Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Boromir Costume

The costume: A medieval warrior outfit beloning to my brother, Cimarron.
Inspiration? JRR Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings'

I'm a very big fan of Lord of the Rings. Books first, movies second.
The films do have some very nice, intricate Medieval costumes.

Boromir happens to be my favorite character. So - it's also my *ahem* unbiased opinion that he has the coolest costume in the movies. The thrown-together traveling outfit of a noble prince of Gondor - practical, tough, but still has touches of elegance.


The most notable feature of the oufit is the outer leather tunic:

Using the pictures in the book 'Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare' as a guide, I made Cimarron's tunic up of 4 simple regtangular shaped pieces of soft black leather. (yes, my amazing antique sewing machine does leather too!)




The eding is woven metalic colorful trim, and it fastens in front with silver hook clasps.


The trim on the movie tunic is very faded and worn looking, but if you see a really close up picture, it acutally has a colorful pattern too. 



The movie tunic is actually closer to ankle length - but we ran out of leather. :^(

  

The accesories really add to it -  black cloak, woven leather belt, round shield, battle-worn sword, scabbard, tall boots, the horn of Gondor....



And - who could forget the chainmaille?
Cim actually made this knee-length chainmaille shirt by hand.
The aluminum wire rings are 3/16" of an inch wide, and he estimates that there are 80,000 rings in this one shirt. It is edged by brass rings at sleeves, neck, and hem. The weave is European 4-in-1.
That's a lot of work.




If you are currently under attack by Uruk-Hai, this is exactly who you wish to see running to your defense: 


Eventually I would like to add more items to the costume to make more of a reproduction of the movie - The next addition will be the wine red undertunic with gold embroidery on sleeves and collar... 
(for some of the pictures, we just used a red t-shirt)



Then I also want to do the grey silk undershirt, fur-lined velvet brocade cloak (or the fellowship green/gray cloak), and Tree of Gondor leather cuffs.

Cim fighting his brother, Laredo.  




Laredo and I aren't really representing any characters, we just dressed up for the fun of it.
Laredo is wearing a white osnaburg tunic shirt, leather tunic, steel chainmaille shirt (also made by Cim), and scale armour belt.

 
I suppose this might be something Eowyn would wear? Osnaburg underdress, brown linen dress with flared sleeves and gored skirt (made of the same pattern as the Ophelia dress). Braided leather and brass belt, and gaudy 'gold' necklace. 

Yes - a very fun costume to which I hope to add more elements.


14 comments:

Marian said...

What a wonderful costume!! I love Boromir, and his costume is definitely one of the coolest in the whole trilogy. :) You and your brother did an amazing job!

I've got to show this to my brother; he'll probably want me to make him one, too. :D

Allison said...

Oh wow! That is so cool! Lol, I've got to show this to my brother too. ; )

Apprentice Seamstress said...

Thats is really interesting! Its actually one of the best LOTR remade costumes ive seen!

Anonymous said...

That is incredible! I had NO idea Cim could do chainmaille.

Charity U said...

That's really cool! The chainmail is amazing...wow. Your brother must be very patient. I can't imagine how long it took. I love th costumes you make, they are really neat. Amazing how similar they are to the ones in the movies. (-:

Unknown said...

That's AMAZING!
How cool that he does chainmaille. . . that is just hard work.
Wish I had a brother that I could dress up. :P That would be so much fun to dress up together for fun.
Love the brown Dress, Atlanta, it's simple, but really beautiful.

Ms. Pajak said...

Wow! That is really impressive! Your brother is very skilled to take upon the chain-mail by himself. And you did an absolutely fabulous job on the costume! Such a talented family! I look forward to your work on the red undertunic, which is one of my favorite parts of Boromir's costume.

Sarah said...

LOVE IT!!! The whole costume is so neat. It matches the original pretty well, I think. :) I like your dress too!!! Wish I could have been there.. makes me miss y'all all the more!!!

Much love, Sarah

Maggie said...

Wow! I've never seen the whole LOTR movies, but this really looks like a cool inspiration project! I was really amazed that your brother made the chainmail coat himself...

Great work, again!

Amy said...

Awesomeness!!! Those costumes turned out just beautiful. Your brothers look so handsome in their new duds. :)

Rowenna said...

Thanks for posting "boy clothes!" I often get so wrapped up in girl clothes that I forget how awesome guys' costuming can be. Nicely done!

Avonlea_dreamer said...

This Costume is AMAZING! Like you absolutely wouldn't believe! I grew up an LotR fan, and I've hardly ever seen anything that closely reproduced!

Great Job Atlanta!!!

Unknown said...

Great costume! Love LotR! Boromir is one of my favorite fictional characters.

SisterlyLove said...

this. is. awesome.
-Marguerite

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