Facebook Tidbits

It seems the facebook page, although not necessarily gaining much visible activity, it seems it may have perhaps led to more traffic on my vyou.com page. Luckily, vyou.com has a link between itself and facebook, so that every reply that is made on vyou appears on facebook, for people to watch. Therefore, everyone who has Samuel Daniel as a ‘friend’ on facebook receive constant updates whenever a new message is replied to.

Most of the original people I have added on Samuel Daniel’s facebook, are also my friends on facebook, and so I could create a greater degree of separation between myself and the character. It seems to have worked in that one of my friends recently said to me that they thought that Samuel Daniel was a cousin of mine. I asked them what they had meant by that, and they had said they thought I was a boy, a feminine looking boy but a boy nonetheless who looked rather similar to me. I have to admit, to receive a response like that from a friend was very inspiring. It made me feel like the project and the character was really coming into his own in that he is able to convince people he is real via facebook and vyou.

Additionally, it seems people have taken a liking to the character on facebook, especially the Jacobean nature of it. Several people have suggested he ‘like’ a group dedicated to Shakespeare, the Globe and other Jacobean-related articles on the website. Similarly, Samuel Daniel has recently been invited to an ‘event’ on facebook which is a production of Shakespeare’s Loves Labours Lost which is to be performed in Brighton at the end of the month. It is funny to think that people are inviting a character to events and becoming his ‘friend’ via the internet. It feels like a different level of character development than that of vyou. Facebook is called ‘the Social Network’ for a reason, and it feels as though Daniel is having a wider sphere to work in when on there. I write occasional status updates for him, and have added a few webcam photos to keep the page active. I am now beginning to rather enjoy playing a character via facebook. I think, perhaps, were I to extend this section of the experiment further I might like to have a person in a similar situation as Daniel to converse and enact with. Similar to that of some of the ‘joke’ profiles and status updates made such as the World War II countries discussion. (As pictured.)

I believe someone to interact with on a similar level could create a wider story and spectrum to play with. There could be a development of a relationship between characters via facebook. Perhaps even, the secondary character could make a vyou, and the two could comment and respond to each other’s replies both on vyou and on the updates on facebook. Such an experiment and extended development would need a greater period of time in which to work in. It would be interesting perhaps to consider, or research such an experiment in the future.

Group Critique

I am not sure what to think of my group critique. On the whole everyone seemed to like it, but then it seemed everyone said that my project lacked ‘depth and meaning’. I know I have been told this before by my tutor, but the point of this was so that in my PDP I can write an essay essentially as an accompaniment to my visual work on vyou.com. My essay would be written on the ‘interaction and development of character and audience through a virtual medium’. That is supposed to be the ‘deep and meaningful’ part of the work, while the visual, vyou.com part of the work, is in a sense an on-going experiment to track and understand how character and audience react on the website.

Several artists were suggested for me to research, there are tenuous links between all of them and my own work I admit.

Artists mentioned include:
Sophie Calle

Orlan

Oreet Ashery

Stellarc

But I genuinely cannot see nor think, nor be inspired by them to make my own work ‘deeper’. Most of the artists relate to the physical nature of the body, while using the addition of technology to help enhance their concept. However, I am using technology as a way to present and sort of explore a concept which I only vaguely have the tip of. I am not changing myself, I am changing a character which I interpret as being a separate entity of myself. Part of the project is in a sense, me separating myself from the character of Samuel Daniel, whereas it seems these artists all do exactly the opposite.

Facebook Page

Samuel Daniel now has a facebook page in which all vyou updates are located on, as well as other photographs of him, notes, status updates and information on performances.

Samuel Daniel's Facebook Page

Updates as they occur:

Photography Project

Due to the fact that I had limited time to complete the costume in Phase 2, I was unable to get any good photographs of the costume in a finished setting, while I was dressed as the character in question. So one Sunday afternoon, myself, and a friend, Eleanor Conlon, visited Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, Sussex. I live very near to the location in question and felt it would be most suitable to take photographs of myself as Samuel Daniel there. For starters the house and the original grounds were built in the late 1500s, which is the period in which Samuel Daniel is from. Obviously, this manor house would not belong to an actor of such standing as himself, but it would nonetheless be a place where he would likely visit, whether with the rest of his troupe to try and persuade the owner to become a patron, or simply to present a production to the owner and his fellow peers. This would certainly have been the sort of thing to occur at the house, and although, sadly, were not given permission to take photographs inside the building, the exterior seemed wonderful and suitable enough for the minor project as it was.

