#viking misconceptions

[norsesuggestions]

showing the legs, masculine viking age fashion style

so you are just the average rich viking from Birka, dressed in masculine fashion, looking something like this:

and you got some legs to show off! but how?

let’s look closer on the legs part of this fashionable look, which is an attempt to reconstruct how the masculine viking fashion of Birka, Sweden might have looked like.

so the legs!

big trousers!

the trousers are made in a style that is believed to have been imported from byzantine, and made highly fashionable among old norse speakers because of trade relations. those trousers up there are made in wool. also, they demand lots of fabric, so it would be possible to interprent as being the trousers of someone showing of their money.

the lower legs!

benlinda!

those are not tights, but frabric tied around the legs. some leg wraps.

in its form before becoming legs shaped

our sweet lower legs show off benlindor are held togheter with a fancy brooch, because what else? it is the norse iron age fashion. add several fancy brooches or go home.

brooch! and them legs!

conclusion

can I get some benlindor to use as tights? looks both comfy and warm tbh

source

all pictures are from the swedish historical museums historical fashion project at alternaliv.se. furthermore the info with pictures were very useful historical sources for my text. click here for link to photos and its original texts.

[norsesuggestions]

more viking age fashion! part 2

 so this is part 2 discussing this reconstruction of a viking age outfit. post also made with the hope well, showing that popular cultural conceptions of viking fashion is mostly, erm, well incorrect. part 1: https://norsesuggestions.tumblr.com/post/167487937429/that-norse-iron-age-fashion the viking age outfit!

all pictures are from: alternatliv, which is a project held at swedens national historical museum. in the previous post i guessed these were produced by hobby cosplayer, but then i clicked their about i saw this outfit and webpage was produced by a swedish archeological musuem! well that explains why their info was so good haha. link to the original website and the pictures

so some more details of the viking age outfit above

disclaimer: the outfit is based on viking age archeological findings in Birka, and modern swedish archeological theories of viking age fashion.

first of all feminine fashion has been interprented as consisting of several layers.

layer 1.

särk!

is worn closest to the body. is also a unisex clothing item. särks countined to be used as the “underwear” of swedish fashion all up to like, the 20th century. särks are often made of linen. this is a good way to lead sweat away from the body which is vital to keeping warm in cold climates.

furthermore, it has the added benefit of being relatively soft, depending on the quality ofcourse. this particular särk is extra fancy, and made with texture which the website says is soppused to show that the fabric has been imported from outside scandinavia.

i have personally run around wearing a särk when I worked as a guide who were dressed up as a swedish 18th century peasant women. the difference between that särk and that one I wore is minimal. also, särks are actually super comfortable. I rec the concept of särk (starts wondering if there is somewhere to buy a currently produced one in sweden for a normal price.... hmmm).

layer 2.

outer dress

this dress is reconstructed from several dressed found in the viking age trading port birka. the outer dress is loose and relatively formless. this particular dress also have a nice pattern.

Layer 3

apron!

without a apron, are you really dressed? a pondering of scandinavian historical fashion through the ages. the aprons of the viking age have a very particular way to be attached to dress.

there are several ideas about how the apron and outer dress work togheter among archeologists. but let us leave it at: it is hotly debated how the apron is held togheter.

the makers of the dress also says that they choose to use their apron to shape the outer dress+särk. an assumpation that sound possible. but it is also possible that viking age fashion for women had clothes that were very loose fitting, and did not hug the body.

layer 4

coat!

when it is cold one needs a coat! the coat is designed to be open and show of the rest of the outfit. it only have one or two brooches holding it togheter (the love for brooches during the norse iron age fashion is intense, pffft).

finally our viking age women is dressed in all the layers of viking age feminine fashion. puh took a while. but, when ones country is cold, wearing lots of clothes is always nice.

[norsesuggestions]

when popular cultures sense of periodzation is a somewhat weak

tfw when the time period were horned helmets have been found in the norse region, was the norse bronze age (1700 BC- 500 BC), not the viking period (700 CE- 1050 CE). 

