Etnofutu – The Ethnofuturism of Fashion

What to do with these?

The general idea

I was originally inspired by Southeast Estonian Setos, who wear traditional clothes together with modern ones – for example a linen shirt with inkle-weaved bands with a suit. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for here, and that's why the photos mostly show the pieces being worn with modern clothing. Many ancient style elements will fit seamlessly into a modern milieu – mixing and matching is encouraged.

Belts

Womens' belts were usually 8–14 tablets thick and mens' often 20 or more. Tablet-woven belts were roughly 3 metres long, and would wrap around the wearer several times, supposedly granting protection from magic. My Finnish-language pamphlet, Ethnofuturism of Fashion has a few simple sample designs that should be followable from the illustrations, and there is quite a number of English-language tablet weaving guides available.

You can use a contrasting colour in the edge as well, but it's a more bold choice.

Red, black, and white is historically the most common colour scheme. They're also used in, for example, the flag of Udmurtia.

This cuff band has been washed dozens of times. The structure will immediately fray, but then stabilize.

Detail: Giving the band an edge to match the fabric makes it blend.

A very elaborate 19th century design. Each square consists of two tablets.

A more elaborate 19th century design. Each square consists of two tablets.

A slightly more elaborate 19th century design. Each square consists of two tablets.

Paitoja

You don't have to use fitted shoulders with shirts, as the weight of the sleeves will pull the fabric down. If the bands of the collar are wide enough, the colalr will stay shut on its own. Otherwise a brooch is necessary. You can save on labour and keep the traditional feminine lines by switching the vertical bands with a contrasting coloured panel.

All of these shirts have loop cuffs. We know from the Volga basin that the old style with the brooches and all gave way first to clothing closed with "straps," but unfortunately no-one recorded any details. This design with interlocking braided loops is from Italy.

Raised and wide collars were used in the 19th century, but it's unknown if they were in the Iron Age. They're quite practical in any case.

This sort of a flat collar is certainly historically authentic, but the coloured linen obviously isn't.

Linen if quite stiff. Here the back has been left with a strong crease after being folded.

The decoration makes up a vast majority of the labour involved, so it's a good idea to use some imagination with it.

Trousers

The bog trousers from Thorsbjerg in Schleswig-Holstein are a very well known and imitated model. The original has extremely tight shins and integrated socks, which aren't in keeping with modern styles, so the main element left is the panel construction, and something broadly similar was followed by all prehistoric trouser finds and Saami trousers. The belt band and loops are authentic and can be repurposed for modern belts. The hip area has plenty of space for hidden pockets.

In these ones I've added hidden pockets on both sides and left the legs rather wide. Very narrow trousers are easy to wrap gaiters around, but that's really a concern these days. The width is up to your own sense on style. Originally the belt band would be turned over to hide a string belt, but that looks weird when combined with modern clothes. The stripes line up surprisingly well, and I presume the Thorsbjerg design was made with striped trousers in mind.

Full pockets don't make a dent in the range of motion.

You can barely see the hidden pockets when empty.

All the freedom of movement has to come from somewhere, since the cloth won't stretch a bit. A coat will hide this.

Dresses

I've counted any unlined long womenswear item as a dress. The traditionally formidable amount of bands makes dresses extremely labour-intensive, and playing around with coloured panels is a very good idea.

The red dress took 40 hours of work and is a fairly close match to a historical piece – the colour and the buttons intergrated into one of the bands are the only real departures. The gray jerkin has a distinct Manchu influence. As modern fashion demands a degree of form-fitting, it's quite necessary to put in buttons or loops. In both of these the mechanism is embedded into the bands.

Men have, on occasion, had this sort of decorations, too. It'd be quite hard to fit into a male style, though.

The dress was designed to have an Empire waist, but my assistant prefers the belt a bit lower.

The loops are slow to close, but the structure is firm.

The linen here is extremely thin, and you can see the bands deforming it.

Coats

I've added permanent folds to the coats to simulate them being belted down. They don't fit perfectly without one, though, so the folds are mostly for looks. So far I have not made any coats for women, but they'd likely work out just fine as heavier, lined dresses.

The thick wool with a linel lining in the overcoat can easily take any conditions the 65th parallel can dish out at Oulu. The blazer-sized one on the other hand is quite cold. The vents let in too much cold air, particularly while bicycling. The jerkin is outright too cold for winter use.

This has been called reminiscent of a sea captain and an Orthodox monk.

You can close the collar with a brooch, but it's quite snug in there.

A thin wool fabric like this will fold over very readily.

A small raiser collar gives a slightly militaristic aura, as many 19th century military uniforms had them.

An archaic cut like this allows for the buttons to actually be used.

Don't even think about using this when it's actually cold.

Cloaks

A small cloak functions fairly well as a shawl or a scarf. They're extremely warm, and the stiff fabric stays upright even when on the move. A larger one would be more out of place, but could possibly be used with more formal wear.

The shoulderscarf keeps the neck quite warm. The edge stays up and you can turn your head as you please.

The tail will easily fall off the shoulder when on the move.

This sort of thing is quite usable in the city, though.

A large cloak looks and behaves like a poncho out of the Andes.

A man's cloak doesn't gather quite as well.

The long tail can be tossed over the shoulder and it will stay there as long as you want. All this is missing is a revolver.

Very asymmetric, and actually rather modern lines.

This toga-like style is very cold. One arm is left cold no matter what you do.

This is attached quite loosely, because of the wide collar of the sweater.

When you gather up the tails, the decorative squares line up.

The squares above the brooch mark the usual place for it.

There's a big square at the neck, but it is left hidden.

All these decorative squares are based on burial #6 at PERNIÖ Yliskylä.

This raincoat configuration is rather nun-like.

Unrealized ideas

Decorative squares and other sorts of embroidery could easily be substituted with felt flowers and the like – less authentic, but that's not what we're going for here anyway.

This is effectively the jerkin shown in the photos, but with an added decoration. The chest as well as above the vents are fairly obvious positions.

The red dress in the photos turned out too bold to find much use – the black one has been far more versatile, even with the bold bands. A vivid central panel with subdued sides could be a good compromise.

Asymmetry is in vogue – here both with the hem and the bands. The dark bit with the embroidered chrysanthemum is an integral part of the left flap.

This bolero jacket -like 2-piece has a definite apron influence. In fact, the panels in the front and back could vey well be decorated at the bottom at least.

Give a frost hood some buttons and it can be used as a shawl – particularly if you use somewhat lighter fabrics.

Another apron design: Here a plain pleated skirt has a vivid front and back panel and bands at the waist and hem. Plain dress shirt for reference.