Outfit for a newbie persona

[Hai Aesuron]

I'm new to this but I do sorta have a persona.  My name is Hai Aesuron, means Seed Woman, in a Native American Language.  It was give to me by the leader of a drumming circle.

Now to create an outfit around it is boggling my head.   I'm into growing herbs, communing with nature, being as natural as possible. 

I've got some    sewing experience and I still think that machine my mom game me works.
There's a goodwill close by and I'd love help from all of you experienced people.

Totally indebted:

[insidiousraven]

Are you going for a native american style outfit, or an English one? Maybe Italian? Is this person upper or lower class? What ideas do you have already?

[isabelladangelo]

...Actually...

That's Greek.   You can see about it here.  It means "light, nimble one".   

[LadyFae]

Perhaps an Apothecary or a Fae character?

[Hai Aesuron]

Well learn something new every day LOL,   I was thinking something earthy, it probably won't be historically accurate.  Maybe a wandering spirit.  I don't know what a fae character is, sorry for my newness. 
I just want to do something new, kinda a wish I would of long ago.  Ya know what I mean.

Greek....hmm...who would of figured...still I like it's meaning too. Thanks for the info.

[Hai Aesuron]

Greek again just makes me think, I mean they had medieval times too, so hmm...what would a greek earthy persona look like.  I'm totally clueless here, but I'd love to learn and am happy to asorb all of your combined knowledge.  Love to learn, happy to work.

[isabelladangelo]

You might want to check out flickr or photobucket and just search for "Renaissance Garb" or "Renaissance Dress".   It will help to give you an idea of what is out there that other people have made.  

Since you are new, I don't want to say "do this!" simply because I don't want you to do something that you won't be happy with in a year or two.  Most garb should be something that you are okay with wearing year after year- sort of like your favorite blue jeans.  It never needs to be perfect, just something that doesn't cause you to go "What the heck was I thinking?!?"

Try to figure out a couple of things while you are looking at the photos.  A) What kind of faire do you attend; is it more historical or fantastical? B) What do you know about that time period in history or about that genre from which the faire is based?  

If you want to go historical, there are plenty of people to help and many many books.  If you want to go fantasy, there are still plenty of people to help and books to help as well.  

You might want to get a head start and look at www.wga.hu for portraits and paintings of the Renaissance period.  

[ArielCallista]

a Fae character is fantasy based. Most common are faeries, but elves, trolls, gnomes etc all kinda fit into "fae" It's basically all of those humanoid fantasy creatures from fairy tales and such.

[Hai Aesuron]

Oh perfect, then my persona would definately fit into the "fae" catagory.  Thanks for the info

[isabelladangelo]

What you really want to do, no matter what you decide for a "persona", is research, research, research.  Bing is AWESOME for image searching and Google is great for reading about various mythological references as well as actual inventories.  If you want specific books to check out, just search "Fairies" under amazon and double check the review ratings. 

This should help you get a more defined idea of what you would like and help for it to be your own so you'll still like the idea a couple of years from now and not feel like it was "forced" upon you.     

[operafantomet]

Greek again just makes me think, I mean they had medieval times too, so hmm...what would a greek earthy persona look like.  I'm totally clueless here, but I'd love to learn and am happy to asorb all of your combined knowledge.  Love to learn, happy to work.

For a Greek medieval person, google Byzantine. Byzants was the last leg of the Roman empire, before Greece was conquered by the Ottomans (Turks). The style of dress will include flowing tunic-and-cloak outfits which are easy to make either historical or fairy like. Some pics:

http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/byzantine_justinian.jpg
http://www.bownet.org/jvulgamore/The%20Byzantines/hagia%20sophia/byzantine%20mosiac.gif
http://mybyzantine.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/courtesan.jpg
http://www.hodegon.nvg.org.au/clothing/byzanmen.htm
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Byzantine_dress

[Hai Aesuron]

Thanks for the info.  Wow they were colorful people.  To much pattern and color for me, I'm more a blend into the background type.  Think I'll look as some of the fae, elf, fairy clothing line.

[gem]

For a Greek medieval person, google Byzantine. Byzants was the last leg of the Roman empire, before Greece was conquered by the Ottomans (Turks). The style of dress will include flowing tunic-and-cloak outfits which are easy to make either historical or fairy like. Some pics:

http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/byzantine_justinian.jpg
http://www.bownet.org/jvulgamore/The%20Byzantines/hagia%20sophia/byzantine%20mosiac.gif

This is off-topic, but Anea, do you have/have you seen images of Greek costume during the Renaissance period (15th/16th century)? It's one of those regions that obviously had *people* living there, but somehow gets overlooked!

***
Hai Aesuron, technically, the proper spelling is "fay" (as in Morgan le Fay). "Fae" is a silly modern "Fair-ism." 

[isabelladangelo]

***
Hai Aesuron, technically, the proper spelling is "fay" (as in Morgan le Fay). "Fae" is a silly modern "Fair-ism." 

Not so!  Fae is the Old French word for fairy or pertaining to fairies. 

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fay

And now that we've totally confused the newcomer....   

BTW, the book Clothing of the Renaissance World has some images of Greek ladies and gentlemen.  It also has some of many other parts of the world.  The further from the outfits are from Italy, though, the less reliable they are.   

[operafantomet]

This is off-topic, but Anea, do you have/have you seen images of Greek costume during the Renaissance period (15th/16th century)? It's one of those regions that obviously had *people* living there, but somehow gets overlooked!

You're absolutely right about that. Main reason why it's overlooked is because Greek areas fell into different hands. Most became Turkish (Ottoman), some parts became Italian. The local peasants and workers dressed not unlike how they dressed in the previous centuries, while the nobility in the various areas adapted the style of the conquerors. Ditto for uniforms, royal garbs and other official indications of national character. It's hard to talk about a "Greek" style of dress in these centuries, which is probably why it's so overlooked.

Exception being clerical garbs. The Ottoman empire was divided into "millets", which mean that if an area had mostly Christian population, they were allowed to continue being Christian, and their leader were Christians. They had their own set of rules, so in a way they were an independent state within the empire. This was for the most a good system, and the Orthodox church was a dominant force under Muslim rulers. Orthodox clerical garbs are therefore well documented... but probably not what you were looking for? 

(the "Millet" system is the reason why there are so many different non-assimilated groups in the Balkan area, and why it ended with a brutal war, but that's another story alltogether...)