Well, you may all know that I like fantasy costumes... in fact I keep a blog about fantasy costumes called YOUR FANTASY COSTUME :) I created a while back to bookmark all the fancy things I like (or would long or crave to buy for my performances hahah). Anyway, as I'm an illustrator I like to draw and design garments... the problem was that despite making some crafts like crowns and some easy customizations I really never had any skill for sewing... yes... not even a button or fixing a sock!! But last month my friend and designer Alassie (from El Costurero Real that we previously covered in your fantasy costume article "El Costurero Real: King Arthur´s legends") encouraged me and a couple of friends to make a garment for ourselves to attend to her faerie birthday party and for a couple of weeks, all girls gathered on a weekly workshop :) to learn to make our own garment for the party... So it was FUN and we were busy bees and it was so lovely to see that we were creating our own dresses... I felt very accomplished and I know it´s my first and maybe not so perfect (almost hand-made too) but I had never done anything before so I was really proud.
Above: "Lady of the lake" model
Alassie Angelines is a spanish designer that specializes in historical garments. She created her own company called "El Costurero Real" delivering accurate replicas of medieval garments of a very high quality, using materials, dyes, and jewelry but adding also her own interpretation of the characters she recreate. She's won several prizes and is making her own way working for several cinema projects. Her blog offers also tutorials and articles of overall interest for any lover of fantasy or historical garments... so if you are going to attend a ren fair, you´d better have a look at it (so far it's only in spanish) but illustrated enough to be easily read with an online translator.
Of course we are living in the XXI, but that's no reason you can be wearing actual dresses with a fairy, cyber or gothic edge that sill keeps a magic that distinguish the most daring ones that decide not to . Casual, comfortable and still fantasy oriented, Alienskin is a british store with a very interesting collection from which I highlight the hooded coats and long leafy skirts that you can order in your custom size/colours showing that mythic creatures can also adapt to urban backgrounds.