I've had way too much fun with this over the past month and a half or so. Everything seen, except for the woods and the dress form itself, was made specifically for this project- costume, jewelry, and all.

Now for the serious dork-out...

Coming up with a costume to suit an Arthurian character is an experience. Just figuring out an approximate historical basis, fashion-wise, to a fantasy genre (with Morgan being one of the more magically inclined characters) gives you a bit to consider, but factoring in the mythological origins of the legends, the actual historical and geographical origins, the historical input from the time periods in which the majority of them were composed (ranging from the early middle ages to Tennyson), well, suffice it to say I have been seriously nerding out for a bit.

All told, the costume has Celtic, Roman (and Byzantine), and Anglo-Saxon elements to it. In trying to research northern European dark age fashion, well, you come to find that there really wasn't such a thing, with a few isolated exceptions. This is a compilation of quite a few of the examples I could find, which actually fit to the early combination of influences on the legends themselves, which I was very happy to note.

To be fair, the underdress is also based, construction-wise, off of an existing Italian renaissance chemise, with a few alterations but we're going to ignore that for right now.

The open tops of the sleeves are something of a homage to late Roman (or early Byzantine) styles, but otherwise for the main gown, it sticks to the fairly basic T-tunic with huge sleeves and gussets in the front and back, which was common for northern Europe through the high middle ages. It's made from this very heavy woven wooly green fabric, with a grey-blue and gold brocade used as trim, trying to keep the colors to the conceivable for the time and place.

The jewelry is also my own creation, but is based off of existing pieces of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon design.

For detailed photos and descriptions of each piece individually (to keep this dorky tirade from becoming any longer), please look here [link] .

R. Rogers 2009