Re: [Mid] Authentic Cotton

Greetings--

> I hope that, when forced to choose, most of us put less priority on fabric
> material than the more obvious visual cues like color, pattern, texture,
cut
> & seams, or even thread count.

That's an important point. Authenticity is not just fabric. It's cut,
decoration, fit, use of layers, and so forth. They all add up to the big
picture. Authenticity exists on a spectrum.

> IMHO it's kind of silly to pick on anyone's attempt at period clothing. I
> wish I could remember an event where the most glaring OOP issue was cotton
> cloth!

Again, we have to be careful about what we're actually discussing here.
This discussion evolved out of comments about cheap authenticity, and
whether cotton fabric was "authentic" or not. That unfortunately poses a
black and white question for a grey area. Cotton fabric is authentic for
some people and clothing items, but not for others. And there are quite
valid reasons why someone might choose to use cotton even if wasn't strictly
authentic for their particular purposes.

And I think we're a world away from "picking on" anyone--but there's
sometimes a misunderstanding when someone states a fact (such and such isn't
authentic for me) that there is an implied criticism of anyone who uses that
item. This is an unfortunate side effect of the "garb snark" problem. "Garb
snarks" are people who berate others' attempts at garb, often using
authenticity as an excuse, as part of a power play. Most garb snarks aren't
interested in authenticity, other than as a weapon to demonstrate how
knowledgeable or important they are. They're the ones who have turned the
phrase "X isn't authentic" into a loaded statement. The problem is--it's
not always loaded; sometimes it's just a simple fact, with no ulterior
motive involved at all.

Nicolaa

From: "Susan Carroll-Clark" <nicolaa@columbus.rr.com>
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Received on Sun Jan 13 14:45:26 2002