The One Without Sin is a larp about Swedish history, specifically set in the year 1669, and player costumes should reflect this – silhouettes especially. While we don’t require historical correctness or hand-sewn clothes, we do encourage you to wear historical fabrics, especially wool! Wool is an excellent material for larping outdoors in Sweden in September, to keep you warm and comfortable. Some parts of the outfit can often be found in second-hand stores and thrift shops, and other parts are relatively easy to make or remake from existing clothes, if you know a little bit about using a sewing machine. We encourage you to bring thermal underwear to wear as your bottom layer, as it might get cold in the evenings. September in southern Sweden can mean everything from +20 to -5 degrees Celsius, sometimes in the span of a few days.
Men’s clothes generally consisted of an undershirt, a waistcoat or jacket or coat, knee-length trousers and knee-high stockings, a scarf and a hat. For warmth, you would put on another layer (for example both a waistcoat and a jacket, or both a jacket and a coat).
Women’s clothes generally consisted of an undershirt, a bodice/waistcoat or a jacket, an ankle/shoe length woollen skirt, most likely an apron, and a cap or headscarf. For warmth, you would put on another layer (for example both a bodice and a jacket) or use shawls of different sizes.
We try to differentiate between married men and women and unmarried/young men and women at the larp by their different headdresses. Married/older men should have a brimmed hat, for example a felt hat, while boys or unmarried men can either use a knitted cap or go without headdress altogether. Married/older women should cover most of their hair with their cap or headscarf, while girls or unmarried women can for example show braids or go without headdress altogether. This is to make it easier to see what kind of character is portrayed.
There’s a Pinterest board for inspiration! If you’re new to the era, take a look to see what kind of silhouette and pieces of clothing we aim for!
How to fake the style
While we know that many like the preparation of making an historical outfit and enjoy sewing, we also know that not everyone does. It will be difficult if not impossible to buy a full costume online, because as far as we know, there isn’t anyplace that makes 17th century clothing off the rack, but there are definitely ways to gather together a costume without having to sew much or at all.
We ask you to try to avoid clothes that are fantasy-inspired (like visible corsets or brightly coloured linen), too modern (like a normal suit jacket) or come from another period of history altogether (like your medieval kirtle or hose). The gist of it is that the more you gather together your outfit from different sources, the more you might have to go back to the Pinterest board to see that you’re still somewhat within the right silhouette and colours!
Faking the shirt
Very little changed in the base layers for a very long time. If you have a linen medieval undershirt or chemise, that’s perfect. If you’re looking in thrift shops, collarless oversize shirts in white or natural linen (preferably) or cotton work very well too. It is usually possible to remove a collar fairly easily, if you find something with a collar that would otherwise have worked great.
There are also stores online that sell medieval undergarments, if that is an option for you. For example:
https://epicarmoury.com/products/1407-shirt-godfrey
https://burgschneider.com/en-eu/collections/mens-medieval-tunics/products/shirt-ulrich-natural
https://armstreet.com/store/chemises-underwear/ – anything plain in white or natural linen would work
https://armstreet.com/store/mens-underwear/ – anything plain in white or natural linen would work
Faking the waistcoat/bodice
During the 17th century, the waistcoat or bodice was generally laced (or sometimes pinned, for women), but discreet buttons or hooks and loops also work great. A man’s waistcoat was longer than we’re used to nowadays – sometimes they even reached the kneecaps – but since that can be very hard to find second hand, shorter, single-coloured waistcoats are also absolutely fine. It should in that case be modified to be fastened quite high up towards the neck, and the hemline should be straight. A woman’s bodice can also be modified from a modern single-coloured man’s waistcoat, by cutting a new neckline and straight hemline. When looking for waistcoats, bodices, jackets and coats, search for simple, natural colours (like brown, yellow, green or beige) or softer colours, and avoid too strong dyes. If possible, we’d like you to avoid black, since that was a colour that mostly rich people or priests wore in the 17th century.
Faking the trousers
Knee-length wide “viking” trousers are actually perfect, since wide trousers were the height of fashion in the mid-17th century. It is also possible to find a pair of (preferably woollen) suit trousers in a thrift store, as wide as possible, and cut them off mid-calf, long enough that you don’t get a gap between trousers and your knee-high stockings. Simply hem the raw edge, or use the cut off piece to make a gathered hemline to be buttoned.
Several stores online sell trousers that would work well, if that is an option for you:
https://armstreet.com/store/medieval-clothing/woolen-viking-pants
https://epicarmoury.com/products/2556-pants-fimbul
Faking the headdress
Large felted hats perfect for married men can sometimes be found in ordinary clothing stores (in the women’s section). For women, a square white kerchief can be tied in a way that makes it look a bit more 17th century, if desired. For unmarried men or boys, most types of woolen caps or hats work well, as long as they are of a single colour!
Links to a cap and a woolen hat suitable for younger men:
https://burgschneider.com/en-eu/collections/headgear/products/bonnet-helga-natural
https://burgschneider.com/en-eu/collections/headgear/products/wool-cap-hugo-blue
Faking the jacket
In Sweden mid-17th century, knitted outerwear was not regularly used by the common people. However, we’d prefer warm and happy larpers to cold and miserable, so if you don’t have the time or means to get a jacket made out of woolen fabric, it’s absolutely okay to buy a neutral knitted sweater or cardigan. Make sure that it’s uniform in colour! It might also be possible to find woollen coats in thrift shops that could be only slightly modified to fit perfectly – check the Pinterest board to see whether it would fit in aesthetically! If you have access to 14th or 15th century clothes, a thigh- or knee-length cotehardie or short doublet works well as a 17th century jacket for either men or women’s wear.