wool.  That being said, the weight of the fabric is going to make the biggest difference in how the garment drapes, and drape is part of what makes the clothing “fit” right.  Light weight fabrics like gauze, crepe and chiffon will hang in small tight folds like the images.  Choose the fabric you will use for these garments based off the weight.  If you are looking to wear Roman clothing year round instead of just as summer garments, try wool crepes or tricotines and soft, light-weight silks for insulation and wear several layers.  For summer, limit the number of layers; try thinner linens, breezy cotton gauzes or blends of vegetative fibers.  To test if a fabric is light weight enough, gather up small folds in your hand and hold it in the air.  If the folds stay relatively small all the way down, it is light weight enough to use.  If the folds get larger or don’t fold much at all, it’s probably either too heavy or too stiff to use.

These garments don’t really have much in the way of cutting patterns, as the vast majority of them are constructed from rectangles.  The strophium is a long band of fabric, roughly 8-11 inches wide by 120” long, and wrapped around the breasts to keep them contained.  This wrap can be seen in both Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.

The extant pair subligaria were an hourglass shape, with ties on the side like modern bikini bottoms.  Theory is that women wore this shaped pair of undergarments, and men wore wrapped loincloths.

The tunica recta was woven as one long piece and a fold was placed on one side with a seam up the other side.  Modern fabric widths make this a little more difficult.  The look can be accomplished by cutting two pieces of fabric, the full width by the wearer’s shoulder to hem measurement plus some length for blousing.  The two pieces are sewn most of the way along the selvedges, leaving enough opening at the top along the selvedge for the wearer’s arms to go through.  The top of the tube is hemmed and locations along it are stitched together to join the front and the back.  It is more comfortable to allow a little more drape in the center front than the center back section so the tunica doesn’t strangle the wearer.  An alternative version of this garment is made by taking one piece of fabric twice the length of the wearer’s shoulder to hem plus blousing, and cutting a horizontal slit in the middle for the head, and sewing the selvedges the same as the tunica recta that is open on top (Fig. 7).

The tunica manicata was most likely sewn like the tunica recta with sleeves inserted into the side seams.  I’ve created a method that works for me and approximates the look while being more comfortable in my opinion.  Instead of two panels that are the same width across front and back, I use a very narrow panel for the back, and a much wider panel for the front.  There are also side panels added that are a shorter length than the front or back, the height being made up for by the sleeves.  This gives a garment that doesn’t fall off the shoulders (though there are several images of just such a thing happening, see Fig. 8) but still gives ample fullness for walking.

The stola is also very simple rectangular pieces, with either the top edge of the fabric gathered into a band, gathered and stitched to a strap, hemmed and pinned similarly to the tunicas, or there is a vertical slit in flat fabric and that is gathered.  The panels are usually made from the full width of the fabric, and are shoulder to hem plus blousing in length.

Pallas are also rectangles.  (Sense a theme?)  Fabrics 45-54” and 2-2½ yards in length work well for a palla, or one could use a sari, as that is how I arrived at that measurement.

Togas are roughly the height of the wearer and two times their height in length.  Early togas were cut in a semicircular shape, while later togas were cut more complexly.  Both pallas and togas are draped starting with the ends in front over the left arm, around the back, under the right arm, and back over the left.  See Fig. 16 for both draping techniques and cutting diagrams for togas.  I will often start with the tail hanging down the back first, as this makes adjusting the garment to go up over my head easier.

Accessories

The most important accessory for this outfit is a belt.  Women’s belts were called cingulum and could be a cord or a woven sash.  The cingulum is what makes the garments fit in a flattering manner.  It should be fairly narrow, no more than three inches wide and long enough to wrap around the body twice and still hang down past the knees, approximately 5 yards in length.  Center the belt between the breasts and right underneath them on the front, wrap the cingulum around to the back and cross it there or give it a twist to keep it tight, wrap the ends back to the front and tie it tightly around your waist.  The belt should cinch in all the fabric as closely to your body as you can handle in order to give waist definition and make the garment flattering to your figure.  Blouse the extra length over the part of the belt over the waist, and distribute the folds of the skirt evenly around the body.

