How began my journey into the realm of vintage... (part four)

As you can see in my photos, the hippies style in my look began to intersperse with Gothic, medieval, pirate, ancient Greek and even steampunk. Sometimes they mixed together, forming a hybrid. 

Especially for the Gothic style, I myself made a set from old black leather - bracers with lacing and a collar.

But in any case, courage, a challenge to others and outrageousness have always been present in my outfits. The recently experienced tragedy still did not let go of me, so in my look was still present sharpness, firmness and masculinity. I continued to wear trousers and jeans very often, but almost always with a high waist. I really wanted to dress like an elf, but probably most often I got outfits in the spirit of "Prince Arthur" or the combat costume of "Lady Morgana" from the BBC series "Merlin". Or even in the spirit of some wild Siegfried from mythology.

By the way, it was during the period I began to attend art exhibitions and, probably, this also affected my appearance.

Wanting to recreate an impromptu Middle Ages, I rummaged through second-hand stores in search of suitable clothes, and what is interesting is that "a la" medieval clothes, like "a la" hippie clothes, turned out to be easier to find than "a la" 1930-1960s years. The search was successful. I got few black leather pants, fancy dark tone jeans, a vintage wool button-down skirt, jackets, a black button-down leather jacket with 1980s leopard-like fur trim, a fur vest, a black leather tunic-vest, vests, corsets, silk/linen/wool tunics, linen and silk shirts, a fanny pack, small shoulder bags, unusual belts, a suede cap and a leather cap with glasses. I wore jewelry made of wood, bone, leather, stones and metal; a lot of rings at once. I interspersed big bags with little. I was wearing either rough boots or primitive leather shoes in natural tones. I contrasted coarse materials (leather, jeans, metal, stones, wood, etc.) with delicate ones (silk, velvet, cotton, linen, mother-of-pearl, etc.).

 

When I needed to tone down my masculinity, I resorted to romantic hippie-style outfits with flowers in my hair and hand-made pendants by contemporary craftsmen—on a round piece of mother-of-pearl, reproduction hand drawings by Alphonse Mucha and an unknown Art Nouveau artist. I have three of these, with the signs of the zodiac (Leo and Libra) and the "Tree of Life".

 

The main thing in trying to reproduce the Middle Ages is to stick to layering. It doesn’t matter whether a skirt or trousers are worn, the main thing is that a shirt falls on top of it, on a shirt a tunic intercepted by a belt, and on top you can also add a vest and jacket. Plus, you still need to put on brutal accessories - leather and metal bracelets and bracers, several pendants at once - and the Middle Ages look is ready. Some people think that dressing in such styles is only possible for special festivals or cosplays, but this is not so. I dressed like this in everyday life for several years in a row, so I know that it is possible.

To be continued...