Commission: Ten-Gore Cotehardie

The dress is made of a beautifully light real silk in forest green and a wine brocade. Its cut mimics that of the Ten-Gore Dress (found at Herjolfsnes, Greenland). It fastens down the front with golden ivy leaf buttons, which also decorate the inner brocade sleeve. The green-and-ivy trim is the same as that on the Forest Cloaks. The tie at the waist has dangling off it two larger ivy leaves.

Of course, the concept sketch for this banquet gown was on the blog a few weeks ago. This is essentially a mash-up of the two concept sketches. As mentioned before, the false sleeves were part of the plan to make the dress lighter so that that she wouldn't overheat during the many rounds of céilidh.

We never quite managed to corner Vicki for photos of her banquet dress beyond a few snaps at the candlelit banqueting hall, but Richard Hornby has very kindly lent me his photos of her in the garden. The entire process took a total of twenty minutes and we have all since learnt that taking photos of green dresses in front of green backgrounds is a poor idea. Incidentally, these photos have been colour-tweaked.

To commission a similar gown in real silk and brocade would cost in the region of £100-110. It would, of course, be cheaper in less extravagant materials.

A few more photos of the cotehardie under the cut.