Roman women’s shoes could be as complicated as the garments were simple.  Rich colors, elaborate cutwork, gold leafing, and fancy laced patterns are all exhibited on extant Roman shoes.  Women wore mostly enclosed slippers or low boots when outdoors, which could be worn with ankle-high, woven-fabric, socks in cold weather.  Sandals, similar to modern thong sandals, were worn primarily indoors, though many statues show women wearing sandals and pallas.  Ladies’ shoes were often made of leather or fabrics, and certain colors were reserved for certain stations in life.  Red was reserved for the senatorial class, yellow/saffron was reserved for brides and for expensive courtesans.

Jewelry came in many and varied styles.  Gold was preferred, and emeralds and pearls were frequent favorites.  Earrings were usually drop or dangling styles.  Necklaces can be strings of beads, chains with stones, have pendants, or granulation.  Fibulas were used to fasten clothing and hold garments in place.  They can be simple wires, elaborate “crossbow” shapes, or complex enameled affairs.  Bracelets and anklets feature in mosaics and paintings.  Rings often feature cameos carved in semi precious stones.  Many paintings feature women wearing gold laurel wreaths, which may not work for many Scadians.  There are also paintings that feature a gold hairnet that sits on top of the head. 

Along with shoes and jewelry, Roman women’s hairstyles often display high levels of complexity.  The simplest hairstyle of early Roman women was all the hair pulled back to a low bun.  Later styles incorporated elaborate and complex braiding and curling to create height and large buns.  I can go on for quite some time on Roman hairstyles, contact me if you’d like more information on it.

We hope this helps when putting together your Roman clothing.  Please feel free to contact us for more information about any of the garments discussed in this class, or for shopping advice.

Fig. 1 4th Century AD mosaic found near the ancient Roman Villa del Casale in Sicily, M Disdero 2006

Fig. 2 Fresco found in the House of the Centenery in Pompeii 

 Fig. 3 Venus from Museum Burg Linn, Germany

Fig. 4 Bikini-like leather subligaculum found in excavations of Roman London (Museum of London)

Tunica Types

Fig. 5 Tunica Recta                                       Fig. 6 Tunica Manicata

Fig. 7 Tunica Recta with open top                           Fig. 8 Wide necked tunica falling                                                                                       off the shoulders

Stola Types

  

Fig. 9 V-necked                                                         Fig. 10 Thin strap

Fig. 11 Brooches                                  Fig. 12 Banded                                   Fig. 13 Braided

  

Fig. 14 Wrapped palla over                             Fig. 15 Palla off the head

the head

Fig. 16 How to wrap a toga; 5, 6, and 7 being toga shapes

Thoughts on my teaching...

So this weekend I taught a dance class at the Ithra held in Terra Pomeria.  Ithra is a highly organized, kingdom wide "college" that has funding and management set up to help groups put together classes based events.  It has aspects both admirable and annoying, but this isn't really the time to go into it.

The class I taught was "Easy English Country Dance: Three Dance to get Your Feet Wet."  I taught three of the easiest dances I know, all from Playford.  I chose Rufty Tufty, Black Nag, and Gathering Peascods.  These dances are relatively simple, all have similar structures.  The handouts I put together included a brief set of definitions, some information about where the dances came from, and cheat sheets created by a Laurel in the East.  Along with the handout, I gave out a CD with the music for the three dances on it.  The Boy helped me teach, which was so helpful, not only because he compliments my teaching style, but we only had four students, and needed six people for the last two dances.  The four students represented a wide range of interest and experience in dance, but they all worked hard to learn the dances, and performed them well.  We went through the steps first, explaining what was common and what I would be likely to say when calling the parts of the dances.  We then set up the first dance, walked through the steps, then ran through with music and minimal calling.  Once they performed the dance without trouble, we went on to the second dance and treated it the same way.  They also danced that one well without my needing to call the steps after a few runs through, and we danced the third dance.  After running through the third dance we ran through all three dances as though they were a set at a ball.  The students were awesome!  They got the dances pretty easily, and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Ithra has a student evaluation form so the class can let those running Ithra know if a teacher is any good.  Since it wasn't a secure method, I got to sneak a peek and my students thought I was a good teacher, so that made me happy.  However, one of the students asked me about something I hadn't considered, but when I told her I'd be happy to send the information her way, she told me she just wasn't that interested in the subject.  I'm running into that quite a bit in the SCA, plenty of people enjoy dancing, they're just not interested in actually learning the dances.  They're fine with a run through right before doing the dance, instead of actually knowing how to do it, and I'm not sure there's a way to change that.  I have one or two people that really want to practice dances until they know them.  But there aren't enough to change the local group.