When having photographs taken of my cosplays, I like to have the settings fit the character, I don't like contrast when it comes to characters rather than fashion soots. I believe it makes the character all the more believable and real to almost create a live-action world around them that fits and relates to the character. If they have a believable and fitting world for them to exist in, then it makes them seem more like they exist in and of themselves. I also like to come up with a basic story or reasoning behind as to why a character might be making such a pose, or behaving in such a way in a particular location. Again, I believe points like this add to the believability of the character themselves.

Samuel Daniel is visiting the home of patron and playwright Francis Beaumont

As per request, the King's Men troupe have been asked to perform for the evening. Daniel is tuning his mandolin before rehearsal

Daniel during rehearsal, serenading as part of his role.

Due to the summer heat, the troupe departed for the gardens to relax in the shade. Daniel discarded his sleeves due to the fact he was far too hot.

Due to his now 'rogue-ish' appearance (his lack of sleeves and points) , Daniel tries his luck at woo-ing some of the ladies attending.

Becoming Samuel Daniel

[Getting changed & hair, make-up and costume post]

Additional Character Information [Discovered pre-July 10th]

Samuel Daniel has been involved in several plays over the years, he particularly enjoys his involvement in The Faithful Shepherdess written by John Fletcher, 1609. It was one of his first lead female roles, playing Clorin, the Shepherdess of the play's title. He particularly liked the role, because he thinks he portrayed the character of Clorin very well, and he thinks he looked very good and made the audience remember him as a main character. He unfortunately isn't able to talk about the play much, however, considering the unenthusiastic response it received from its audience. Much to his frustration.

Additionally, another play that piques Daniel's interest in his performance and role is that of Isabella in the play Wit Without Money (1614) also written by Fletcher. He thinks it is one of his finer roles, as the reason he was picked was because of his acting capability, but also for his successful appearance as a very 'pretty' woman on stage. However, he is faintly bitter about the fact that he thinks the gentleman who performed Lady Hartwell got a better role than him, as the character has more lines than that of Isabella.

Due to him performing in numerous plays written by John Fletcher, Daniel has indeed met the man himself. He finds the man to be fairly friendly and approachable. Though, he does admit that sometimes he finds the playwright to get a bit 'carried away' sometimes. (This has yet to be elaborated on.) He also thinks Fletcher's dress-sense and fashion is amazing and really knows how to work an outfit - Daniel has expressed his desire to find out who Fletcher's tailor might be, so he can get an outfit from him himself.

On the matter of fashion and his clothes, he does adore his attire, having stated that he bought the doublet seperate from the rest of his outfit. He bought the French hose and the slashed sleeves together, but the matching doublet unfortunately had already been sold to someone else. Daniel states that he attended one of the many sales by Philip Henslowe, who was selling some of the costumes of his playhouse for cash. Sorely in need of a doublet to match his hose and his ("beautiful") slashed sleeves Daniel went for his current doublet. He admits he can't remember which play it was from, but there was some blood that got on it from a fight scene that got a bit out of hand, which he had to scrub out.

As much as Daniel openly seems to show his love for fashion, costume and clothes, he does however point out the fact that clothes aren't necessarily something that you just wear. He points out that your clothes are part of your wealth, they're not just there to show it, but to also account for part of it. Seeing as there were no banks during this period of history, money and wealth was put into material goods, including clothes to make up for someone's total wealth. Daniel is no different, and even points out that the reason he only wears one outfit, is because he can only afford one outfit due to the lack of money he gets paid because he is an actor. He even states that due to the fact he is in slight debt, he had to sell his sleeves to pay it off - much to his misery.

Even though Daniel comes across as very shallow due to his love for fashion and clothes, and his want to be able to get the bigger, and more important roles in plays so that the audience pay more attention to him, it has to be said that part of the reason he enjoys being an actor, is not entirely for purely selfish reasons. When asked whether he has 'touched' a lot of people, Daniel actually gets rather sentimental, he points out that being an actor is inspiring, because he is able to present and tell stories to people that they may not hear otherwise. He states he enjoys being able to make the audience watching laugh and cry and love with the characters they are presenting on stage. It seems he doesn't tend to (or perhaps doesn't like to) show this side of himself all that much, it seems he is perhaps putting up a bit of a front in his behaviour to others.

