Sources for Swedish costume?

[PrincessSara]

Ever since finding out that I have some Swedish heritage I've been interested in Swedish medieval/renaissance(?) costume.  Does anyone have any sources for Swedish costume before 1600?  I've seen The Re-enactor's Household and Eva Andersson's stuff, but that's about it.

[operafantomet]

Ever since finding out that I have some Swedish heritage I've been interested in Swedish medieval/renaissance(?) costume.  Does anyone have any sources for Swedish costume before 1600?  I've seen The Re-enactor's Household and Eva Andersson's stuff, but that's about it.

You lucky thing - Eva Andersson is doing an article on exactly that topic (Swedish Renaissance clothes) nowadays! Your best bet would be to email or otherwise contact her and ask when and how it will be published. She talked about publishing a 10-page-version online, and later on a longer thesis in paper-form.

As far as I can tell, the fashion in Renaissance Scandinavia (at least nobility and middle class) was influenced by German fashion. Some got their clothes cut abroad, but sewn locally (some examples of this is the brilliant book "Modelejon" by Lena Rangström), some bought finished garbs abroad, while others got a local tailor to make a version of the continental fashion. The local flair was more about how garbs were decorated and how an outfit was put together. As far as I can tell, that is... Eva Andersson is the authority on this!

I'm less informed about Medieval fashion. From what I've learned, the fashion didn't follow the national borders of today, but rather reflected which areas had a lot to do with eachother. This meant that some Swedish fashion might be closer to what was worn in various places in Norway rather than what was worn elsewhere in Sweden. This has its parallelles in art and architecture of them time, where the national borders is less important when it comes to defining what was in vogue and where the impulses came from. But Medieval clothing is not my speciality, so again... I think Eva Andersson might be the woman to ask...

Medieval clothes from/in Scandinavia has been remarkably well preserved, much because of climate, so there are many items to study. Most well-known are the Herjolfsnes outfits discovered in the Norse settlements on Grønland. But there's also interesing finds done in Sweden (Birka, Bocksten), Denmark (queen Margrethe's coronation gown) and Norway (Uvdal, Gamlebyen in Oslo). A few pics:

BOCKSTED MAN RECONSTRUCTED:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/middelalder/bocksten1300srec.jpg

PART OF A PLEATED DRESS FROM UVDAL:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/middelalder/uvdalsent1300.jpg

QUEEN MARGRETHE'S DRESS RECONSTRUCTED (+ original):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/middelalder/margretelate1300rec.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/middelalder/margrethelate1300orig.jpg

HERJOLFSNES GARBS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/middelalder/mid1400herjolfsnes.jpg
http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t127/arnesentouring/vintervaar2009/copendrakt4b.jpg

THE STURE OUTFITS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/renessansebarokk/svantesture.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/renessansebarokk/eriksture.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/nordiskedrakter/renessansebarokk/nilssture.jpg

[Torstein the Berserkr]

This link may be of use as well. It's 10th Century clothing that Scandinavian women wore. Though, I'm pretty sure it was actually common throughout the entire Vendel Era (550-793) and Viking Age (793-1066), not just the 10th century. They probably wore similar fashions even some time after the Viking Age ended since fashions don't really change over night.

http://www.gelfling.dds.nl/viking.html