Renaissance Chic

It rained every.single.day last week! But the weather gods decided to look down on us and bless us with a sunny Saturday! So we jumped at the chance to go do something outside. So we headed out to a local Renaissance Festival. I was on the lookout for a knight in shining armor to be our valiant protector from the supposed zombie invasion?

Knights of Mayhem

Yep!  Found one!

The festival was quite fun actually!

We watched puppet shows, magic shows

and daring acrobatics on horseback!

They were amazingly talented!

The highlight of the festival?

The live jousting!

Yes!

Real horses!

Real armor!

Full contact!

Knocking each other off jousting!

Knights of Mayhem, jousting


Was that not awesome or what?
They both fell off!

~ ~ ~

People were encouraged to dress up!

In fact, you got a little off the price

of admission if you did!

{We didn't}

It made the atmosphere feel a little

more Renaissance~like!

However, I felt like I was in a brothel

{or something}

The place was crawling with

servant wenches

bare bellied gypsies

and gothic fairies.

Not what I think of when I think Renaissance.

Fortunately there were a few

more tastefully dressed

like this:

and this:

Ahhh!

Much better!

So the kids want to dress up next year!

I told my teen and her friend that they would

have to wear something more tasteful

to give other young, impressionable

young ladies something to look up to.

So here is some Renaissance Chic inspiration:

First, 

A Knight's Tale

LOVED this movie!

Heath Ledger was so cute!

The costumes were fabulous

and her hair!

Be still my heart!

They did some fun things with her hair

in this movie!  So if you want to add a

more modern touch to your renaissance garb

then this movie offers the inspiration for you!

There are plenty of other
Renaissance era movies you could
glean costuming ideas from,
but this post is already getting quite long,
so feel free to watch away! 

 If you want to go more along the fairy route,

then may I offer these as inspiration:

 

Fairie-ality: The Fashion Collection from the House of Ellwand

If I were to require Fairy clothes

this book shows what I would wear.

Yes please!

You cannot go wrong with

gorgeous frocks made from 

rose petals, feathers, grasses, twigs

and all other sorts of items from nature.

If I can't come up with something

as haute couture as that

then at least something like

a gorgeous floral wreath on my head!

via This Is Glamorous

It's probably too hot for fur in May though!

Darn!

~ ~ ~

What are your favorite Renaissance
or Medieval era movies?

Which ones feature the best costumes?