Guttersnipe
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,942
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
I ran into one particular 'die-hard' who had a Captain's battledress from the Royal Signals, which was actually used in WWII, and was in such an appalling condition that it was tattered and threadbare.
I, on the other hand, had a period jacket and cap in good condition which were rare and good finds, and the rest of my kit is reproduction. He seemed to think that he looked far more authentic, but didn't seem to realise that uniforms issued at the time weren't actually 60 years old.
When I was a company commander in an American Civil War renactment group, I was ardent about my guys not having their uniforms dry cleaned. Across all eras of reenacting, two things are common in detracting from reenactors appearances; they are too clean and too fat.
While I don't think it's reasonable to expect middle aged civilians to be as slender as half starved 20 somethings, it's perfectly reasonable to expect them to weather/distress equipment to appear as they would on campaign. Conversely, when we wore our pre/early war militia kit, I fully expected mirror shined brass, glossy leathers, and brushed clean uniforms ... it's all about context.