Thread: Warrior Women - share some inspiration

Working on a warrior woman themed piece, and love to see your costume inspirations. No specific tribe, so all inspirations, from any place, film, fantasy, historical, dance, whatever is welcome.

I'll post a few of my own here too when I find them. Please share!

Originally Posted by shems

Working on a warrior woman themed piece, and love to see your costume inspirations. No specific tribe, so all inspirations, from any place, film, fantasy, historical, dance, whatever is welcome.

Dina Lydia (Costume Goddess) made one styled to resemble Xena the Warrior Princess. See http://www.shira.net/costuming/cg/meetdina2.htm

I guess you're not interested in the exercise attire Dolphina wore on her "warrior goddess" video, since it's just a tank top and yoga pants, no warrior theme of any kind.

It's funny, I feel like this photo of me channels a "warrior woman" vibe because of the pose and facial expression, but I wasn't intending to do that. It just happened that one of the photos in my photo shoot with a "normal" costume turned out that way: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...6.136421905312

Here's an Artist NikkiJ interpretation of one of my photos, showing me as a Valkyrie: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...3.136421905312

What about the photos that shimmygoddess posted in her recent topic:


http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?5...s-Photo-Shoot.


Dina Lydia posted some photos in this topic:
http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?3...r-type-costume

At the risk of being completely unhelpful...

My first thought of inspiring warrior women was of my mum- a 5'2" realty specialist, who had the "priviledge" of facing down mine squatters (usually big guys with at least a rifle) unarmed and telling them they had to leave, and telling brilliant army commanders "No, you can't practice shooting missiles over the highway." Second image was a darling Filipino woman telling off a white cannery worker for being where he wasn't supposed to be. They both seriously exuded the warrior strength of will, even in khakis and hip waders.

I'm trying to track down a slightly more helpful photo from last year's wearable art show, but I saw it on video & I can't remember if my favorites were in the gallery or not, so I'm not sure how successful I'll be!

A Google search on the following yielded several interesting images: ancient irish warrior queen images

Tunic, boots and sword or staff seem to be the common themes, although one painting is of a beautiful young woman in a one-shouldered red dress holding a tambourine! Not sure what that has to do with ancient Ireland or warriors, but it's a striking image.

http://www.google.com/search?client=...8b2f5370677f8e

For more mythology inspiration, try googling for:

Valkyries. These were the warrior women in Norse mythology who swooped down onto the battlefield to take the souls of fallen soldiers to Valhalla.

Amazons. These were a tribe of warrior women in Greek mythology.

Inanna / Ishtar. Some of the images of her portrayed her as a warrior goddess.

Sekhmet. The Egyptian lioness-headed goddess of war.

Okay, I tried hunting down the photo I wanted to share, but it's apparently on a a disc the local public station is trying to sell as a fundraiser- worthy cause & all, but I'm not splurging just to show you- sorry!

It was a really neat outfit made completely of cedar veneers- impractical for dance, but an awesome feat anyway! The elements I really liked (and tucked away for future costuming inspiration) were the arm & leg bracers/greaves- I have hunted around google images, but not found anything truly comparable- tho this site comes close for the bracers: http://www.ravenswoodleather.net/sho...parent=24&pg=1
It was really elegant, 3 toned inlay work, and I thought if you did it with a faux leather, the leg greaves would make a little floorwork easier on the knees. Other than that, the costume had the typical boob-breastplate & a really cool but totally impractical skirt...

Thank you all, these have been really helpful suggestions and links

Oh, I just gave a paper about the heroines - warrior women in greek mythology - in an international congress... I spoke about Artemis/Diana, Athena and the Amazons.

Just let me share this video with nice costumes:

I threw this one together for a Boo at the Zoo performance and basically pulled out everything green;) The bra top though is a scale maille armor top. You could always try chainmaille or other metal costume pieces for an Amazon look.

Originally Posted by Sersi3

I threw this one together for a Boo at the Zoo performance and basically pulled out everything green;) The bra top though is a scale maille armor top. You could always try chainmaille or other metal costume pieces for an Amazon look.

Very nice! ,r:;

What Shira said!

I´m half swedish and grew up wanting to be Fröja(Freya:goddess of fertility,daughter of Njord,the god of the seas),Idun(goddess of spring&youth)Hel(death goddess of the underworld,daughter of Loki)or just a regular hard working run o´the mill valkyria..g.:

Do a pic search for some bad a** Scandinavian costume inspirations!

BTW:some of the fantasy "breast plates"look suspiciously like the historically correct viking fibulas:
http://www.craftycelts.com/Jewelry/F..._Brooches.html

I pulled this together for a Xena-themed performance last summer. The "armor" is thin sheets of foam, and the "metal" bits are metallic paint mixed with a mixing medium I found at an art supply shop.

badriya warrior princess.jpg

Photo by Dreamers Realm Photography

Originally Posted by emma-bessa

What Shira said!

