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| Their Majesties and I |
This was taken by housemate Simona bat Leon, and is the moment when I was being introduced as Lord Erdene Qadajin for the first time.
I wanted to take a second and breakdown the inspirations for the deel I'm wearing. The hat was detailed in a previous post (Birka 2015) but the deel is completely new.
First, the fabric:
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| My new scroll and a close up of my fabric |
It's a quilter's cotton. I typically use quilter's cotton as a substitute and/or stand in for more historically accurate fabrics for a couple reasons.
The biggest is that quilter's cottons tend to have better patterning on them for my persona than other types of fabrics. I have not yet found a source with what I'm really looking for most of the time, so this is a good approximation of the overall feel. Mongols loved to have their entire wardrobe covered in cloth of gold. Not only would that be prohibitively expensive, but I'd be afraid to touch it, let alone cut it to make a deel.
With quilter's cotton, the applique patterning shines and glints like gold and while it's in negative to what cloth of gold actually looked like, it drives the point home and I'm one of the only people who really knows how cloth of gold actually looks. Yes, I am playing people's ignorance, but it's for science!
The pattern itself is also not a bad patter on this one. It's a floral motif and it isn't paisley. I've seen similar, though larger "print" on some period extant examples. And, it was relatively inexpensive to boot. It was a win all around.
Second is the cut and length:
I've made no secret about being mostly inspired by the Chinese and the Persians for my garb. I rely a good deal (haaaa pun) on the art explosions that happens once the war of conquest settled to figure out what I'm doing -- it's a side effect of the larger, more ongoing work I'm doing regarding prints, depictions and social class which has been influencing my garb more and more.
There's two big things I want to point out.
Firstly, the length I'm sporting appears to be pretty standard. From where modern pants lie when fit properly up to about mid-Achilles tendon are the lengths I've seen for the time period in which I'm playing. I like to go a little longer because the pants I wear, while of period construction, are store bought, mid-weight gi pants. They super comfortable and they are of period construction but it's not hard to tell it was made in a garment factory somewhere.
The second is the sleeve length. There's two sources of inspiration for the length of the sleeve. I've been sliding my persona more and more into being a scholar than a merchant. Merchants are great and they're key to the success on the Silk Route, I don't really think it suits the persona I'm trying to build. I would be more of a scholar in period with what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. Furthermore, as I become more familiar with the time and place, I think shifts in persona are natural.
The length of the sleeve I've seen both in Persian and in Chinese portraiture. The super extended sleeve length comes from an allegorical piece "Mohammad Splitting the Moon" which is a miniature I absolutely love.
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| Mohammad is seen with his face covered, the Mongol is on his left Source |
Focusing in on the Mongol, who is in orange on the right. If you look at his sleeves, you'll see that they are exaggerated. In period, Mongols didn't wear gloves, but had extended sleeves to act as skin coverage in the extreme and variable weather. It's hard to find it depicted in war scenes, so allegorical ones like these are the best way to see them "in action".
I took a little extrapolation from the figure's right arm (our left side arm) and formulated that the sleeves would go down to about mid-calf if his arms were at his sides. This matches what I've seen for depictions of scholars from China, though I've had a hard time finding any from the Yuan period.
Looking at the photos that are coming out, it appears I nailed the sleeve length from what I've seen. The sleeve is acting the same way in the miniature as it does while I'm standing there, hand over hand. I'd say that's a win.
The sleeve width is blatantly a Chinese ripoff as the Chinese, like me, hated tight sleeves.
I did want to also take a second and reference that I've stopped wearing the slippers. They were fun and all, but they needed to be retired for a couple reasons.
The slippers just aren't period.
I've been unable to support that those shoes were ever worn in period. I've not seen it on any depictions of inside the ger or khan's tent. The upturned toe is also a post-period innovation and I've not been able to support it through anything I've seen. It's an anachronism, but because I am not myself Mongol, it's also a misrepresentation of the evolution of the cultural dress. That's appropriative at that point and a major no-no for me. If I'm going to do it, I want to make sure I do service not only to history, but also to those still living who have Mongol heritage. I am doing work and depicting a time of great cultural pride; to do it wrong is a disservice to those I wish to tribute.
The slippers also are old and starting to get holes.
That I do care less about, but they're also getting worn through and developing holes in many places. Being unable to substantiate their use was something I noticed first, as I don't wear the slippers that often. Then, after the last event I wore them to, I noticed they're beginning to come to the end of their life anyway. I'll still wear them as house shoes until they're completely dead.
What have I done in the meantime about shoes? Well, I'll write another post on that, as I've been doing research into shoes, and hats as I referenced in the Birka 2016 post.
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