There are 30 acres of land in Harveysburg, Ohio which are unlike any other plot of land in the whole state. They are not especially fertile, nor do they host any sort of exotic flora or fauna — unless costumed enthusiasts can be included in the latter. It IS home, however, to a permanent 16th century English village which is in turn the home of the Ohio Renaissance Festival!

An ever-changing spectacle of sight and sound, the Ren Fest (as it is familiarly called) runs from Aug. 30th to Oct. 19th, 2008 and will re-open again around the same time in 2009. A $20 ticket will gain you entrance to the winding lanes of this piece of transplanted history and all the delights contained therein.

The shops sell just about anything the historically minded tourist could desire, from mass-produced costumes to intricately hand-crafted clothing pieces, custom leatherwork, handmade masks, weapons, handmade musical instruments and more.

There is also a great deal of entertainment to be had, no matter your age and preference for muddiness. The Swordsmen put on a dashing show, instructing the male half of the population in the ways of masculine Renaissance charm after attempting to cut each other to pieces with (hopefully blunted) rapiers, much to the delight of the audience.

Musicians of consummate skill were to be found at every corner, peddling their wares to any who would listen in a cascade of poignant notes from harp, lute, dulcimer and guitar. And last—and I fear I must categorize it as the least—were the gentlemen who felt that mud was the ideal medium for the re-telling of such great literary works as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Beowulf.

I’m sure I would have enjoyed their recounting of the Viking’s voyage to America more if they had not managed to spatter my 13th century dress with mud from thirty feet away.

Amidst this delightful and somewhat bewildering cacophony are the employees and tourists who have turned gaily out in their best fancy-dress for the occasion. We saw fantasy costumes, elaborate Renaissance period pieces that were hundreds of hours in the making, medieval ladies and knights, archers, monks, and various sprites and spirits.

Whether you spend the day costume hunting with a camera, sipping a drink, eating hearty stew out of a bread bowl whilst listening to the best sorts of music, riding a camel (yes, there ARE camels there. Why? No one is quite sure) or browsing the endless selection of fine wares, there is something for everyone at the Ohio Renaissance Festival!

The famous Forbidden City in China gets tens of thousands of visitors each day. But now anyone in the world can visit this cultural landmark for free through a new 3-D Virtual recreation of the palace.

When you enter the Forbidden City, you choose one of nine historical costumes! Virtual visitors can partake of activities such as guided tours, Wei Qi, the game of Go, and archery. You can also watch Qing dynasty emperor feast at dinner, surrounded by his imperial servants.

The museum teamed up with IBM to develop this project, which took three years and three million dollars. You can enter the Forbidden City by visiting www.beyondspaceandtime.com and downloading the free program.

When it comes to throwing a party as big as the Olympic opening ceremony, the Chinese take it very seriously.

It’s a chance to showcase their culture and history to the world so the show must be spectacular.

Based on some of the pictures I’ve seen, they succeeded. The 3 ½ hour show highlighted 5000 years of history, featured 20,000 performers and 33,000 fireworks.

And apparently, the creators of the show spared no expense on costumes.

I was not able to include some of the most impressive costumes here, but you can view them on the NBC Olympic web site.

Originally, jousting tournaments were held as military exercises between the various nobles. Such tournaments started peacefully but often turned into bloody battles between jealous champions.

At the end of the thirteenth century, jousting tournaments started evolving into organized spectacles, subject to chivalry and fair play and often fought with blunted weapons. The knight’s object became one of knocking opponents off their horses.

Modern day Renaissance Fairs, The Society for Creative Anachronism and the National Jousting Association have kept the sport of jousting alive.

But a new style of jousting is emerging, quickly gaining widespread popularity.

Nowhere is there another sport that encourages more pageantry, chivalry, and excitement than what you’re about to witness…

Now here’s a look you don’t see everyday…probably because we don’t live in Tokyo.

These fascinating young ladies are followers of a fashion called Yamanba, a derivative of Ganguru fashion which rose to popularity in the 1990’s, mostly among teenage girls and women in their early 20’s, generally confined to Tokyo’s trendy shopping districts.

Ganguro fashion is characterized by tanned skin combined with hair dyed in shades of orange to blonde, or a silver gray known as high bleached. Black ink is used as eyeliner and white concealer is used as lipstick and eye shadow. Features are often further embellished by false eyelashes, plastic facial gems, and pearl powder.

