What was this thread about in the first place...? I seem to have forgotten.
What was this thread about in the first place...? I seem to have forgotten.
dude, just wear your jack costume and have fun and enjoy it!
don't worry what others think.
Having attended several Renaissance Pleasure Faires here in Southern California over the last 30 years, it's been my experience that most of the people who dress "in period" are like any other group of costumers. There are those who will do the best they can with the limited resources available to them, and those who take it very seriously and will scour the four corners of the Earth to locate cloth with the correct texture to manufacture their tunic from, some of whom may look upon the first group with some measure of disdain or contempt without placing any value on the fact that they at least made an effort to join in the spirit of the event. One year we saw a man who attended dressed as Captain Kirk from the original series, complete with phaser and communicator, "Shatneresque" hairstyle, and pointed sideburns; funny thing was, given the nature of some of the episodes, he didn't look at all out-of-place. I guess my point is simply to echo what sparrowfan wrote above: go, dress however you like, and just have fun.
Regarding Captain Jack's sail needle/marlinspike, according to Johnny Depp on Disc 2 of the Dead Man's Chest DVD set, he found it somewhere while looking for odds-and-ends to tie into his wig, found out it had been carved from the shin bone of a reindeer, and simply thought something that unique would have to be part of Sparrow's "effects". "The stories that he could probably tell of the experience with the reindeer would be...uhh...too fun to pass up."
Last edited by Zombie_61; Jun 16, 2007 at 10:27 PM.
This past weekend I went to an event called a "Rendezvous". It's much like a Ren Fare except these people reenact the lifestyle from the 1700's. Fur trappers, French soldiers, mountain men, indians and assorted frontier people.
I am pretty sure I saw several bone needles for sale. Perhaps you could find a similar event in your area and see if someone has one? There were people selling stuff all over the place. If I had wanted, I could have outfitted myself in completely accurate garb and accessories from that era.
The pirate costume is close enough in historical period to be accepted at a renfair. I see patrons wearing all kinds of stuff and have worn nothing but a pair of snakeskin tights on one hot afternoon myself. I attend and used to work at the Texas Renaissance Festival and have had no one give me grief over what I wear except for a friend complaining about the tights that is. Check the Entertainment pulldown, that is the tavern, and well looks like pirates to me!
Texas Renaissance Festival
Last edited by Great_Bizarro; Jun 18, 2007 at 9:45 AM.
The issue would not be so much with the pirate, but with the fact that it's a fictional pirate from a popular modern movie series.
Of course, any pirate elitist will have plenty of respect for Long John Silver, who is just as fictional as Jack Sparrow, so...who knows.
I wish there was one of those pirate-specific festivals near me...
Technically, you're both correct. Pirates existed long before the Renaissance and long after, and styles of dress really didn't change much between the Renaissance and what is considered to be "the golden age of piracy". However, according to the back story Captain Jack Sparrow was born after the Renaissance period ended so, while a "generic" pirate costume would be okay, a costume specific to the Captain Jack Sparrow character would be chronologically incorrect. But I stand by my previous statement--wear whatever you like, and have fun.
Actually, no, the styles of dress changed dramatically.
16th century--correct era--privateer (or pirate, depending on what country you came from), Sir Francis Drake:
Late seventeenth and early eighteenth century pirates (of which the Pirates of the Caribbean pirates are supposed to be even later):
Edward Teach (Blackbeard):
Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart):
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Last edited by gnrlotto; Jun 18, 2007 at 6:58 PM.
I stand corrected. I should have said clothing styles didn't change much between the end of the Renaissance (some time in the 1600's) and what is considered to be the golden age of piracy (1700-1730).
Ren Faires are all set in the high period of the reign of Elizabeth, though. To be fair, style didn't change much from what's more commonly known as the Restoration period (your end of the Renaissance) to the golden age of piracy (1690-1720)--hell, style didn't change much from that until the Empire Era (i.e. men all wore breeches, stocking, etc., though wigs and coat styles may have changed slightly.) Style, however, did go through some drastic permutations from the time Elizabeth reigned until the time Charles II did.
Last edited by gnrlotto; Jun 19, 2007 at 3:59 AM.