I´m half swedish and grew up wanting to be Fröja(Freya:goddess of fertility,daughter of Njord,the god of the seas),Idun(goddess of spring&youth)Hel(death goddess of the underworld,daughter of Loki)or just a regular hard working run o´the mill valkyria..g.:

Do a pic search for some bad a** Scandinavian costume inspirations!

BTW:some of the fantasy "breast plates"look suspiciously like the historically correct viking fibulas:
http://www.craftycelts.com/Jewelry/F..._Brooches.html

Off topic, but I know a Norwegian named Idun. I think it is a lovely name and now it's cool to know what it means. ;)

You might also look at character images from some of multi-player fantasy video games online (MMOs). Some of the female warrior models are pretty fierce (even if not exactly overly 'protected' by their armor). A search for old school dungeons and dragons type female warriors could also lend inspiration for dance inspired pieces.

If you are looking more historic I agree with the poster who suggested Norse mythology (and historic Norse jewelry is pretty fierce on its own) as well as Celtic. :-)

British warrior queen Boudicca inspiration.

See also Bodicea.

I think the thing with warriors is that they boringly have to be dressed for combat - so boots, helmets, possibly armour, shields, weaponry. The ancient Irish used to braid their long hair close to the head, apparently, presumably to keep people from grabbing it - which is again, sensible, but not very exciting.

Phoolan Devi

The first slayer from Buffy looks pretty cool.

These are all links btw, just in case your brower, like mine, doesn't make that immediately clear!

Hi, I'm new here!

For our school festival we did a Gladiator themed performance.
Our costumes were a mix between a gladiator and a female slave (we know that gladiators were slaves too, but you know what I mean :winks: ). My classemeates made some absolutely stuning costumes. I have no good pictures of them, but here are some samples.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I32bPJnBf_...ladiator+4.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I32bPJnBf_...ladiator+5.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I32bPJnBf_...adiator+03.jpg

My inspiration was the series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" but also some Xena's amazones.

You can also look for inspiration in Luis Royo or Boris Vallejo's paintings, or other ilustrators that you like. They have inspired me more than once.

I hope it helps.

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Off topic, but I know a Norwegian named Idun. I think it is a lovely name and now it's cool to know what it means. ;)

OT:Lovely!Two of my friends also has little Iduns:)

And other kids among my friends has some typically Nordic names,Vidar(son of Odin)and Gorm(fearing only gods) but also Sten(stone)&Björn(bear).

Sten is still called "Baby Rock" at 4yrs old:D

Red Sonja!

Here is a fan based costume

http://www.djibnet.com/photo/comicco...756809965.html

The movie version:

http://www.google.com/images?q=red+s...w=1024&bih=586

Thanks Shira, for pointing to my warrior ensemble. Here is a better view of the outfit, updated a bit since the 1997 original, and modeled by Kendra of Hands of Kali:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8642390@N06/5235703212/

This picture is featured in Costume Goddess book 5, Tribal Vibes for Bellydancers.

At the risk of painting myself as a gaming dork...

http://step.polymtl.ca/~coyote/dragonlance_heroes.html
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1...stic_super.jpg
http://mygirlfriendisadm.files.wordp...caldwell00.jpg
http://www.ultrapro.com/uploads/imag...uct_EtQA5P.jpg
http://www.wallpaperweb.org/wallpape...deCaldwell.jpg
http://img.gkblogger.com/blog/imgdb/.../399/077_2.jpg
http://www.fantasygallery.net/caldwell/angel.jpg
http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/26/...be-dragons.jpg
http://img.listal.com/image/399471/6...ne-artwork.jpg
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/807/1096560852.jpg

ok, i'll stop now. :)

Originally Posted by kemintiri

At the risk of painting myself as a gaming dork...
ok, i'll stop now. :)

Funny how big (or REALLY big) boobs are always part of the archtypal ensemble in such artwork. You'd think a very high center of gravity would have a deleterious effect on the warrior woman's stability when leaping over enemies and slashing away with her weapon.

LOL this stuff is designed by guys, for guys. Being the lone female voice in a rpg group, I learned early. The funny thing is that, although big boobs certainly have their visual appeal, guys tend to focus on what personality traits they liked about the characters. If one guy said, "yeah, Kitiara is hot" some other guy would counter "yeah and she'd have no patience for you and shed whup your ass with that sword". Its an interesting parallel. ;)

Mind you, there's a fair bit of beefcake out here for gaming girls too. We are just not as vocal about it.

(and your center of gravity doesnt matter when you're holding a Vorpal sword ;p )

my first thought is women like Dina, who deal with all that crap like her scandal and ex-husbands and still kick-@$$ and take names. but probably not where you're going with it, eh?