Thread: Members of the SCA/Historical Costuming

I would very much like to see some pics of historical costuming, whether you are in the SCA or another organization. Specifically, costuming from the Mediterranean, India, and the Middle East, and also that would be (of course) be fun for dancing! I'm looking for inspiration for new garb. I have one Turkish set, two saris, and a few Egyptian dresses. I found a few pics of Tunisian garb and thought it was just lovely!

Here's one of my pieces!

Hehe love the guy with the red solo cup in the back

Digging for my own photos... my friends participate in Belegarth mideaval combat society and I tag along for fun and play darbuka.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's period and non-period sca/ren faire/combat garb.

Are there specific time periods, cultures, or regions that would be most helpful? For a lot of history, people danced in their regular clothes, so you may want to also look for daily wear in addition to any dance-specific clothing.

I have been in (and out of) the SCA for 20 years. I have done a little bit of everything in my time there. Currently I do late period (1500-1600 CE) Ottoman costuming and a whole lot of Viking (but thats not likely what you are looking for). I will paste some of my Ottoman costumes below. Note that these would not have been worn outside of the home without additional layers over them. They would have been indoor costumes and for around family and ones own household.

Also, I teach a couple of costuming classes at events and I will post the link for the documents below. One is directions for making a coat, chemise and pants, and the other is a sorta rough guide to "whats what" and whats period and isnt (pardon the weird formatting that scribd did when they had some changeover.)

Link for documents here: Scribd

Me inside my tent in an Ottoman women's indoor costume:


Me outside said tent in a more complete, layered Ottoman costume (still would have needed outer garments though):


Myself and fellow Bhuzzer Samira Shuruk outside of a campmate's vardo. I am in Ottoman and she is wearing what I call a "dancing coat" - its cut in a period manner, but I have added additional gores to the skirt to make it swirl more :-)


And please pardon the birkenstocks... my feet need the arch support at Pennsic ;-)

I am super excited to see pictures. I've been looking for more historically-accurate inspiration for my Fest-ing this summer.

Something about scalemail bra tops doesn't scream Renaissance to me.

This article on my web site offers some ideas for SCA & Ren Faire costuming: Belly Dance Costumes for SCA and Renaissance

Originally Posted by Lesedi

Digging for my own photos... my friends participate in Belegarth mideaval combat society and I tag along for fun and play darbuka.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's period and non-period sca/ren faire/combat garb.

I'm wondering how small of a world this is: I'm a member of Belegarth.

While I don't dance much at events (I'm usually running them) outside of camp, my garb is based off of the same types that Nazirah, infused with Belegarth's unique fantasy looks. No pics, somehow I always escape the camera.

I have also been a member of the SCA for some time & trying to put together a belly dance Guild!

I have also built a website for references for period Middle Eastern garb (and everything else) here-

Middle Eastern Dance Guild

Love seeing pictures of everyone's garb

MiriambatShimeon, I stumbled across your site just a month or so ago! There are some very nice things there :-) I think I am going to poke around there some more today. :-)