Empire: A Mercenary from the Free Companies

There are, in fact, so many League photos that I managed to overlook this set with the Lord of the Macaroons dressed as a mercenary from the Free Companies.

There isn't much more to add about the mercenary other than he probably should be thankful he's not involved in the complex soap opera of the other League photos. Though he does rather resemble a Warhammer figurine.

The Swiss Halberd is from Character Kit and is currently on sale at £75. The shirt with the slashed sleeves is the model's own, but one like it can be commissioned from the Mercenary. The breastplate is borrowed from Durham University Treasure Trap's Armoury. It may or may not have originally been from Mytholon. The hat also belongs to Treasure Trap.

More photos of the Free Company Member under the cut.

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.

Elizabeth Bennet's Brown Linen Jumper Dress

This is almost (but not quite) Elizabeth Bennet's Brown Jumper Dress from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film and quite possibly the closest we've come to attempting a replica.

The dress is well documented on the internet and there are more than a few pages dedicated to it. Pride and Prejudice Costume Study has a page on it. Costumersguide has in addition a photobucket archive of images and Period Movie Review also has a page of screencaptures.

Perhaps with all that going in, there appears to be little excuse to deviate, but as always, we did. The intention was a comfortable dress as opposed to a direct replica of the ensemble worn when Elizabeth first met Wickham. The jumper dress is made from a soft brown linen and the blouse, a white linen (as opposed to white muslin cotton). We went for a drawstring at the waist instead of a split skirt on a whim, which is a decision I'm almost regretting for reasons of accuracy. We have three coconut buttons (instead of four) and the tasselled gold/brown paisley shawl is hardly an exact match for the flowered one.


Despite all the differences I'm still rather pleased with the result and it is a very comfortable dress (so much so I ended up spending Moon Festival in it).

It's only after the shoot that I realised that we have no photos of the sleeves unrolled, but they do and they're not that exciting.

To commission a similar ensemble (in linen or cotton) from the Costume Mercenary would cost £50. Separately, the shirt would cost £20 and the dress £40.

More photos of the Brown Jumper Dress under the cut.

The Quest for the Basic Larp Shirt

The basic larp shirt is turning out to be a rather elusive on the drawing board.

There was a Rule7 discussion not long ago about the items commonly lacking in larp and among other things, basic generic kit was on the list. Reasons for this include the simple fact that reasonable approximations of generic kit can be bought from charity shops and are usually the first thing most kit-makers start with making.* The world of the generic items is surprisingly competitive. There are also a number of excellent imports from Germany and other larp-prolific countries.

But it made it onto the Mercenary's to do list, along with robes and waistcoats and coat, but the topic today is the variety of linen shirts in a reasonably wide range of colours (a test run, not unlike the gambesons ). And the question now comes down to the design. 

Perhaps it's because larp settings take inspiration from a huge number of historical periods, ranging from the dark ages to early modernity. Having a shirt that wouldn't look too out of place in all those possible worlds is difficult to say the least. Buttons immediately place it in a post-button setting (after the 13th century for most of Western Europe) which isn't necessarily desirable given the "generic" moniker. On the other hand, the buttons can be lovely and lift a garment from dull to interesting.


I'm positing some kind of sweet spot between "character specific" and "utterly generic." Something that is versatile and reusable, but interesting enough that someone looks at it and thinks "yes, I can see how that would with what I own..." In theory, things like the feathered mantle are thought to this category, but they haven't exactly been a raging success, so what would I know? Perhaps the idea of actually producing such larp kit is all vain since all characters and all settings are different, even as they draw on similar inspirations.

The shirts will priced at around £15-20 each. I would love to hear any feedback on this new enterprise.

What sort of shirt do you want to own?

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* The first bit of kit I ever made was a hand-stitched Viking tunic, actually. The next thing I bought was swords and armour. It was quite a while before I handed over money for what can be termed a generic larp shirt.