Ah well.  I'm excited to continue teaching, and I'll do my best to be upbeat and high energy whenever I'm dancing or teaching dance.  I'm just feeling the frustration that my interests aren't shared by a majority of people.

The other subject I keep trying to teach about is hair styling.  I haven't had much turnout for hair classes lately, but it's a topic that I'm passionate about.  I realize that my specialty is Roman and therefore not everyone's interest, but I haven't taught a class on Roman hairstyles.  I'm hoping to branch out into more specific hairstyles instead of generic medieval and renaissance styles, but without someone's impetus, I'm likely to look into it.  I need to work on prepping more step by step tutorials for this blog, it's a way of getting info out without specific teaching events.  I'm working on a step by step for my method of Italian Hairtaping.  If anyone has any artwork or images they'd like help deciphering the hairstyles, shoot me a copy of the picture, I'd love to help!

I've also got an idea for a class taught in tandem with Miriam from The Sinister Spinster.  She's known in the area for info about the Cap of Saint Brigit, and I thought it would be interesting to teach a class on Hairstyle and Headdresses.  I'd work on hairstyles that form the base of some common styles, and she'd talk about the caps and veils used to create that style.  I'm hoping that we'll get cross interest from each other's subject matter.  I'm just not sure when we'll get to teach this, there's a bit of an upheaval going on in my mundane life.

Having trouble writing up my classes...

I've promised (and eventually sent in the info about) two classes on hair that I'll be teaching at Egils, but right now I'm having trouble figuring out what exactly to talk about in these classes.  The first, boringly titled, "French Braiding For Beginners," is a hands on tutorial on how to do augmentation braids, (French, Dutch and Cornrows).  It'll have a brief bit of explanation and demonstration before letting the students at each other's hair.  I haven't figured out if there will be any kind of handout, as I don't really want to spend money.

The second class is the one that's really holding me up.  The Boy and I talked about it on the way back home from the event we attended on Saturday.  I knew I wanted the class to be about authentic hairstyles, since French braiding hasn't been documented for most periods.  Unfortunately, authentic hairstyles is a very broad subject, and one I'm not as well versed as I would like to be, since my specialty is Roman.  The Boy suggested that I do a tutorial on hair sewing, but I was having a hard time envisioning the subject as a full class.  I get rather short sighted on things that I do well, and often don't realize that it may not be obvious to everyone how to accomplish some of the things I do.  So, talking through the class with Himself, we decided the class should have a brief discussion of the historical plausibility of sewing hairstyles together, followed by a basic tutorial in a hairstyle or two.  The Boy suggested my Norse braid loops, since they're simple, many ladies up her wear Norse, and, provided the student has long enough hair, can be accomplished on their own hair.

Odd how often my "attentive"
photos seem "surly"

The other option I'm thinking about for a tutorial in hair sewing is hair taping.  I've gotten pretty good at doing hair taping on myself, and fully believe this style was done by middle class women because it can be done to one's own hair with a minimum of effort.  I also believe it to be the structural basis for some hat styles, especially late period styles.  My introduction to hair taping was through Faoiltighearna's webpage on taping, but I've developed a few theories of my own since then.  The image below from her page of examples shows a woman wearing a cap similar to the style worn throughout several countries and centuries.

Those are my thoughts so far on the classes I'll be teaching at Egils.  Now to try to figure out what to say in my discussion without gushing enormously over the ancient hairstyle goddess Janet Stephens.  Check out her YouTube Channel, it's awesome!

