The fun and creative costumes are just one reason to come to the last weekend of the Tennessee Renaissance Festival (RenFest), which will close for the season on Memorial Day. The event takes place in Arrington, Tennessee at 2135 Newcastle Road.
Near the end of every day, there is a costume parade near the jousting field, but the display of costumes can be found all over the grounds worn by attendees. There seems to be more and more of them every year. While some obviously come out of a bag from Amazon, many are purchased bit by bit from vendors at the fair who hand-make each piece. Others are made by hand by participants themselves.
“It is a chance to indulge in a bit of make-believe and forget the real world,” said festival founder Mike Freeman, as he addressed those visiting the castle.
For those who are not handy with a needle or feel they are not very creative, there are a number of booths on the grounds that offer everything from leather jerkins to historically accurate velvet corsets to real metal armor, plus all of the necessary accessories like swords, coin purses, and petticoats.
Amy Iglesias has been coming to the festival for 25 years, and she is a second-generation owner of Dragon’s Den Costumes. Her shop, one of the only actual buildings on the grounds, can be found near the entrance to the festival grounds. She makes all of the products she sells.
“I live in my workshop in the garage and my family brings me food,” Amy Iglesias quipped.
Dragon’s Den Costumes is actually a family affair. Iglesias’ husband builds the costume shop on the grounds every year, and their children help in the shop.
“My mother sewed, and she taught me,” Iglesias said. “She owned a costume shop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for 25 years. She began doing Renaissance Festivals after she retired. Handmade is the way to go. It’s a lost art.”
Fairies and fair maidens, courtiers and pirates, wenches and warriors purchase pieces from Iglesias. Some will buy a whole outfit. Some will pull together their look piece by piece after several years of saving for the handmade items. While she will do custom items, she prefers working from the patterns she has already created. Her work is also admired by those into cosplay and role-playing games.
While Iglesias works in fabric, Suzanne Mayer’s costumes are constructed from real leather and suede. She, too, makes everything by hand and has a following. While this is her eighth year at this festival, she had been selling her leather items at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival for 25 years.
Completely self-taught, Mayer has been working with leather for 30 years. Right now, some of her most popular items for men and women are related to Viking attire, and huntress looks for women. Pirate costumes are also top sellers.
One of her most outstanding commissions is a Predator costume. Made over several years, it was commissioned by an individual who wears it to the RenFest every year.
Each of her costumes are well thought out. For example, most of her bodices for women are made so that fairy wings can be laced into them. And she designs with all sizes in mind, as her women’s bodices and jackets go up to 3X.
“I like to design for people who have trouble finding things off the rack,” said Mayer.
While both Iglesias and Mayer make everything by hand, they have noticed that there are more and more booths offering mass-produced items. The Shadowed Stranger offers a mix of custom-made and mass-produced clothing, like leather goods and wizard’s capes. However, their main focus is weaponry. They carry daggers, swords, rapiers, axes and unique sword canes.
Those who dress in court-style clothing of the Renaissance period can spend more than $3,000 for a woman’s gown and as much as $2,500 for a man’s outfit with all of the accessories. That is why you will see far more wenches, pirates, and fairies than courtiers wandering the dusty pathways of the RenFest grounds.
Many people make their own costumes from everything from cardboard boxes to bits of this and that they have found at second-hand stores. One year, a fairy even made the skirt of her dress out of real flowers.
Each weekend has a theme. The final weekend’s theme is “Celtic Celebration.” This theme celebrates fairies and wizards, princesses and brave knights. The costume procession will take place each day on the jousting field at 5:30 p.m.
RenFest is open from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Memorial Day weekend on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It is best to purchase tickets in advance here.
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