Viking costume inspiration: Vikings TV show

Vikings tv show still/promo photo

Viking costume inspiration: Movies & TV

Movies and TV are interesting sources for costume inspiration – they can be really creative and eye-catching, but often they stretch the boundaries of authenticity to get a look that works on screen and helps portray the character.

I don’t think I’ll try to replicate any of the inspiration, but I thought it might be fun to take a look at some different movies and TV shows just to get inspired and maybe send me off on different directions when trying to plan a costume.

Vikings tv show

First, I’ll start with screenshots and promotional photos from the TV show Vikings. (I’m capturing the images to use here in case they expire on their original sources, so please click the photo to be taken to the original source.) Of course, with any media depiction of an era, there is controversy and conversation around how accurate some of the depictions are, (Read this article from the Guardian) but since I’d be combining my costume with more realistic information along with a nod to fantasy and ‘pretty’ (after all, I’m not weaving my own fabric here, and I don’t care how common brown was… I don’t look GOOD in it…) I’m not too worried about using this as an inspiration source.

Battle dress

Vikings tv show still/promo photo

This is the dress that the lead female (being that she’s the wife of the lead male.. ahem…) character Lagertha wears into battle. (Ah, at least they’re showing women going into battle.. )

Millinery: advice wanted

Option 3 – a silver-tone octopus stamping

I’m auditioning three different ideas to embellish a hat I’m working on (my poor fingers…) and am hoping to get some feedback.

I just can’t decide between two different ideas.

Here’s what I’m thinking of…

Option 1 – an ivory octopus cameo in a metal frame.

Option 2 – a red octopus cameo in a metal frame – I had to edit this photo; I don’t have this cameo, if I go with it, I’ll need to buy one. (Just pretend it’s the right shade of red)

Option 3 – a silver-tone octopus stamping

What do you think? Let me know which option you think I should go with in the comments below!

Option 1 – an ivory octopus cameo in a frame

Option 2 – the same octopus came, but in red instead of ivory

Option 3 – a silver-tone octopus stamping

In case you’re wondering… this is a black fur-felt ‘topper’, kind of like the silver topper I posted about a while ago. It’s not quite a top-hat, since I’ve shaped the brim to have that cool, pointed swoop on the side.

Hopefully I’ll pick which version I want to go with (with your help!) and can show off the finished hat soon!

Viking costume inspiration: Historical details

I’m back on topic for the “Garb from the Land of a Thousand Lakes“, and I thought I’d also collect some descriptions  with some historical accuracy (or the hope of such!) just to use when looking at the inspiration ideas I’ve already looked at, to try to interpret fantasy, personal preference, and historical accuracy.

From the BBC website:

“Female dress was very conservative and the equivalent of a folk-costume was worn
for 200 years, not just in the homelands but everywhere that the Vikings settled
– from Ireland in the west to Russia in the east. It consisted of a pinafore of
wool or linen, which was worn over a long and sometimes pleated linen shift.”

(I’ve been refering the pinafore as an apron.)

“The pinafore had shoulder straps that were fastened by a pair of oval brooches,
one below each shoulder. Wealthy women might have a string of brightly coloured
beads linking the two brooches across the chest.”

Additionally from a different part of the BBC website: (I couldn’t get the video to play).

“They were handmade out of materials available at the time – wool, linen, leather and silk.”

Results

I didn’t end up finding a lot while I was pulling this together, so I’m considering this more of an aside, or at least a work-in-progress page…

Traveling in Turku

Hat shop in Turku

Wrapping up my photos and posts about Finland (or at least those about costume, crafts, and fashion) I thought I’d share a few quick photos from Hattu & Hansikas – a hat shop just around the corner from our hotel in Turku.  Despite my love of all things millinery, I never got the chance to pop into the shop – it was closed when we walked by, due in part to our late schedule, and in part due to the Midsummer holiday.

Still, it was lovely to look through the window at some of the great examples like this embellished felt beret (above).

Turku costume museum

The upper level of the castle holds a museum with household goods including the fashions I’ll show here from Finland.

I’m going to take a bit of a break from my Viking costume posts (you can read more by following the Garb from a Thousand Lakes tag) to return to a few posts from my trip to Finland, and some of the things I saw there that might be interesting to the readers of this blog.

In an earlier post I showed you the exterior of Turku Castle.  This time around I’ll share a few photos from inside the castle, from a museum gallery on the upper floor of one of the castle wings.

It took a good amount of walking up many flights of stairs to get here, but the room, as you can see in the photo above, is huge.  (this photo wasn’t even taken from the end of the room either!) It runs from one end of the castle to the other, and has gorgeous arches  which define the walls and ceiling.  Between each of the arches are individual showcases featuring aspects of Finnish household life including kitchen ware, and housewares, but i was most interested in the display that ran the length of the right hand side – all about fashion throughout the ages. There are also table displays in the center of the room running it’s length featuring smaller items like fans, hair combs, plenty of jewellery, and similar things.

This post is very image-heavy, so continue to read behind the jump.