Trying something new...

So I'm going to try doing something new here on the blog, a period hairstyle of the month, every other week or so, maybe if I'm really dedicated it'll be a weekly occurrence.  I'd like to showcase a style, with citations of sources, and briefly explain how I believe the style was accomplished.  And of course, there will be photos!

I'd like to start with the style my hair is in currently, one I'm calling Norse Braid Loops. I first came across this style from the Viking Answer Lady's website on hairstyles when looking for proof of braided pigtails existence about a year ago. I know many women will wear their hair in braided pigtails with their Nordic clothing, and wanted to prove this was accurate.  Gunnvör mentioned, "women with their hair worn in two braids, falling to either side of the head beside the cheeks" depicted on carved stones from Cumbria.

So I decided I had to look them up.  I found W.G. Collingwood's article on Google Books, and copied the photographs.  I had only a passing interest in Collingwood's article about the stones, and skimmed it to see what he had to say about the hairstyles.  He says, "They have long plaits of hair curled at the ends (not aureoles nor hoods) which suggests that they are meant for female figures."  I took his paper with a decent dose of salt as it was printed in 1907.  It is clear from the images that the figures have their hair in either one or two sections, some show evidence to texture carved in, probably to indicate braiding, and many have a curl at the end of the tail.

Do follow the link to Collingwood's paper, the images there have more detail than is available in these copies.

Looking at the images, I interpret the style as the hair of the ladies with pigtails being parted down the center.  I took the hatching on the stone to mean the sections are braided.  My hair is extremely straight; I have a hard time getting it to hold a curl, and the women's hair I know that is curly doesn't curl in the same perfect loop.  Also the carving that indicates braiding is etched into part of the loop.  This lead me to believe that the loop isn't simply the end of the braid left natural, and had to be coerced into this shape.

For my recreations of this style, I begin by parting my hair down the center and braiding each section to create pigtails.  I use modern clear hair elastics to bind the ends when I get to the bottom. Then I use a large blunt needle, labeled in stores as a tapestry needle, and thick black cotton thread to sew the tail of my hair to itself in a loop. 

This is a photo from last year, a slightly surly (maybe attentive?) expression from the back of court at Egils, but it shows my Norse get up and the loops at the end of the braids.  I've learned that the loops at the bottom need to be joined for at least an inch above the elastic. This helps preserve the round shape.

Hope this give people an option for wearing their hair with their "Viking" clothing.  It's a cute style that I like, though friends have threatened to stick the loops onto things.  The uniqueness of the style helps to complete the look of my garb, and allows me to feel just a little more finished.

Been a heck of a while...

The new job has taken a lot out of me.  Long, ridiculous hours meant most of August and September I was either working or sleeping.  There was a little time spent eating and eventing, but very little in comparison.

I know I promised a tutorial on Livia's hairstyle, but there are computery issues preventing that for right now.  But it is not forgotten, that particular hairstyle has been on my mind for quite a while.  The Boy and I entered the Summits' Coronet Lysts last month, and I wore that particular hairstyle to show off.  I looked fantastically Roman, enough that the Prince (a Roman Persona himself) gave The Boy approval for having a Roman lady on his arm.

I'm also turning that recreation into a full on A&S entry for the Baronial Championship in January.  I'm going to try to keep the cloak in the family so to speak.  I'm getting started on documentation now, partially because I want to do it right, and mostly because I'm currently motivated.

Also in the time that I've failed to post I was given two awards at the Barony's fall event.  The Baronial Brownie, Adiantum's first tier service award, a recognition of attendance, support, and promotion of the Barony.  Kind of like a Baronial AoA.  I was also given the Fern and Quill, the Barony's arts award, specifically for skill and generosity with hairdressing.  The current B&B will be stepping down in a few months, and I believe that Morrghan, the Baroness, wanted to be the one who gave me this award.  There was mention of how recently we'd moved into the barony, and if we were to move she'd steal the alternator from the car.  It's wonderful to be recognized for the hair styling up here.  I hadn't done much research into authentic styles back in Ansteorra, but was mostly a "get it off my neck" hairdresser.

