Flembic Splendour: Zone Front Dress with Pleated Detail and Peplum

part of a series of Maelstrom-related Portraits 

done by Chris Brett

The duel may be to first blood, or to a set number of passes or shots, or until one party yields, or until death, depending upon the nature of the offence, and by agreement of the parties concerned.

This zone front dress is made from turquoise faux silk taffeta. The dress has a front closure with hooks and eyes, a cut away skirt and a peplum on the back of the bodice. It is worn with a black lace and satin underskirt. It is trimmed in white and pale blue ribbon roses. Among other dresses, this draws inspiration from garments such as this pierrot, pleated gown and such zone front gowns of the eighteenth century.

Ideally, the dress should be worn with a white underskirt instead of a black one, but due to the limited capacity of my backpack (the adventure down south were detailed in the preview post) we had to make do with the black lace, which has very much my most versatile - and thus my standard - underskirt.

The Upper City are generally expected to mourn for two years. A wardrobe of black is adopted. No ornaments were worn, except jet, for the first year. To appear fashionable during times of mourning many would dye their clothing black. Gentlemen wore black cheviot suits with broad crape bands on their hats, and black gloves. 

Despite the seeming presence of a wind machine, all the floaty swirliness was caused by me swishing the shawl by hand. A lot of the practice from the days when I was swirling much heavier wool cloaks stood me in good stead. Whilst looking rather dramatic, much of the detail of the dress, especially of the pleats on the bodice and the peplum are lost.

The black lace shawl was actually a present from a character named Captain Shadow to my Maelstrom character (I regret to say I never ran into him again. It is, however, a gift that has come in handy more than once.) The sword was apparently borrowed from the local fencing society and the pistols from makai larp. With the exception of the backlit lace-hurling photos, these were taken by Chris Brett.

To commission a similar dress from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £90-100.

More photos of the zone front dress under the cut.

Collection of Coat Sketches from the Paintbox

Mostly just a post of all the coat designs I've sketched in the last month or so. As said somewhat flippantly before, coats have somewhat become our mainstay. Perhaps in part because there's a certain leeway in our culture for wearing more flamboyant coats in everyday life (less so dresses and doublets). This is probably to do with mainstream fashion churning out a plethora of military-style coats for the last couple of years.

That, and after a while you don't need any more frilly shirts or black breeches. But a new coat would define a new character.

Anyway, here's a collection of coats. Many rather bright colours and due to my rather finite drawing skills, much of what may end up being patterned brocade in the final product is plain colour here.

I'm also playing around with new templates and these women are slightly less skinny and completely made of legs. This is probably a good thing.

Oh, and I do did think there was something rather badass about the buttoned-up collar coat to the left, with a dash of cyberpunk thrown in. Though it may just be the purple hair.

A couple more sketches under the cut.

Preview: A Plethora of Coats in the Garden

The last batch of coat prototypes have finally been photographed. Albeit rather simply in the garden rather than anything more exciting. Pictured with this post are the slightly dashing red wool coat with the gold buttons and the triple-caped coat.

Due to time and weather constraints (including my brief scorning of the diurnal lifestyle), we haven't been able to really get this going and the decision was made that we should just get it all done and on the blog. The results adequately show the clothing, which should be enough, but never seems to be. Especially after the beautifully evocative photos of the studio shoot in Wales, I can't help but feel this is a step backwards.  But they're never going to sell if they're not on the website.

The weather's warming and the general interest in woollen coats is probably rapidly diminishing, but it does seem to be the Costume Mercenary's emerging speciality, so here they are in their wintery glory. They are somewhat plainer than some of the older coats with bright brocade linings, but being prototypes, there's always the temptation to make they a little more generic so they're a little widely applicable.

In the same flurry of photography, we also managed to do the last of Character Kit's new batch of latex shields.

Of course, they're also going to be up on the Character Kit website shortly.

Prototype: Basic Drop-Shoulder Shirt

After the musing on the basic larp shirt many, many months ago, we've attempted three basic designs encompassing three approximate periods that larp frequently covers. They're by no means comprehensive or historically accurate, but they function well enough as basic items to be worn as the base layers of more complex outfits.

The first few basic larp shirts are now available from Character Kit for £15. There's also the basic laced shirt and basic eyelet shirt. If you catch us at events, you'll probably find some of the previous prototypes that have a variations on these design elements. It's very much of an experiment to see what people are interested in.

More photos of the basic drop shoulder shirt under the cut.

Maelstrom Coins!

Aside from the post on the Rule7 Forums that started it all and the odd cryptic facebook update, the plans for the Maelstrom coins have largely been kept under wraps. In essence, I'm attempting to find a cheaper source for Profound Decision's much lauded coins mostly by trying to convince people who make my buttons that they also want to make me coins.

Still not sure if they're making the cut (not being exact replicas, they're a little lighter in the hand and the finish on one seems off), but we'll see.

There isn't much more to say other than look at the pretty picture and if you happen to be running a large system (or a small one) and happen to want some coins, you might want to speak to me.