Costume Panel at JordanCon

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR A MEMORY OF LIGHT

JordanCon this last weekend was great as always. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

On Sunday I was on a WOT costume panel with JordanCon Art Director April Moore, and the artist of the Wheel of Time playing cards, Ariel Burgess.



The topics we discussed included: what resources we have used to research WOT costumes, the new costumes described in A Memory of Light, divided skirts, and my dolls in WOT costume project.

A Memory of Light introduced us to a few more Seanchan costumes (new outfits for Fortuona, Min and Mat) and many Sharan costumes. I'll be writing these up in the WOT Costume article update. Ultimately, I hope to make some of these for the dolls, since I have dolls that match the descriptions of Mat, Min and Fortuona.

The research material I use is Racinet's Pictorial History of Western Costume and R. Turner Wilcox's various books (eg Folk and Festival Costume of the World), followed by studying portraits painted in the period.

Skirts divided for riding are sewn up to mid-thigh with the rest of the skirt left open; the divided skirts are like a cross between loose trousers and a mini-skirt. They rely on the bulk of the fabric in the skirts (five times the waist measurement) to keep everything covered for modesty and comfort.

The dolls are quarter scale dolls in realistic proportions. I have been sewing clothes for them in styles and decoration as described in the books using the correct fabrics and threads. Below left is Aviendha, who has been featured here before. Below right is Egwene in a silk riding dress with gold birds worked across her bodice and a grey wool cloak embroidered with a field of spring flowers and butterflies.



Nynaeve has two complete outfits. This one, below left, which has been written about here, and a grey silk riding dress that she wore when she left the White Tower to go with Liandrin. It will be detailed in a future article. As the heir to a prosperous monarchy, Elayne wears richer clothes again, in the photo below right. Andoran costume has an Elizabethan influence, hence the square neckline and slashed sleeves and skirts of Elayne's dress.



Min is below, in her boy's villager clothes. Her shirt is linen and her breeches are wool. Her cloak is wool lined with linen.




The final photo is of all 5 dolls.




Aviendha and Nynaeve already have a blog post on their outfits. Articles on Min's, Elayne's and Egwene's outfits and Nynaeve's second outfit are forthcoming.