Moy Dress

[Anneka]

Hi! Is there an English translation for the Moy dress costume yet? I am a Canadian who plays a Norwegian from the 1300's in our local SCA group. I would love to have the English translation for that dress and accessories. I will be making it, but it would be great to be able to document the sources, etc.

Thanks!

[Anette]

As nobody else seems willing, here's my go at it:
During the 14th century fashion changes rapidly. As the century progresses the dress goes from voluminous clothes with large amounts of fabric towards a more fitted, sometimes body hugging, silhouette. Eventually, the backlash comes and already in the beginning of the 15th century huge amounts of cloth once again becomes the height of fashion.

This woman wears a dress showing the late 14th century body skimming ideal and advanced couture. The fitted dress demands skilled workmanship in cutting and fitting as well as sewing to satisfy the equation of fashion, comfort and functionality. The kirtle is based on the Moy Bog gown with some alterations. <i>[see below]</i>

A distinctive feature of the dress is the intricate closures that makes the close fit possible. Large amounts of buttons and closely spaced button holes was an important part of this fashion. Buttons were made from cloth as well as metal. The metal ones were expensive and therefore reserved for the upper stratas of society.

<i>[Translators Note: Unfortunately the text doesn’t mention which these alterations are.]</i>

[Karin]

As I remember it one of the alterations is the arms. This reconstruction has a seam at the front of the arm as well as at the back, and I think the original only has the back seam. Now that I come to think of it I don't think the original Moy dress has got the front buttons. It seems to have been wider in the body so that you can slip in to it without buttons or lacing.

A couple of years ago I read a intresting webpage about an exakt reconstruction of the Moy dress. It turned out to be very close fitted in the arms and rather wide in the body. I don't have the link, but mabye you can find it with google.

I am also not sure that the original Moy dress is made in the 14th century. I haven't seen any good dating for it, but the armholes are of a kind that I associate with the 15th century.

Karin

[Eva Andersson]

Marc Carlson, maker of the excellent <i>Some Clothing of the Middle Ages</i> web page made a reconstruction in 1999, read about it [url="http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/moy.html"]here.[/url] Another [url="http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/irish/moy.html"]reconstruction[/url] was made in 2000 by Kass McGann from [url="http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/"]Reconstructing History[/url], who had the privilege to examine the dress herself.

/Eva

[Karin]

Thank you Eva, I was thinking of the Reconstructing History link. And it seems that I was wrong about the buttons.

Karin