Day of Wrong: Your feelings but keep it polite

[DonaCatalina]

Personally I don't participate mainly because Scarby people do theirs on our 'off' day. It doesn't bother me that other people do it and I sometimes find it amusing. I barely have time to invest in the normal garb that I am making, so I consider doing something deliberately wrong a waste of time.
But I have talked to people who are vehemntly opposed, as well as those who love it and plan for it all year..
Where do you fall in the spectrum?

[LadyStitch]

If the Pink Pirate and I participate in the Day of Wrong we do it in character.  For example, this year the PP dressed as his alternate character Sir Roland, a very up tight British nobleman who doesn't like things out of of the norm.  This contrast with the PP's normal attire and character attitude.
While I dressed in the pink pirate outfit and was more of Flaming Flora, while my regular dress is either my black and red Briar Rose outfit which looks 'normal' in a faire setting or my sewing fairy outfit of Lady Stitch, which while a little out there , isn't out of character for the faire. (People we talked to said it made day of wrong to see the pink on the wrong person)

I see the Day of Wrong as a chance for people who feel 'normal' on their garb, to have a chance to do something completely different to change up and be 'odd' for once.
In other words, Danes see garb as odd.  Rennie's see garb as normal, but on the day of wrong they are wearing something Rennie odd.   That make sense? 

[raevyncait]

I love DOW. I don't do something TOTALLY new each year, as I am part of Clan MacGiggle, and our "tartan" is a HIDEOUS tropical print of bird of paradise on a black background. Our Clan has about 8  or so kilts out of it, a handful of court dresses, and a myriad of corsets, sashes and other various & sundry bits out of it. Mine is a cover for my favorite corset, which I attach via a whipstitch on the inside and leave just the lacing holes exposed. What I wear with it varies from year to year, some more wrong than others.  Of course, each year we appear at Scottish Court, and our Laird thoughtfully supplies Her Majesty an appropriate pair of sunglasses, so as not to blind her with our presence.

I see it as an opportunity to provide a little amusement for those on cast who spend a quarter to a third of their year in preparation for and the entertainment of us all. 

One of my favorite groups is the Highlander's Own Queens who appear at Scarby every DOW.

[Captain Cornelius Howard Duckman]

Absolutely love it.Always try and do something for it, whether it's crossdressing, or somethign smaller, like wearing my wench duck.

[Merlin the Elder]

We've only been at Scarby for one DoW, but we thought is hilarious, even tho' we didn't wrong it up. We didn't know much about until that weekend, so we were pretty much not prepared anyway.

[Master James]

I really love DOW and participate fully.  I have pretty much settled at this point on one DOW character and that is a FOP by the name of Sir PA (Poofs Alot).  I have added things to the garb over the years but the basic character is still the same and I have ton of fun with him.  I actually now also pull him out a few other times a year as he has gotten to be somewhat popular, as there are no FOPs regularly at Maryland, and I get requests for an appearance.  This year we had Dr. Evil, Drow Elf Klingons, and all kinds of other fun and inventive characters.  I say that DOW rocks and should be enjoyed!

[raevyncait]

I love DoW. It's my chance to have my character play another person.
I had Mistress Goody (complete camo garbset) all packed for MDRF this year when the word came that it was discouraged in place of "best dressed".  I had a blast getting pictures with a gnome, Dr Evil, Snow White and an orange traffic cone.  I wasn't the only one, the danes were loving it too. I also saw a lot of silly mixups of garb that made me giggle. It's fun for a weekend and I have picture proof of it.

I'm not quite sure how, if you are not on cast, an official volunteer, shop staff, or otherwise an "official" representative of the festival, and thus have PAID FOR YOUR TICKET, management has any say in what you wear, so long as you aren't dressing in a manner that would legally be defined as obscene.

As I've heard quoted from multiple sources, including a professional costumer that I know has produced amazing costuming for multiple cast members at a couple of different faires, "you paid your money, you can wear what you want, regardless of historical accuracy or sumptuary laws"

To the best of my knowledge, Scarby doesn't seem to have a problem with it. We don't do it on the last day of faire since it's Memorial Day, and we honor our current & former servicemembers that day.  Although, according to historical accuracy and pretty much anything else, there are those who would say that my Tribute to The Military skirt is wrong...

[Welsh Wench]

I don't think we have it at BARF but I would have to say no thank you.

[robert of armstrong]

I understand that D of W can lighten up what can become routine for the regulars or the staff who go to Faire constantly, but if you are a person who either only visits a Faire once or twice, or it is a newbie visiting for the first time to see what it is all about, it will put people off returning.  I mean wrong, like really wrong - not the lacing the wrong way or Not-Historically Correct, but wrong.

For example, if there was a person (perhaps a Playtron in Training) interested in history, the romance or escapism fantasy (as many of us are) and they attended Faire and saw a lot of people dressed like I have seen in D of W photos, they may be put off, as the people and their "errors" come off as either incredibly amateurish (if the person doesn't realize it is D of W) or could be outright making fun of the people who want to go back in time.  Ever been made fun of for playing Dungeons and Dragons, or something similar?  A person may come to Faire looking for a type of acceptance, and feel that they are just having fun poked at them again.  Think that person will come back?