Popular culture! your vikings are just around a 1000 years wrong in their fashion sense!

[a helmet from the norse bronze age (1700 BC- 500 BC). Found in modern day Viksö, Denmark. according to the picture source, denmarks national musuem, it is possible these were actually produced in central europe. so these types of helmets were not even an fashion choice distinctive for bronze age scandinavia. Picture via the national musuem of denmark. click for link and further reading.]

[norsesuggestions]

that norse iron age fashion!

so! you know how vikings often in popular culture are.... dressed in skimpy rags? well that is like. the oppisite of how they dress. like. seeing more than the face of an norse person was... erm difficult. because there is so much fabric.

so!

here are is a really good reconscrution from what i think are historical cosplayers at alternliv. all pictures is from this page: click for link

first the entire thing! this is what my character Helga, who is a norse iron age noble women, would wear during the viking age:

as you can see. one is very covered up. the cosplayer appear according to their own texts to base the look on findings in the swedish viking age trading port Birka and on modern archeological theories of feminine fashion during the swedish iron age.

also, this is in general how many swedish archeologists picture the (rich) viking age women.

some of the crucial parts are these:

headscarf!

apperntly there is some debate about if they wore headscarves, or if the knots potrayed on viking age art pieces are hairstyles. but considering it was the norm of the majority of swedish women to wear headscarves and/or some other way to cover their hair all to way to like, the 1940s, it is not unreasonble to think that they had headscarves.

(also this is a fact swedish racist should realise. the fact being, that women wearing headscarfs was the norm of this region during the majority of recorded history. important fact to know! yes the nobility do not wear headscarves on painting but this is because they are either wearing a hat, which was often considered a head covering too, OR they are wearing a wig. their hair is still therefore in their own perpective still covered!)

spännbuckla and pearls!

all noble women need some spännbuckla. the spännbuckla are those brooches. there are countless styles of them. inbetween the two spännbuckla one had rows of beads (often many more than on the picture). also, on the picture the cosplayer is wearing a cross, which they are doing because christianity was already the dominant religion among the old norse speaking people of sweden during the viking age.

these are some of the main concepts of feminine viking age fashion. more pictures and info in part two!

link to part 2: https://norsesuggestions.tumblr.com/post/167492999494/more-viking-age-fashion-part-2

[norsesuggestions]

masculine viking fashion then?

well there is a reconstruction of masculine viking fashion too on alternaliv.se, a project produced by the swedish historical museum. click here for source. 

when i say viking, do you perhaps picture a leather wearing horned helmet guy? or perhaps, if you are an ancient roman, a nude person (ancient romans enjoyed making statues of naked northern barbarians. they were freaky like that).

brace yourself for a reconstruction of the clothes of a rich viking man! *fanfare*

oh yeah.... they are actually also very fanciful in their dressing style. and also, ya know, very covered. notice the trousers btw. that style are theorized to have been bought in byzantine, and then brought to scandinavia wear they inspired a hot new trend of big trousers.

the outfit is according to the source based on archeological findings in the swedish viking age trading port Birka, and modern swedish archeological theories.

yeah anyway, this is how those oh so scary vikings most likely dressed, lmao.

perhaps i will discuss this outfit too in more detail in a future post!

[norsesuggestions]

Viking age fashion thoughts

If there is no fancy brooch included in my outfit, what is even the point! of getting dressed at all!

[norsesuggestions]

Go berserk

wear the skin of a bear? and then walk around dressed in your bear skin outfit? yes some people around here do dress up as bears sometimes, that is true.

but personally i find it a bit excessive. like first you get your hands on a bear skin, that you most likely bought from a hunter anyway, and then you walk around with it everywhere. someone is bragging about owning the skin of a bear!

instead, I would enjoy of all the  youths outside that are right now dressed up as bears, and claiming they are: “getting into the mind of the bear” to get back inside and HELP me with making dinner.

which i told them hours ago!

Thorleif! stop playing games of being a bear, and come back INSIDE to help with your chores. you can return to play with your friends when your are done, ok?