We (The Boy, a few friends and I) went up to Honor Feast last weekend, hosted by the Portland group.  The event was fun, if a bit common as far as events go.  The "ball" was more of a class, but fun despite it's short time frame. The Boy and I made contacts with the Dance Master/Mistresses from up northerly way, and got to help with their issues with Parson's Farewell.  They were trying to reconstruct it and were getting caught in a couple sections, so we taught it the way we'd learned it in Ansteorra.  They seemed giddy to discover we knew the dance, and we kind of blew apart the ball right there in order to teach it to them.  We're now plotting to start up a dance night in the Salem group, so that the dancers from Eugene and Portland can descend upon a central area and take over.  I also got my hairdressing name out there further, hopefully people will recognize me in the future.  I chose to wear the 1515 Florentine for the day, not something I usually wear, but I looked damn good that day.

Hope to have more to say in the coming months, and more time to say it.

Dance Practice!

I get to lead tomorrow night's Dance Practice, so I thought I'd squee a little over how much I enjoy dance practice, and post the list of dances that we'll be working on.

Nika Nika Bransle
Half Hannikin
Petit Riens
Black Nag
Heart's Ease
Rufty Tufty
Parson's Farewell

This is pretty much just what we did last month, but some of it is new to this group, so we should go through it again, especially since we only met once a month.

I'm willing to take requests, should they arise, and I've promised Idonia, that should we have an inordinately large number of people, we will do Trenchmore.

Prep for An Tir/West War...

So next weekend is An Tir West War, or A&W War, which has led me to the nickname Root-beer War.  It totally makes me want root beer floats.

Anyway, I'm working on a couple new items for The Boy and myself for next weekend. It's only a four day event, so I don't have the same dread/motivation/inspiration that I used to before Gulf Wars. The weather is a little more predictable here, and it's supposed to be gorgeous, warm during the day and chilly at night. (Of course now I've jinxed it!) I'm packing all the good things in my wardrobe, as usual, but there are a couple new things that I do have the fabric for, (curses on my continued unemployment).

New for this event are a pair of Viking Baggy Trousers properly known as Påsbyxor (don't ask me to pronounce that one!) The inspiration for these was the blog, Eva's Thoughts, where she made a gorgeous set for her hubby in a thin wool based on the pattern from  Historiska Världar. The Boy had a large chunk of dark navy linen/rayon which was supposed to be black, (there's a story there) which I happily cut up into the pattern yesterday. Her blog and linked photos on Picasa were immensely helpful in figuring out how to construct the pants, and why the parts went where they do. I threw them together ridiculously fast, the pleating of nearly three yards per leg taking more time than the actual sewing. The pattern is a little different than what I've made in the past, in that they don't have a drawstring, nor do they have a fly of any kind. They're designed to have belt loops and be just large enough to slip on, then belt in the last bit of the fullness of the waist. The only trouble I've run into is that I estimated the draped length of the leg while Himself was napping, and I overestimated by at least 6 inches, which was extremely frustrating last night as I didn't realize it until after I'd sewn it all together. So the pleating around the knees, about 85-90 inches down to 17" that took two hours to get done, all had to be ripped out. As soon as I get off my butt, I'll repleat them and sew them back into the calf pieces.  

I'll need to figure out some kind of winnegas, the woolen leg wraps, to cover the calf piece. I think I've got some pretty brown wool scraps that'll do for now, but I'd really love something

patterned in the future. I mean, even if it isn't Himself's period, I should at least make the outfit awesome anyway, right? Eventually I'll scan my doodle plans, or perhaps sketch out a new, clean version, and post the "pattern" for the pants, with the measurements that I used, since Eva's are in centimeters and don't include the measurements for every dimension, which forced me to be resourceful and figure stuff out for myself.

I'm working on a new Roman dress, though I haven't decided on a style yet. The Wifey sent me a lovely book about Pompeii a little while back when she sent me the fabric for the hat she commissioned. I noticed a trend among the ladies of Pompeian murals for aqua dresses, and promptly decided I must have one! While sifting through the fabric for a friend a while back I found a lovely aqua cotton shirting that has an interesting texture from Jo-Ann's that was originally purchased for a friend. I need to go back through the book to see if that helps me decide what style I want to make it in, though I'm thinking gathered shoulders is probably the easiest.  I eventually want a banded style, but I think I need a thinner fabric for it.  A voile perhaps.