It isn't much different for a first time Mundane visiting.  They come to Faire with the expectation of seeing something at least historical and see a bunch of StormTroopers in kilts, or the Robot from Battlestar Gilactica or whatever it was.  It's hard to see that and not notice, and that person may leave and not come back- there is nothing even close to 1300-1600's historical about Stormtroopers.  At least Fairies, ogres, trolls, wizards and the like were believed in at some point, so they could be considered at least Historically accurate fantasy.

For me and my troop, we travel long distance to every Faire we go to.  There isn't a Faire close to us – the closest three are a 4, 4 or 5 hour drive away.  It means a weekend away, including the cost of a hotel, gas, food out, etc.  When we get to Faire, we have already put a lot of time, effort and cost into getting there.  We want to walk through the gates and be enveloped in the Fantasy of Faire, of stepping into a world that I like better than the one I have to exist in 99% of the time.  I don't want that ruined by someone who is bored with what normally happens at Faire and want to do something so wrong that it is funny to them.  It bursts my bubble of the escape that Faire is supposed to be.

You may get bored and want to have a D of W, say one out of say 15 days during the run of a Faire to mix it up.  But that one day may be the only day that some people visit, and you have just altered the only impact Faire has on them.  A Newby or a Mundane may not return.   One of only a few chances for a person to escape may have been taken away.

It may well be funny for the people who are in on the joke, but take a moment to consider the impact on those who aren't.

[robert of armstrong]

Because you by your ticket and the Management can tell you what not to wear, but perhaps you should consider that request and why they are making it.

Just because you "can" doesn't mean you "should"

[Anna Iram]

A few years back I visited MIRF for their day of wrong weekend. I had a blast coming up with something for that day. I went as a visitor from The Emerald City. All in green with a hat I was so tickled to have turn out well. I made a pillbox topped it with a poppy field and constructed a tornado twirling out of it's center. I had so much fun showing off my silly creation.   One of
Y friends I was visiting went as Jane Austin. She was so funny. I saw several others here and there that were in the spirit of the day. Fun and silly.

I guess if I were to go to an SCA event or some other recreation I'd expect to see nothing but period garb, but faire is different to me. There certainly were not enough in DOW to make me feel like the flavor of the faire was spoiled. In fact it made me feel I'd been invited to add to the fun of the day.

[lys1022]

Robert of Armstrong said it well for me.  I understand the impulse behind DoW, but having been on performing company, and having had to think of things from that point of view, the DoW is not something that I enjoy.  Sure, some of the stuff that I see amuses me, but I always find myself coming back to the fact that THIS is the first impression that a large majority of that day's visitors are going to take away from the faire and THAT saddens me because the management, the cast, the performers and the other employees all go to great lengths to create a very fragile illusion.  It's not a perfect illusion by any means (there were no Dr. Pepper bottles floating around jousts in the Renaissance, that's for sure!) but those are details.  The main illusion occurs when you look around and see the big picture.  For me, DoW is rather like having the Mona Lisa flashing a gang sign.  Sure, the main focus is still there, but that jarring detail is enough to throw the entire perspective off.

Different faires vary, of course.  Some of the more fantasy-oriented faires that don't focus on historical accuracy can probably get away with a bit more looseness, but at the historically-oriented faires, to me it is jarring and a disfavor to those working so hard to create that illusion.

[mehan]

I love DoW and I don't want it to go away. But what Robert says is pretty true.   The first time I saw a DoW while visiting a new faire for me.  I was not a fresh playtron, but not exactly an old hand and my home faire didn't do DoW.  I walked by a group of playtrons who looked me up and down and said "THAT's just wrong!" and started to point and laugh.    My feelings were truly hurt. I was wearing my favorite garb.   It wasn't until much later in the day that I realized they were saying I was WRONG to be right and I got the joke.  In the interim however, I definitely muttered to myself -"I am never coming back to THIS faire".

I did, of course, every year, and happily participate.   But I learned to have a care for the others who didn't participate. 

[Zardoz]

If there's a Day of Wrong at TRF I doubt anyone would notice.    Or maybe it's every day?  

Honestly, I'm so used to seeing that sort of stuff all the time at TRF, I think if I saw it at another faire it would not even register. So based on that, I don't see how it would so negatively effect a newbie's enjoyment of a faire, or really hurt attendace.

That being said, although I've always been in favor of folks having fun, and thought it was fun to see the Starfleet away teams, Jedi Knights and clone troopers etc.. I sometimes wish they'd put that effort into some more "traditional" faire garb...

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

Bristol has a day of wrong, in which we don't participate, mostly for the same reasons Robert stated.  We enjoy the illusion of the time period and find DOW distracting, even to us, veteran faire goers.  We're not H/A, don't care to be, and appreciate those who are, but some of it is over the top.

Having said that, many, many people treat Bristol as a costume party, even on other days besides the DOW.  There is someone who dresses in a kind of garb but wears a rubber alligator head.  Another person who also dresses in what he/she considers to be garb, then wears a furry, very accurate tiger head and paws.  Not to mention those who consider themselves time travellers, and wear whatever concoctions they think would pass for travelling through time.

Aside from the fact that they will have several thousand people staring at them, many of the regulars just think "why would they?"   And since it is their choice, no one will stop them or say anything, but it is strange to see them walking around.