Dressing as a man

[Kahlan Rose]

I know its not proper to cross dress during the renaissance but I decided that my next costume will be a pair of pants, a vest, a shirt, and a hat. I'm not sure how things should fit. I'm not that well endowed but I don't know if it would be wise to wear a tight vest/jerkin or exactly how I will pull this off. I'm not sure where to look, what questions to ask or anything. Any suggestions or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Alyssa

[gem]

I think we need a little more clarification of what you're thinking of.

Are you picturing, say, a more historically accurate ensemble of doublet and breeches, sort of like Gwyneth Paltrow in "Shakespeare in Love?"  (If so, I'd say you'd want things to have the proper period fit, which is very close to the body)

Or are you thinking a more casual, "renfair peasant" sort of look? (In which case it would be crazy easy to put together almost anything you wanted--I see lots of women in breeches &c at KCRF.)

Are you interested just in wearing the same sorts of pieces men wear, or in actually passing as a man?

Thinking about these questions will help narrow down what you're looking for, so we can help you better!

[Kahlan Rose]

I don't want to pass as a man or have an historically accurate ensemble. I just want to wear men's pieces, but I don't want to look stupid. I don't know if that helps.

[isabelladangelo]

Unfortunately, there are about 20 gazillions different ways to do this based on what class, what time, and what look your are going for.   Are you going for the peasant look or the noble look.   It's honestly easier with the Noble look given that men wore "peascod" bellies later on.   

[gem]

Well, in that case--wear what looks good on you!!  I would say as far as fit goes, however, that menswear is going to run larger than you're probably used to, and you'll want to stay away from things that are *too* oversized (primarily for comfort).

My MIL wears a peasant blouse, tricorn hat, tights, tall boots, and a waist cincher, and she looks smashing.  I've seen pirate-era women at Fair in long brocade waistcoats, bloomer-type breeches tucked into boots, and all sorts of marvelous hats.

Seriously--look at a whole bunch of pictures (from different fairs, garb merchants, patterns, etc) and figure out what pleases you and what you think you'd like to wear.

Since you're posting this in Sewing, I'm going to assume you plan to make this ensemble.  I might stay with the cheaper commercial patterns (McCall's, Simplicity, Butterick), simply because doing the necessary alterations on a man's pattern to fit a woman's body would probably be more cost-effective than when using one of the very expensive period patterns. Also, some of the commercial pattern companies already make women's patterns for pieces you might want to use--like the Simplicity Pirate Pattern, which would make alterations a lot easier.  McCall's also makes a unisex pirate pattern you could check out.

[Danni]

I spent several years switching mid-day from Middle Class English women's wear (hoops included!) to Italian Comedia Men's wear, then back again! Call me a glutton for punishment, but our fair had a mandate that since women couldn't be acrobatics in the Elizabethan era, we must be men when we tumbled. I went all out, and even though I know you are not planning on doing this, it may be helpful to someone else who is thinking about it, or has to do it like I did!

To bind the chest: I went from D to A in seconds with the help of an ace bandage wrapped very tightly around my chest, covered over with duct tape. Not comfortable, but effective enough to fool those who didn't know who I was. I needed an assistant to wrap and tape me as I pressed the "girls" in (don't press down, trust me).

To hide hips: I chose to wear a paned slop pant, which poofs from waist to just below the crotch where they end. They are built with a lining, then padding (like cotton) then an outer lining, then panes. It's a lot of work, but effective. I cut out all the hip lining, and only lined the lower portion, making my natural hips look like padding. Since we were doing a comedia look, I used brighter colors and alternated the colors of the panes, which made the garment busy and confusing to the eye, giving me more camouflage. The clincher....a cod piece. Amazing what a simple thing can do. The pattern I used was from the Alter Years. You can find it on alteryears.com

If you want to make an easy pant and don't have my Greek hips, then try breeches. They have an easy to do pattern for that as well. Leave the cod piece off completely if you don't wish to look like a man.

Good luck!