Dress of the Month - April

This month I wanted to show you some modern-medieval alternatives, dresses you might choose if you want a medieval wedding, but a "proper wedding gown". When looking for this kind of dress think: simple, A-line/empire, fitted, (color, sleeves, a scoop/off the shoulder/sqaure neckline).

The red dress has no sleeves like most wedding gowns today, but the tight fit, the belt and the vibrant color makes it suitable for a medieval wedding. The shiny fabric also likens the valuable silk that was so sought after by the wealthy a 1000-500 years ago.

The picture above is a Maggie Sottero dress, modern, because it's white strapless and draped. But the slim silhuette fits the early medieval dresses, and the sparcling belt of crystals could act as an equivalent to the girdle belt.

This dress has the scoop neckline, a little bit of sleeves and an empire waist which became popular later in the Middle Ages.

The danish princess Mary wore a dress on her wedding day that could act as a modern medieval gown. It was designed by Uffe Frank and had a very simple, elegant silhuette. I like the ivory color, because it reminds me ever so slightly of gold. The details of the skirt are fun and the sleeves gives it that virtuous feeling that many medieval gowns had.

Finally if you cannot find a sleeved dress, you can always buy a small jacket to match:

This was a bit of an unusual post from me, I rarely write about modern dresses, but I am trying to make the blog as versatile as possible, and spreading the medieval madness to all of you. Good luck finding the right dress, whether it be medieval or not :)

Dress of the Month - March

This month I want to show you the ultimate royal dress, the rekonstruktion of a gown made for Queen Margrethe the 1. of Denmark. The original dress was made in the beginning of the 15th century and was kept in a closet near the queen's tomb in the Roskilde Cathedral. In 1659 it was stolen during the war by Sweedish soldiers and can be seen today in Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden.

The rekonstruction on a model

The dress is made with gold brocade, the most exquisite medieval taylors had to offer. Just look at it! It might have been tradition to have a gold dress when you were extremely rich, because I have read a wedding budget from a wealthy danish nobleman that mentions a golden dress as a part of the bridal clothes (along with 11 other dresses). The golden fabric is embroided with silk silver thread.

The brocade used for the rekontruction dress.

It might not be inexpensive if you want to attempt to make one yourself, but it would no doubt look like a fairy tale dress and be the ultimate medieval princess gown. :-)

Dress of the month - February (Lindsay Fleming Collection)

This month the dress I am featuring, comes from the Celtic Spirit Collection by designer Lindsay Fleming. The collection is inspired by fashion in medieval Britain and the celtic knot. The design below is called Arran. I think it's a beautiful combination of the bride today and the bride of the past, the kind we like to feature :-). Photography by Archibald Photography. I know of at least one medieval bride getting married this year in one of these, and it will look beautiful in her castle venue.

The golden heart knot pattern framing the line of waist and chest gives it a luxurious appearence. I like the t-shirt cut with the attached flowing bellsleeves. And if you prefere a more medieval wedding dress color it is possible to customise your gown. I do like showing you white dresses though, because that is the color I have associated with weddings all my life. It is possible to combine your theme with modern and medieval traditions.

It should be noted that Lindsay Fleming was voted Scottish Bridal Designer of the year 2006, 2008 and 2010. So even if the Arran design isn't something for you, you should still sneak by their website and see if there's another wedding dress for you.



The Tyra design

Dress of the Month - January

To start of the year, I thought I would show you a dress from the beginning of Medieval Times. This bright and sweet dress from ArmStreet is a style used in the Viking Age and the start of the Middles Ages.

Besides the dress I kind of like the hair too :) The bonds that decorate the hem is beautiful and I'll say that a bride would glow in that warm yellow, although it does come in other colors too.

Happy new year - the Medieval Bride

Warrior Brides

Medieval history have but a few women known for their role in war. Otherwise a good woman should be virtuous, obidient, a good mother and wife. But sometimes women aren't princesses to be rescued and sometimes we'd like to go and kick some ass Jeanne-d'Arc-style.

