What to wear?

The garb police are not real. Instead they are the voices in your head that quietly point out that a generic tunic and trousers is an attempt at pre-1600 clothing but it really doesn't fit your persona!

One of the puzzles involved in choosing an under represented time and place for your persona is that garb is not quite straightforward. There are fewer go to sources already identified for all sorts of reasons. Pre-1200, broadly speaking, there are simply fewer extant garments, fewer visual sources that have survived, and fewer accessible period written records. Archaeological findings and secondary sources discussing them are not spread evenly and often under represented cultures are under represented in SCA personas because the historical record is limited for that time and place. Articles, monographs, and books are more likely to be written in languages other than English. Finally, annoyingly, for some cultures there is a constant question of how much the information is being filtered through lenses of nationalism and colonialism. 

My persona is a 12th century minor noble from the Svaneti region of the Kingdom of Georgia. Born into a well off peasant family. (Georgian feudalism is pretty much like feudalism everywhere but if you want to know a few details they are here) As an adult he has served David IV and now Demetre I as a scholar and messenger. Most recently he has been granted noble rank by Demetre I in recognition of his service and to give him a higher status when acting as the king's messenger and diplomat in the regions surrounding the Kingdom of Georgia.

The question is what should he wear? Given my real life proclivities this can't be answered without doing a deep dive in the dress of a 12th century Svan man (note that this page has been updated for the December A&S virtual display and differs significantly from what I showed at Harper's Retreat). However this is clearly a situation that screams for a TL;DR summery so I will oblige. 

Portrait of the donor Mikael Chegiani, Hadishi Church of the Savior - [Svaneti 12-13th century]

Multiple frescoes around the Kingdom of Georgia (most in Svaneti or nearby provinces) show garments similar to that worn by Mikael Chegiani (above). He is wearing what some Georgian scholars consider the traditional dress of a Georgian noble; a center opening garment tightly fitted and buttoned down to the waist with long slim cut sleeves, armbands, double line of trim from around the central opening, and a standing collar worn spread as triangles over the heart.

Donor portraits from the Church of the Archangel  Zemo-Krikhi - [Racha 11th century]

Rati Surameli, Varzia Monastery [1184]

Coronation of Demetre I, Matskhvarishi Church of the Savior, background removed to enhance visibility  - [Svaneti 1140]

The style is common throughout the Georgian Golden Age from the 11th through the early 13th century especially in churches in Svaneti. It is clearly an evolution of earlier Central Asian garments but has a different front opening and greater incorporation of a stand collar that results in both two lines of trim down both sides of the front opening and triangular lapels that sit wider than the neck opening and show the trim fabric encircling the neck. While the slim or close fit above the waist is seen in other Central Asian inspired coats and caftans the sleeves are seen to be slimmer than later Persian garments.

Can research ever be done? I have answered my basic question about the dress of a 12th century Svan man. After all in Georgian the garment pictured above is a kaba which literally translates as dress. 😀 I'm still working on body linens, shoes, hats, and the like. But a completely research task almost always offers up new questions. The specific style of wearing the kaba shown above is very common in church donor frescoes and portraits of some royalty. In the 11th and 12th centuries it is practically the only outfit shown in Svaneti that isn't on royalty, religious garb or classical garb on a saint or biblical figure. Yet when you look at Georgian sources concerning medieval costumes there are some authors that ignore it. 

Most men shown in this form of kaba are not royal and perhaps that is enough. The majority of the images are in Svaneti which is, even now, remote. This remoteness has helped the images survive since medieval times but there has been notable decline in Georgian frescoes during the 20th and 21st century which might mean more modern scholars do not feel they can provide new insights from studying some of the frescoes. Hopefully it is not a form of nationalism but I do have questions about that as the same factors that I see as having Central Asian and North Caucasus connections might be connected to the issues of Abkhazia and Ossetia. Of course it might be none of the above and merely a chance sampling error in the handful of authors I have attempted to translate.