I'm also assisting our friend Elena with a set of Romans for the war, and since she's been roped into being Waterbearer-in-charge I'll probably be spending a decent amount of time carrying water for fighters. Ah well, it'll keep me busy.


I'm planning a new internet project that'll need to take photos of at war.  I want to create a couple pages of Medieval hairstyle tutorials, with step by step photos on how to accomplish simple styles that are appropriate to various periods.  I've been really interested in the various Roman and Greek hairstyle archaeology that I've been coming across lately, and would like to educate more people in how easy it is to do some medieval hairstyles, and I think this might help.  I know I haven't found anything worth looking at when I Google "Medieval hairstyle" and it gives me a little thrill to think that something I'm doing might pop up on a search.  Of course I don't know anything about websites, but I'll get to that once I've got the tutorial figured out.


I've rambled long enough, time to post this silly thing.

Thinking of future Hair things...

I'm tossing around the idea of doing a Long Hair Roundtable for an indoor event sometime in the future.  Kind of like a cross between a class and social, more like a panel, I want to see if I can't get several people committed to helping me with it, as far as conversation goes.  I'm currently thinking of it being open to everyone, with those that have longer hair being of higher authority.  It would hopefully be a question and answer session, with people learning about modern hair care, methods for styling and arranging that are good for hair, and tips on how to grow out one's hair.

I hope to do some research on period hair care and products, because I'm thinking hair may have to be my "thing" up here.  I'd like to turn that research into an A&S project for future events.  And at some point in the future I probably ought to teach a french braiding class, regardless of whether or not it's period.  So many people want to know how, and it does look nicer than throwing it into a ponytail at events.

I'm not sure why I keep coming up with ideas for classes and teaching.  I'm not a good public speaker and don't really like to be the center of attention, but I want my words to carry some authority, and evidently teaching gives one automatic authority.  I've come out of my shell enough to want to be "Someone Important," and now I have to find a way of making myself thus.

I'm finding more people's pictures of Roman busts, and some of them are smart enough to get photos of the backside of the head too.  So I'm adding to my list of hairstyles that I can do at events, if only I can find enough Roman women to braid.  I've decided to pimp out Roman as often as I can, cause it is so totally more awesome than other periods.  Aw yeah.

Ancestors weren't dumb instance #347...

I haven't really been keeping track, but it's fun to randomly number things...

So I taught my class on basic braided styles for SCA periods, and I mentioned that hairpins aren't period, the proper method would be to sew the hair, either to tie off the braid or to arrange it in the various styles.  This was suggested to me through a Youtube video by Janet Stephens for a specific Roman Hairstyle, which then suggested for further reading an article of hers called "On (hair)Pins and Needles," which gave further information about Roman hairstyling.  This idea should be obvious, but requires a little mental rebooting to wrap your mind around it.  Hair taping is something I've done before, completely without pins, but sewing with a thread that matches the hair hadn't occurred to me as an alternative to pins.  Last weekend I got to try sewing hair for several styles, and of course I didn't get any pictures, but I can at least describe the styles and why the sewing worked so well.

Bust of Marie de France (1327–41)

First style I sewed that day was a 14th century Templers style, also known as the puppy dog ears.  It's the one that has the two braids on either side of the face,  that are folded up once they get to chin length.  Idonia was the recipient of this style, and her hair is no longer than waist length.  I believe that this is long enough if you can get the braids started in the correct place on the head.  If the hair was longer, thigh or longer, the braids could be crossed behind and then brought up to the temples.  As it was I eventually got the braids started in the right place, braided down as far as I could and ended up with tails about 5-6" long.  I folded the braid about in half, which made it fall from temple to chin.  I took the sewing thread and sewed the braid in half, tucking the tails against the face, which I believe to be an appropriate recreation of this image. The original bust most likely had an elaborate crown that would attach to it.  The tails ended up tickling her and getting in the way, so Idonia tucked them back, and the sewn braids stayed put longer than she really wanted, so she had to have a friend pick out the threads.  The braids ended up being piled on her head, but the style lasted for at least a day.