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This weekend I got the opportunity to go to the Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. It was awesome! I got to see some rocking celtic bands, participate in celtic rituals like waulking, eat haggis for the first time (seriously, yum), and of course I was dazzled by the eye candy! Tartan was draped everywhere, there were hundreds upon hundreds of kilts, not to mention a variety of period costumes and other fun things to wear!

This family sang an a capella rendition of the national anthem for the opening of the Highland Games.

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The 7th Annual Himalayan Performing Arts Festival will be held Saturday June 7th, 2008 at the Krishna Temple one mile south of Spanish Fork, Utah. The festival offers a mix of folk dance, classical Indian dance, drama, music and beautiful world costumes.

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My brother-in-law recently contacted me in regards to making a kilt for him. I’ve always been of the opinion that kilts are a garment for only the manliest of men, so naturally I was delighted to be a part of bringing another kilt into the world. Sadly, I’ve never made a kilt before, which lead me to do some research on this wonderful item of clothing.

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Remember how Evel Knievel used to jump over greyhound busses in his star-spangled jumpsuits?

Apparently, there’s a new trend in jumping stuff…and all you need is a devil costume and some babies.

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You might catch yourself in a public place wearing a costume that may not be deemed as “normal”. So what, right?

…well… you may want to go in numbers. As cool as it is to be socially offbeat, costume fans need to be supplied with reinforcements whenever possible.

A lot of costume fans find that they would have fun getting dressed up, but don’t know where or when to do it. Unless you’re holding a sign on a street corner to advertise business, you’re going to get funny looks.

So, as a generous task, we’re providing you with a solid list of people and places to find other costume fans to fraternize with.

The Search For Fellow Costumers Begins Online

The first place to look for a community is online. This will help you find out who is where, and what they participate in.

Forums - Forums exists all over the net, and for about every niche group possible. Cosplay, steampunk, general costumes, collectors, you name it and you’ll find it. Forums are a great place to ask questions that only a true fan would know.

DIY Web Sites - The great thing about DIY sites is that there are so many types of people there. You can be into any type of costume, and DIYers are all over it. Also, they’re extremely involved in the creation process, putting them in the know for all good resources on a particular subject or idea.

Digg, and other Social News Sites - Why Digg? Well, Digg is a haven for all the crazy stuff you will find on the web. How many ideas or articles have we found via social news? Well, lets pretend they’re all original things I see in person, mmkay?

Costume Events Come More Frequently Than You Know

The good news is that there is nearly always something going on for a costume fan to take part in, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get involved and make some friends, right?

Conventions - Cons are big in a very big way these days. They come in all shapes and sizes and attract everyone you could imagine. If you’re a fan of something like comics or anime, there are cons all the time for you. Find a costume, make a reason, and go dress up. People love to see their peers show their pride. Some cons are getting more well known for their costumes alone… sound like fun?

Release Events - Harry Potter movie, new Halo game, Star Trek release, on and on and on… if your costume is specific, and you’re in good company, you have all the reason to get decked out.

Fan Festivals - Fan festivals are akin to Conventions, but are usually surrounding a certain product or IP. The gaming industry is big on these. Fans of Blizzard Games, Sony Games, or Square Enix games can all find Fan Fests happening almost annually. It’s worth it to get in some garb and go to at least one.

Get Cultured and Celebrate Costumes Regionally

The Right City - Tokyo is great for Cosplayers. New York has all kinds of dress up events, cultural mashups, and groups of enthusiasts. Los Angeles is home to the Hollywood hills, and the entertainment capital of the world. It doesn’t stop there, as most big cities have something unique to boast. Celebrate the city you love.

Cultural Celebrations - We’ve already covered Carnival and Oktoberfest. It doesn’t end there. If you want to immerse yourself in a really cool side of costuming, find a way to travel and get into some traditional threads. It’s always more acceptable and fun to blend into another lifestyle.

Well, not sure you got enough? We can think of many more. Check out our post on 79 Days, Reasons and Events made for Costumes. Search around for the ideas we’ve found and add some of your own.

Just on the brink of doing another world costumes article, I noticed that the Rose Parade this year was about that very subject.

Foreign visitors may not know much about the Tournament of Roses. This is the 119th parade in the history of it’s existence. Each year on New Years the City of Pasadena, California hosts this epic procession of floats. What makes it remarkable is that the floats are sculpted, decorated, and colored with flowers. It’s decadence has led to some serious quality in float building.

The theme this year is Passport to the World’s Celebrations. So far, costumes of countries ranging from Mexico to Russia have made appearances. They represent multiple eras of costuming and classic traditional wear. The parade opened with dance and singing, typical of an opening ceremony. I tried counting on at least 10 fingers and 10 toes the different countries and culutures represented with flags and costumes… I lost count.

