Now that we have a closer look at the character, we can start choosing materials for the costume.
Why is it important?
Because looking at the game textures, it is not always possible to determine exactly what kind of material the designers meant… But at least a little studying the game lore, you can draw very valuable conclusions. This will be especially useful if the quality of the references does not allow you to see everything in great detail.
So, on the one hand, you will definitely not choose expensive fabrics and jewelry for some vagrant, but for the royal person – simple textures and “rough” finishes… and on the other hand, you will learn many interesting nuances thanks to which you can boldly choose intricate embroidery to trim a simple Wanderer costume (Aragorn, The Lord of the Rings) or sewing from pieces for the Prince’s costume (Prince of Persia 2008).
Since we have to fully embody the Prince’s costume according to the game model, we need to select not only different hides for the main parts of the costume, but also the fabrics for clothes and accessories.
Let’s start with them!
Perhaps one of the most striking details of the Prince’s costume is his turban with long “tails” turning into a kind of scarf.
This detail, as conceived by the designers, is a symbol of luxury. The fact is that such bright fabrics in Persia were a sign of wealth, since dyes for fabrics were very expensive. The weaving of threads is clearly visible on the reference, so we choose flax as the material.
To determine the color, it is worth referring to the history of the use of natural dyes.
The most widespread blue dye in the East has always been indigo. It is obtained from indigofer plants containing the dye indigotin, for example, the indigofer dye Indigofera tinctoria in the east (in India and Persia). So the choice of shade of blue is probably obvious.
To obtain red, dyes such as madder and kermes were most often used.
Madder has been used for coloring since ancient times, the dye was obtained from the ground and crushed root of a plant (the main coloring compound in them is alizarin). To fix it on the fabric, we used aluminum-containing mordants, for example, clay-lime.
Kermes is a dye obtained from insects living on the roots and leaves of various plants. The most expensive variety of Kermes was obtained from the female insect Kermes vermilio, which lives on only one species of plant – the kermes oak growing in the Mediterranean region and the eastern Adriatic.
Here the choice is less obvious … but since Marena grows in Syria and Persia, perhaps we will stop at it. In addition, madder is able to give the whole range of red shades from pink to rusty brown, of which the so-called “Turkish red” was most appreciated – a bright, rich, warm crimson with an orange tint. It is this shade that we need.
It remains to wait for the samples and finally decide.
Another fabric element of the Prince’s costume is the cropped baggy pants.
Judging by the textures on the reference, they are also made of rather coarse linen.
As for the dye, judging by the brightness of the color, yellow ocher was most likely meant.
Shades of brown are always a little more difficult to work with, because the solid color is quite “flat”, so we may need additional coloring.
Well, the last fabric elements are a sleeveless jacket, which is so “stuck” to the vest that in some references it is a part of it, and “windings” on the belt.
For their production, we chose coarse unbleached cotton.
Now that we are done with the choice of fabrics, we can move on to the leather!
Actually, one of the reasons why we are so interested in this project is the opportunity to work with exotic leather, moreover, in such rather non-trivial products.
Looking at the references, it is not difficult to guess that snake or crocodile skins should be used for the vest and raincoat.
When choosing between them, we took into account the approximate size of the scales and the nature of the pattern, so in the end our choice fell on python.
We chose large skins of about 4 m each, because on such skins there are places with both small and very large scales, which will allow us to create a varied pattern on the products. We will definitely tell you more about this when we publish the process of working on a vest and a cape.
As for the color scheme … We had to choose two colors that would look good together and not visually merge.
With the cloak, everything was more or less simple, because in all references it is obviously brown. 🙂 The size of the scales varies from very large on the side to very small on the shoulders, so 4-meter skins should give us the necessary variety of textures.
For the vest it was necessary to choose a slightly more contrasting shade. So we opted for a sand-gray color.
For gloves we will use haberdashery leather and plastic, but this also deserves a separate article.
For the rest of the leather accessories (belt, gaiters, shoes) we have chosen vegetable tanned leather, since all these items require embossing.
Of course, in the process of working with the costume, we will need many more consumables: waxed threads for the decorative assembly of a vest and a raincoat, cotton threads for embroidery, paint for leather, acrylic and perhaps even gold leaf for partial gilding of a dragon on a cape, various stamps for embossing and various fittings.
All details in the following publications ..!
If you want us to make such a costume for you – contact us svetliysudar@gmail.com 🙂
Svetliy Sudar Leather Arts Workshop 