In February 2019 I traveled to Dearborn, Michigan where I shared a slide presentation on medieval embroidery for clothing and accessories. This was the yearly chapter meeting for La Compagnia della Rose nel Sole, a re-enactment company portraying English, French, and Italian mercenaries in Italy in the late 14th century. We get together in February […]
Hiking the Camino Primitivo, a Medieval Immersion
Memories and Mind Expansion I travel for two reasons — the memories I carry with me afterwards and the expansion of my understanding of the world. Trips I took decades ago still loom in my consciousness; sharp, fresh moments of joy and profound satisfaction. I remember visiting the pueblos carved into the side of mesas […]
Face-Framing Braids—Recreating a 14th-Century Hairstyle
I’ve long been fascinated with the braided hair styles seen on women in Western European figural art of the mid-to-late 14th century—particularly in French works. To my modern eyes, women did charming and oddball things with their hair. The undeniable outlandishness of these braids make them fun to recreate. I am especially enamored of the […]
Coloring the Fencing Master in the Getty Fiore’s Segno della Spada
Or, How Coloring Can Teach You More About Medieval Clothing This story begins because my husband, Gregory Mele, owns a martial arts studio called Forteza Fitness & Martial Arts in Chicago. It serves as the home of his first love, the Chicago Swordplay Guild, which he co-founded with like-minded others in 1999. As the Dean of the […]
Charles VI Coat Armour Repro, Part 3: Padding and Quilting on a Frame
This is the third in a series of blog posts describing the process I undertook to recreate the child-sized coat armour on display at the Musée des beaux arts in Chartres, France. The prior installments can be found here: Dyeing an Imperfect Lampas Recreating the Pattern The truly laborious stage was upon me now. I had […]
Charles VI Coat Armour Repro, Part 1: Dyeing An Imperfect Lampas
This is the first in a series of blog posts describing the process I undertook to recreate the child-sized coat armour on display at the Musée des beaux arts in Chartres, France. This post covers the challenge of finding a proper silk lampas fabric to match the look and feel of the original. Though this re-creation […]
A fur primer for 14th and 15th century European clothing
I wrote an article on recognizing fur in period figural imagery that kind of ate my brain. I’ve been working on this topic for months. The more I read and reviewed imagery, the more rabbit holes I found myself going down, zero pun intended. But now finally it’s in a state where I feel comfortable sharing […]
The Royal Grave Clothing of 14th Century Bohemia
…Or: The Bonanza I Found When I Went Looking for the Houppelande of John of Görlitz (Jan Zhořelecký) As part of my husband’s and my honeymoon trip to Prague, we intended to check off a modest bucket list item, which was to see the extant 14th century houppelande on display in Prague Castle. I also […]