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Resources for Re-enactors

I’ve been recently spent some quality time working on a research project. A book I began quite some time ago, is rapidly reaching its deadline, and so I dusted it off and started looking through my notes. To refresh my mind, I took a moment to do a quick internet search for new sources, and I found a few things that you might be interested in. I hope you enjoy these links and find them as valuable and interesting as I do.

This upcoming book Period Impressions for Dancers and Musicians will be a handy resource for SCA members, Renaissance Fair performers and performers looking for historic folkloric costumes to wear during traditional dances. Look for more information for

~ Davina ~

Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History which has images, contextual articles that presents the flow of art history. There are quite a few articles about the Middle East, Islamic art and its relationship with the west. I particularly love this textile fragment. Read more about it and other works of art on their website.

If you are interested in the traditional dress of Saudi Arabia, there is an excellent website hosted by the Mansoojat Foundation, a UK charitable organization whose mission is to preserve and document the traditional clothes of Saudi Arabia. Their website is filled with gorgeous images of thobes from various parts of the country, with documentary text and descriptions. It’s worth taking some time to check it out.

The entire book, Oriental Costumes, their Designs and Colors by Max Tilke from 1922 is available for view from the Reference Department of the Indiana University Libraries.

Tilke’s finely rendered drawings of traditional garments from accross North Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor, Central and Eastern Asia. His drawing allows us to identify the textile as an Ikat, and you can see the locations of the seams. This book is an excellent tool if you are trying to create a period dance piece, or are looking for models to inspire a historical costume.

By Davina

Davina ~ Dawn Devine is a belly dance costume designer, dance instructor and author of more than a dozen publications on Middle Eastern dance.