More Costumes: the Renaissance Faire

         When Robbie was about eight, one of the engineers at Intel told us we MUST go to the Renaissance Faire in Apache Junction.  Ours is the first Ren Faire in the circuit, because the weather in Phoenix is usually nice in February and March

         We found that after one pays the entrance fee, quite a lot of the other attractions cost.  The elephant ride, the museum of torture, all the games…

         However, the shows are free.  And people dress up.  They dress up!  In costumes!  Alert costume making mode.

         The first year Robbie dressed as a wizard and I as a merchant’s wife.  We were harassed by Ded Bob: he called Robbie pencil head, and me the Pepto-Bismol lady.  I found out that Ded Bob does not appreciate being harassed back, either.
      

Pencil Head and Pink Lady.  Robbie said the tights were uncomfortable, too.

        So I started research on Renaissance clothing.  No one wore purple except royalty.  Everyone had to wear a hat.  This was decreed by Queen Elizabeth to support the wool industry.  And the costumes got more authentic:

The dragon cape.  My costume is pretty authentic this year.

Dragon trainer

The shirt is red, and the hats have changed.  Notice the bags hanging from the belt:  no one had pockets.

Robbie's Pirate costume was a hit, and his own design.  I got hassled for wearing purple and not being an aristocrat.  Some people take the Ren Faire too seriously.

A lot of people took Robbie's picture this year. This was Pirate of the Carribean time, and he did look a lot like Johnny Depp. We found the pewter tankards at Goodwill, and the leather straps at a hobby store.

Still in purple, Robbie has his final wizard costume.  A lot of people complained about the stick: whenever we sat down they had to walk around it.  Of course, some of them were smoking at the time, which is much more obnoxious.

I kept researching Renaissance clothing.  One year I was a lady of the court, but those clothes are very uncomfortable.  So I went back to being a Merchant's Wife.  The Renaissance was the start of the Middle Class:  Nobles were not allowed to engage in trade, yet exploration had opened up new avenues for buying and selling, so the lower classes began to start up businesses.  Some of them became richer than the nobility.  

They were dressing like nobility, too, so no one could tell who was royal and who wasn't.  The Queen first passed laws against wearing certain items, like fur, but then decided to tax them.  Upstart middle class ladies could wear fur if they paid for it, and the Queen got more money for the treasury.

On Robbie's birthday, I asked Don Juan to embarrass him, so he was called up to be the whipping boy.

Robbie and I were wandering around the Indoor Swap Meet one weekend, and found a Renaissance booth.  It was unmanned, so we asked the merchant next to it where the proprietor was.  He said, "I was supposed to watch the shop for ten minutes, but he's been gone an hour.  So anything you want is half off.  I bought my black hat and a black bag with a silver pentagram.  Robbie found a great pair of boots.  

My final costume, pretty much.  Comfortable and cool.  We found the hat at a half-off sale, and I barely escaped being disemboweled by Robbie in the resulting fight over it.  He wound up with the boots, though  

When we sold the house, I told Robbie and Renata that we had to go to the Ren Faire one last time.  "I'll never be able to go once you leave, "sniff sniffle, "so this will be my last Ren Faire."  Puppy dog eyes.  "And Renata has to dress up."

Renata was not convinced, but I overrode her and shortened one of my costumes.  The great thing about Ren costumes is they are basically a big bag with a vest that laces up, one size fits all.  We told her that if we were dressed up and she was not, she would look like a geek.  We insisted that the stage performers never call anyone up to embarass if they are in Garb.  She still hated it.

I dyed the Pepto-Bismol outfit so it wasn't as glaring.  Renata still hated it.  But she sucked it up and was a good sport.  Robbie has stolen my black velvet bag with the pentagram.  Also he has ditched the stick.

   So Renta doesn't like wearing costumes.  This is the only flaw I have found in this lovely young woman, so I guess I can live with it.  As long as I still get to dress up.  And when Robbie left town, he gave me the boots.