Coronation Dress
So, you may know that for a while now I've been designing the Kingdom of Anchorage and Kodiak, a kingdom in southwest Alaska run by a Native American Orthodox dynasty in a post-apocalyptic world. As part of that, I'm sharing the coronation dress* of its founder figure, Queen Abigail, and looking for opinions from my female followers and other women and girls here.
The base layer is a chemise, and above that are tie-on pockets, a corset (not tightlaced) and the frame for a hoop skirt, covered with a petticoat and a sleeveless smock. All of these cloth layers are made of white silk. For footwear, there are a pair of cream buckskin moccasins covered with blue and turquoise beadwork and with white fur around the tops.
The skirt is layered; the bottom layer is light blue and fringed with beadwork in the shapes of forget-me-nots and northern bluebells, the middle layer is medium blue and fringed with beadwork in the same patterns, while the top layer is dark blue and fringed with beadwork in the shapes of ravens and orcas (respectively very important to the Koyukon people Abigail comes from and the national symbol of Alaska), and alternating raven, snow goose and golden eagle feathers projecting out from the waist, which also has a cloth-of-gold sash tied around it. This layer is also made of silk
The bodice (made of dark blue silk) is decorated with beadwork patterns in the shape of a raven on the right and an orca on the left. It is fastened with buttons at the front, with buttons made of mammoth ivory and carved in the shape of various animals; descending from the top, a raven with spread wings, a leaping orca, a reindeer seen from the side, a standing bear, a moose seen from the side, a leaping salmon and an eagle with spread wings. The shoulders are large and puffed and use sleeve supports, and the arms are wholly covered between them and a pair of bicep-length white gloves made of the leather of young Dall sheep, fastened with mammoth ivory buttons.
The hair is tied back into a bun with a hairnet, and covered with a veil of dark blue silk fringed with gold, worn in the style of a mantilla. A string of pearls are wrapped tightly around the neck, and there is a shell necklace spread over the chest of the same make as this one.
There is also a long dark blue cloak which drapes along the ground, with the monarch's seal sewn into it with gold thread, fastened with silver clasps in the shape of ravens.
Instead of a crown, there is a diadem made of navy fabric, fringed with gold thread; in the centre is the national coat of arms, with the monarch’s seal (both described below) on either side. The diadem is fastened at the back with gold clasps in the shape of bears, with dark blue silken tappets embroidered with the names of family saints in gold thread. From the back and side are strings of circular beads made out of amethyst (directly against the back of the neck), fluorite (on either side of the amethyst beads) and obsidian (against the side of the head).
The coat of arms contains an orca on a Norman-style shield with a dark blue field, with a gold band above and one beneath the orca, and gold around it. Crossed behind it is a harpoon leaning left and a Russian cross leaning right, topped by a raven with spread wings with the Orthodox Christogram above it. The supporters are bears, and the dark green ground beneath it contains forget-me-nots and crowberries.
The monarch's seal consists of a Greek cross, with the corners containing (clockwise from top left) MP ΘΟΥ (the standard Orthodox abbreviation of "Mother of God"), IC XC (the standard Orthodox abbreviation of "Jesus Christ"), a ligature of βδλ (the consonants of basileia, "kingdom") above AK (Anchorage and Kodiak) and AL LD (Abigail's initials; her surname is Littlefield).
Tagging @femme-et-traditionnelle, @miss-rogers-all-american, @melisssg99, @luvchristxx and @roses-red-and-pink for your opinions! Particularly if anyone has the time, skill and inclination to draw it, please do so!
*While made for the coronation, she still wears it at other extremely formal events, namely Pascha and the final dinner of potlaches.