Although we love the costumes, and would normally give our attention there, today we’re giving it up for the floats. They’re unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Each boasts thousands of flowers and likely hours of work. We leave you with a few photos we’ve found highlighting the event as it has progressed thus far.

If you’re up a bit early and are just waiting for the Rose Bowl, it’s well worth a look for an hour or two.

Few forms of classic attire have lasted as long as the toga. It’s history is long and varied. Unfortunately, what a toga is today is far from it’s original purpose, despite it’s always maintained legendary status.

Togas in their earliest form were worn as garments by Romans. In fact, the only time the Romans were caught not porting their noble attire was in activity or in the home. However, if ever encountered in public the typical Roman respected his fellow statesmen by dressing in the classic robes.

Over time, Roman attire evolved to more comfortable and practical forms of clothing.  Tunics, cloaks, and more practical shirts took their place in the Roman wardrobe, but the toga remained at the center of Roman nobility dress. In fact, non-romans, poor citizens, and exiled citizens were forbidden from wearing Togas.

So here are some things you may not know.

via Wikipedia:

There were many kinds of togae, each used differently.

• Toga virilis (or toga alba or toga pura): A plain white toga worn on formal occasions by most Roman men of legal age, generally about 14 to 18 years.^[8]

• Toga candida: “Bright toga”; a toga bleached by chalk to a dazzling white (Isidorus Orig. xix. 24, 6), worn by candidates for public office.^[9] Thus Persius speaks of a cretata ambitio, “chalked ambition”. Oddly, this custom appears to have been banned by plebiscite in 432 BC, but the restriction was never enforced.^[10] The term is the ethymologic source of the word candidate.

• Toga praetexta: An ordinary white toga with a broad purple stripe on its border. It was worn by:
  • Freeborn boys who had not yet come of age.^[11]
  • All curule magistrates.^[12][13]
  • Ex-curule magistrates and -dictators, upon burial^[14] and apparently at festivals and other celebrations as well.^[15]
  • Some priests (e.g., the Flamen Dialis, Pontifices, Tresviri Epulones, the augurs, and the Arval brothers).^[16]
  • During the Empire, the right to wear it was sometimes bestowed as an honor independent of formal rank.
  • According to tradition, the Kings of Rome.

Those with the right to wear a toga praetexta were sometimes termed laticlavius, “having a broad crimson stripe”. It also gave its name to a literary form known as praetexta.

• Toga pulla: Literally just “dark toga”. It was worn mainly by mourners, but could also be worn in times of private danger or public anxiety. It was sometimes used as a protest of sorts—when Cicero was exiled, the Senate resolved to wear togae pullae as a demonstration against the decision.^[17] Magistrates with the right to wear a toga praetexta wore a simple toga pura instead of pulla.

• Toga picta: This toga, unlike all others, was not just dyed but embroidered and decorated. It was solid purple, embroidered with gold. Under the Republic, it was worn by generals in their triumphs, and by the Praetor Urbanus when he rode in the chariot of the Gods into the circus at the Ludi Apollinares.^[18] During the Empire, the toga picta was worn by magistrates giving public gladiatorial games, and by the consuls, as well as by the emperor on special occasions.

• Toga trabea: According to Servius, there were three different kinds of trabea: one of purple only, for the gods; another of purple and a little white, for kings; and a third, with scarlet stripes and a purple hem,^[19] for augurs and Salii.^[20] Dionysius of Halicarnassus says that those of equestrian class wore it as well, but this is not borne out by other evidence.

Toga’s today have taken an obvious turn towards pop culture with toga parties. In many cases modern adaptations are far less intricate and modest as the typical toga. It’s in fact highly ironic that they’ve come to be worn most frequently by college students at toga parties, where their history is directly associated with nobility.

Other facts about Togas:

• Although togas were the dress of nobility in Rome, women who wore togas were often considered prostitutes.
• Togas are not sewn or fastened in any way, but were cleverly folded to stay up.
•  Togas were often desired to be more white to look clean, so they were died with fuller’s chalk to get the white look.
• High ranking political figures wore a toga with a broad maroon stripe. Eventually emperor’s ended up wearing all maroon togas, in favor over the plain white “manly” toga, in order to stand out.

If we had some good photos from the period, we’d put them up. Unfortunately ancient technologies didn’t permit us to get our paws on them. Modern interpretations are seen to be highly accurate by historians, however. Now, you’re in the know. Toga party anyone?