From the movie Jeanne d'arc, with Milla Jovovich

Let's face it, women in armor are sexy and sometimes a bride would like to really stand out, and as you can see modern fashion has a facination of it's own with warrior women:

Your Majesty - From Flare magazine

Abbey Lee Kershaw appears in Numero 126 editorial, lensed by Sebastian Kim, styling by Charles Varenne. Fashions from Prada, Alexis Bittar,  Alexander McQueen and others.

It might take more than just an untraditional bride to choose such a look for her wedding day, but you have to admit, it looks cool. :-)

Christmas Wedding

In the spirit of Christmas I want to give you a little collection of photos of what a christmas wedding might look like. If you have collected rosehips in the autumn you can dry them and stick them in hollow pieces of birch trunk. Like in the picture below, a raw wooden table might be enough to give a medieval feel, if you prefere modern plates and utensils. Red fabric napkins will look well with the rosehips. Any medieval wedding will be complete with candles and in the darkness of winter the warm glow will be soothing. Naked branches from the garden may also decorate the venue.

You can spread things like apples, cinnamon, nuts, pine cones, spruce along the tables. I also found this wedding dress for groom and bride from Historic-costumes.eu in true christamas colors:

Junam Flaming Design

A couple of golden rings with a red stone would be appropriate and perhaps a floral wreath with red flowers:



The Honey Comb

Have a very merry chrismas you all :-) 

Dress of the Month - December

The holiday season is upon us and I just finished decorationg our apartment. It's always nostalgic to open the dusty boxes and put on the christmas cd. So to celebrate, I thought I would make this month's dress somewhat wintery and christmasy: I found this one on the german historical-costumes.eu .

The delicious cream fabric and the white fur, with a 15th century cut, would look incredible in a snowfilled landscape. I know they specialise in making costumes for museums, theatre and movies. So if you like this dress, swing by their website.
And merry christmas to you all - remember to enjoy this wonderful month :-)

Dress of the month - November

This golden empire waist gown is designed and made by Corinne Roes of Atelier Mette Maelwael, from the Netherlands.

It's not for sale, but made as a replica to a museum and meant as an inspiration for you all, so you can see the difference between this and the early slim and simple dresses.
The shape is characteristic for the 15th century with its big skirt, high waist and the v-shaped collar*. Also the conic hat with a veil is typical for the period. I believe the type of dress was called a Houpelande.

It was made by using at the picture below as an inspiration. Frankly I think it's very romantic and brings to mind princesses locked away in tall towers without any doors.

The Romance of Tristan; France, 1468



Inspirational paintings of dresses

Many of the seamstresses who makes history clothing gather their inspiration from periode paintings. I would just like to show you a couple of paintings of potentially amasing wedding gowns:

Banquet of St. Elizabeth of Wartburg, 1480-1500, Slovakia

The woman in the front looks amazing in her gold embroidered green gown with a hint of rosy red under the dress and the night-sky velvet cloak. I am not sure I would wear her veil, but the dress is beautiful.

This gold dress apperently was a fashional wedding look around 1500. In a danish medieval wedding budget from 1501-04(?) a large amount of golden fabric was bought for the wedding dress. And while I am at it, check out his shoes!


Hours of Charles d'Angouleme, late 15th century

The woman in the red dress is also looking stunningly. I love the pattern and the combination of peach-red and baby blue. The train of the dress is also very weddingish.

The lady and unicorn - late 15 century.

I really like the color of her dress. It looks amasing with the gold belt and -pattern. It's a pretty simple dress but still so feminine and graceful.


'Marriage of King Philip III of France to Mary of Brabant in 1274.' From Chroniques de France ou de St. Denis. Published late 1300.

