Plotting out barbarian garb... no idea about bottom half

[TKM]

ok, so i want to make a barbarian outfit for this year's faire, adorned in a typical barbarian way of fur and animal hide. so, i've been trying to find some white faux fur, which i think would be original and neat looking (keep in mind, i'm going more for fantasy than historically accurate here) and rough brown leather. i plan to make a small fur piece to cover the upper part of my torso, have a leather/hide undershirt beneath it, leather bracers with white fur on the sides, leather fingerless gloves, and a baldric of some kind to hold my weapon. for the bottom half, i was thinking of fashioning some skirt-like fur piece to go around my waist and hang down the side of one leg, but as for pants and footwear (mostly pants, as i think any old leather boots will do if i coat them in fur), i have no clue what to do to fit the general theme of the garb.

[Cobaltblu]

A barbarian would not likely have refined clothing...so how about taking bits and pieces of other pants and sewing them together.  For example one leg below the knee being brown and the other leg a different fabric or maybe fur.

Regards,

CB

[Hoowil]

A couple quick ideas:
Weather permiting, if you have the 'skirt' long enough, go bare legged.
Or make a kilt-like skirt out of fabric (or brown leather), to cover under the fur.
Or wrap you legs in tubes of the faux fur, and bind them into shape with leather strips.

[lozeldatkm]

(this is TKM. for some reason, my password wasnt working and i made a typo on my email address, and therefore couldn't reset it so i had to make a new account)

so far, i like the leather kilt idea best, in fact, i had actually considered it previously, but my main concern with that is mobility. i'm going to be sword fighting in it a lot, and i don't know if a kilt would be as easy to move in as pants.

i should ask my friend jim gasser from KCRF for ideas. he's the main barbarian up there and would probably know what to do. keep ideas coming, though, if you have them. thanks.

[Hoowil]

If you make the bottom big enough around it really shouldn't hamper movement. Scots fought in kilts for quite a long time.

[Queen Maggie]

In cooler weather, wear plain linen like or wool like trews, and stuff them into boots. If you don't have the boots yet, cross garter them with hide strips, or leather thongs: the idea is that it keeps the legs close to the body so they don't get tangles in someone's weapon, nor give an enemy a good place to grasp (like long hair is braided up under a helm) It also keeps the excess fabric from rustling against the leaves and branches when you're hunting.

[Henri De Ceredigion]

When it comes to barbarians, I feel that the media could lend a hand here (if only by offering some well known examples)

For instance you have the muscle bound barbarian:



the American soldier who ends up on Mars (i.e John Carter)



or the slightly comedic barbarian featurd in the Fairly Odd Parents version of the Conan stories

http://www.videospider.tv/Videos/Detail/2206992481.aspx

[TKM]

haha... fairly oddparents kicks weed puller

anyway, i had an idea the other day of some leggings made out of strips of leather. it would be really hard to do, but it would look cool. but they would only go up to the end of my thighs, so i still dont know about above that. and rather than boots, i was thinking of getting moccasins of some kind. remember, i'm going for a fantasy character on this one, so things like what practical barbarians would do (i.e. for hunting and stuff) is not really in my concern. so does the idea of moccasins and long hair worn down straight sound like it would look cool?

[Queen Maggie]

Laughs! Even when I'm trying to help out with a fantasy character, I can't help drifting over towards the H/A. Too funny!

[TKM]

yeah, i know what you mean. but hey, im also planning a dark mage garb. just try making THAT historically accurate XD

[Hoowil]

yeah, i know what you mean. but hey, im also planning a dark mage garb. just try making THAT historically accurate XD

Inquisition robes? 

[TKM]

dunno... all i know is it's gonna look cool. and hopefully my barbarian will too.

[Hoowil]

Just remember, mainly single syllable words, and when it comes to food, just say 'meat'. If they ask what kind, look like your thining hard, and say 'cooked'.

Depending on weather, you might want to stick with the kilt idea, going with a nuetral tone fabric. I know the heat around here can be bad, and being all wrapped in leather would just plain cook somebody.
Maybe also find/aquire bones (chicken?) to string together for decorations. It'd take a whole bunch of em, and be a pain to clean and assemble, but a belt of drumstick bones, laced side to side would be pretty cool. Anybody asks what they are, tell'em giant fingers!

[CountessofPhoenix]

Here's a picture of my husband Graybear at TRf. The pants were just brown fabric I found at Hancocks. The pants didn't seem to matter so much once we made the fur boot covers. Couldn't resize the photo. Here's a link.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj29/teresaskinner/100_0648.jpg

[StanleyIndraven]

Ok, im just assuming you're male.  A leather/faux fur loin cloth accompanied my your faux fur boots, and possibly a multi-colored (earthy brown tones) leggings would give you a good barbarian look.  If you have access to tanned leather you could replace the leggings with thick (1-4 inch) bands of leather around your legs.  The idea with the bones is nice if you know the proper way to clean and cure them.

[daylight]

 Good ideas for the botton I would start with a skirt possibly from any thrift store  cut peices and sew to the skit of fur or leather cover all the skirt once skirt is covered you can had a pocket or sleave to hold some weapons you can leave pices of fur hanging off and to add the rough look so it does not look perfect  that way it will coverup any store bought product and save the time of making it, you can cut up the middle of skirt and remove small section and make holes so you lace up what you cut out that will add to the skirt as well. I would use differnt kinds and colors of fur to make it look more real.   for the boots do the same thing buy a pair of boots and add fur to them to cover all of the store bought boot you made to glue the fur on first.wrap in leather strings to fur on boot for a real look  check out some chain mel for the upper part of your garb to add the look as well. you can slide a fake blade down the side of your boot as well for added wepons. and then add a cloak around you back of fur tied on with leather wraps. just a thoguth I hope I helped you have fun playing with your garb 

[LadyOren]

Fur wraps on your legs would look awesome, no big fuss either, you could even use faux fur.  Just get enough to wrap around your legs, then take wide strips of either canvas fabric or leather, or even rope would work to hold the fur in place.  Be sure to post pics of what you finally come up with.

[TKM]

lol, thanks for the acting help to those who gave it, though i already have that part down. yeah, i'll be talking like a muscle-headed brute, but at KCRF, i'll be just one more barbarian amongst a dozen others. there's quite a large barbarian guild there, and they're all friends of mine, so my behavior isn't exactly going to be throwing a lot of attention to "hey, look! i'm a barbarian! you can tell by my actions!" it just seems unnecessary.

i've been looking at a lot of footwear options, and i think i'm going to go with either moccasins or mid-shin high boots. in either case, it would be brown leather with white fur accents. it's been a while since i've been able to talk to my friend jim gasser, the head barbarian at KCRF, but as soon as i do, i plan to ask him his opinion on the issue.