The second head I sewed last weekend was for Aoife.  Her hair is much shorter, just past shoulder, and a bit finer.  She only wanted the front part pulled back in regular braids, not french, and then pinned in a bun.  The pins just weren't working, partially from the short hair, and partially from the style of braid.  I got fed up with the pins not cooperating and sewed her bun in place.  It stayed through Saturday, and she had me take it down on Sunday.


The last, and most squee worthy, was Isadora.  She doesn't play very often, but she's working on a Greek persona.  I'm going to try to get her to come over to the Roman side.  Since I had a braiding booth set up for merchanting on Saturday, and no one was coming by, she decided to try to drum me up a little business.  And for that kindness, she got a gorgeous Roman style based on these images.  Her hair was shortish for these styles, past the shoulder but not past the shoulder blade.  She got cornrows, though fewer than these images.  She had six across the front of her head, and six across the bottom.  The dozen little braids were then sewn together however I could get them arranged neatly with the tails tucked in to create the open centered, voluminous buns like the Roman busts.  I couldn't get all the braids to twist the same directions, but they all curled nicely in the end.  I last saw her on Monday, and the style was still secure, if a bit fuzzy.  I'm looking forward to the day I convert more people to Roman garb, and can do these styles on more people, though they do take a good long amount of time to arrange.

Forgot 12th century...

Mustn't forget the 12th c ladies, bliauts and long braids.  I knew there was something that would override my sweeping generalization.

So I have an inkling...

I was thinking about teaching a class.  I dislike teaching, mostly because I hate having everyone's attention on me, but there are a few subjects that I would like to see change in the area, and I'm wondering if teaching a class might help with that change.

One of the biggest things I would like to see change are all the people that do nothing/very little with their hair.  I mean come on, doesn't that unruly mop get in your way?  Pinning it up with hairsticks isn't appropriate for when and where you are wearing.  You're a married woman with five kids (or at least your persona is) why the heck aren't you wearing a veil?

So I have a subject, but no really developed ideas on what I want to talk about.  I just know that every good class has an interesting title to hook people into it.  And I've got that.  "Just Get It Off My Neck: Basic Braiding & Beyond"  I just need to figure out where to go with it from there.  I'm thinking of exploring a few different cultures that do something with braided pigtails.  I mean anyone that can braid can do braided pigtails, so where to go from there.  *sweeping generalization here* No one believes that pigtails are really period, but there are so many lovely things that can result from them that people have seen, and I can include those.  Templar style headdresses from 14th century, german stuff from the 15th and 16th centuries, Hair taping from 16th century Italy, England and France.  All of these styles start with a basic set of pigtails and are arranged and restrained in different ways to make for an exciting, dressy hairstyle.

And all of them are easy enough to do when a person has the right tools.  I can do any of these styles for myself, but I think for the purposes of the class I'll probably get a couple of volunteers.  Things tend to look nicer when I can see what I'm doing.

I'll have to see who has the right garb to help me, what kinds of headdress is necessary to finish off the look, (german hats, templar circlets, hair taping in England is the basis for securing a coif before putting on fancier headdresses) and what I actually have to say.  People tend to be rather willing to assist, and most people are willing to get their hairs did, for science! (I had to)

I think I'll stick to three styles that can be accomplished with pigtails, it gives us a starting point.  I think for the hair taping and german styles I'll start off with someone in the right garb with braided pigtails because braiding all those pigtails can take a long time.  I'll need to include the various things that belong in a braid box, and what would have been used in period.  Most people don't realize that braids can be sewn into position in order to keep them in place.  I think the templar braiding position, right up by the temples (see where the name comes from) is a much more awkward place to braid oneself, and the people that would be wearing this style are the kinds of people that would have servants.  Damn not having a slave for my hair.

I'm going to have to let this idea stew for a little while, but I'll think about it.