Last but not least, this royal gown, with a light cherry pink underdress and the french blue with golden fleur de lis on the outer dress.
I would really like to see all of these dresses recreated! Maybe I'll try making one myself one day, but I am not that skilled in the art of sewing so I think I might leave it to the professional replica makers. :-)

Dress of the month October

As the winds turn colder I thought it would be appropriate to have a dress with long sleeves. I love this dress by DaisyViktoria. It's 14th century and the belt makes a nice accessory to this almost heraldic looking gown. I like the fact that men isn't the only ones who can wear garments in the family colors.

It gives the impression of a proud woman with strong roots. And just look at her fine accessories, the crown, the buttons and her pretty belt.

Dress of the month - September

The dress of september is made by etsy-vendor: oakhearts . She has a passion for historic clothing and medieval in particular. I discovered that she has studied archaeology some years back, which probably gives her the same background as me.

She said the following about the dress: "I wanted to make something really simple but still beautiful, my inspiration was nature, the forest in particular, somewhat of a forest princess and a bit "robin hood-ish" as if all you are missing is your bow and your ready to go. :)"

I love this dress for being more natural than many of the nobility gowns that I have posted earlier. The green over the white under-dress and the stiches down the sides adds to the conception of this young common maiden. It is a very authentic look and would look beautiful with a wreath of flowers around your head.

She has a couple other medieval dresses and assures me that she has new designs in the making. So check her out if this lovely dress appeals to you.

Dress of the Month - August

This month's dress is made by a very skilled costumes company: Viona-art.com
They don't specialize in medieval clothing but they made this one dress inspired by Rogier Van Der Weyden's painting of Maria Magdalene Studying (1445 AD). It's called: Olive green velvet Houpelande gown.

Look at that lovely amount of fabric and the accuracy of detail based on the original painting:

The veil around her head might not be your preferred wedding veil, but you have to admit the dress is beautiful. I have a soft spot for the color green, so that does help a lot, but still.. :-)
Here's one more picture of it from the website, where the model is standing up:

The skirt is quite big, but then that was a sign of wealth i those days. The dress hardly reveals any skin although the neckline might be a bit more daring. You must keep in mind that the medieval times was a period of strong religious influence and a woman ought to be chaste and virtuous.

Dress of the Month - July

Here comes the next entry about possible wedding gowns that I think is beautiful and worth the modest title - dress of the month. This creation is from the verymerryseamstress who amongst other things makes amazing dresses inspired by paintings.

I love the richness of color and fabric in dress, and the royal look. Besides, look at the stunning contrast between the red inner sleeves and the blue!

To give you an idea of the thoughts behind it, here is the picture who inspiried it.

J.W. Waterhouse, 1910

This is the perfect example of a wedding gown that is colorful like they were in medieval times.

Make your own gown - patterns

It can be hard to find the right medieval dress to the right price - I know I have had my troubles. So for those of us who have decided to try to make our own gown here are some patterns you can buy and use.
The great thing about doing it yourself is the freedom of choice. You decide the fabric, the color, the shape and finally all those little details like embroidery that makes the dress personal.

McCall's pattern website has a couple of historic dresses worth buying and trying. Here's the one I like the best:

Butterick also has a couple of good patterns:

The first one 

The second one:

All of these patterns have medieval elements both in shape, sleeves and neckline. Making your own wedding gown is a big project with the potential to be wonderful. I am going to try sow it together with my mother who's a bit more experienced than me.
Good luck

The wedding dress of the month

I have decided to feature a couple of dresses to inspire you and this month I have chosen a dress from the popular medieval wedding dress firm Rivendell Bridal. They have a gown called Guenivere and I think it radiates the essence of the medieval bride. In spite the fact that it's white the shape, the bell sleeves and the tight a-line fit is very time consistent.

You can find the dress at http://www.rivendellbridal.com/guenivere.html . The happy bride Jane on the picture is one of their many customers.
I like the dress because of its simplicity and elegance. You might have noticed that lady Éowyn in the Lord of the Rings have a dress designed in the same way. A very pretty look :)