Additionally, when behaving in regards to the questions he's answered, it seems Daniel tends to take on a very defensive attitude, specifically if it involves perhaps some kind of criticism of himself. People who have pointed out his messy hair, stated that the fact he's wearing one outfit is gross and asked why he can't reply instantaneously have all received a rather sharp, heated response. He is generally defending himself in these responses, often with the tone that the people asking the questions are perhaps a bit stupid, and don't fully understand what he has to go through. Often he ends up having to explain the situation of things, in an attempt to perhaps 'educate' the person he is replying to.

The First Responses

Even though most of this project was decided because I insisted at the beginning that I did not feel comfortable performing alone in front of a physical audience in costume for this piece, it is still slightly surreal and embarrassing to be performing to a virtual audience as well.  Admittedly, it was a little embarrassing recording answers to the videos, even though I was technically not in front of a physical audience, the fact that I was aware that there would be the person who asked the question watching it, while also there would be numerous other unknown people watching, it became a little daunting, and I felt generally more nervous acting to a screen and talking to a microphone while no-one was around rather than acting in front of a crowd of people.

After doing my initial ‘waiting’ and ‘response’ video on vyou.com I started getting several questions sent to me straight away. Oddly enough they were not entirely the sort of questions I was expecting except perhaps from the ‘who are you?’ question. All the others seemed to be from people who were playing along with me dressed up, asking questions about the sort of plays I was doing as if the character was real  -  I had expected such questions to wait a little before people finally accepted that I was acting in-character, but it seemed that people were far more accepting than I expected.

One question I was asked talked about what sort of plays I had been up to, and so I replied with some of the research I had studied beforehand. The other questions however were more relating to an in-character piece of play. I was told that I looked ‘spiffy’, if I knew the playwright of ‘Wit Without Money’ and what my favourite drink was on a cold night. These were most enjoyable to respond to as I was able to behave more like the character would, and be able to understand a little bit more about him as a developing character.

Specifically with the two questions about the play ‘Wit Without Money’. In the first reply about what plays Samuel Daniel did, he replied with the title of the play and stated that he was performing as the character ‘Isabella’ because she is pretty, and he was clearly chosen because he is considerably pretty too, and that he is well-known for playing the ‘pretty’ women characters on stage. At which point, he then complains about how the Lady has better lines and banter than him. He seems genuinely annoyed with this – it seems, his character wants him to get noticed, he wants more stage time and he wants to be the one everyone remembers once the play is over and done with. Similarly, after the response to knowing the playwright of ‘Wit Without Money’, it seems Samuel Daniel is a little annoyed with him, perhaps frustrated at his success of having written with Shakespeare. Though, he does commend him on his dress sense, apparently appearance is considerably important to Samuel Daniel, and even though a person may frustrate and annoy him, he can ease up his dislike for them somewhat if they dress well.

When addressing the questions such as ‘you look rather spiffy’ and ‘show us what you’re wearing’ he is very pleased by this, and extremely smug. Clearly he thinks a lot of himself, and thinks he dresses very well – which has been established as being very important to him. He shows off his attire and agrees that he does ‘look rather spiffy’ indeed. Already it has been established that Samuel Daniel is rather confident, he takes pride in his appearance, thinking that his looks, and the way he dresses partially attributes to his work on the stage. He likes to be the centre of attention, and gets annoyed when other people show off instead of him.

So far, only six questions have been given and responded to, though already that has developed a certain personality for the character already.

Starting the project. Vyou.com

I started the blog on vyou.com at the beginning of this week, sorting out the waiting video and response video.

http://vyou.com/IbeforeMe

I wanted to keep the waiting video rather vague, so as not to spoil what I would appear as in the video when I showed up in costume. So I appeared with the wig on and make-up, but avoid showing the costume until the last few frames. I tried to make the ‘waiting video’ as in-character as possible. Due to the fact there is no sound that went with this video, I had to try and work out a way to make it still work as an in-character type of action.

I decided to play on the idea that Samuel has just found the recording equipment, and is having a bit of a play with it. He looks at it from top to the side, examining it carefully (also only showing the wig and make-up, so it does not necessarily look like I am wearing a costume) before appearing on screen in the full costume. He does not acknowledge the costume, after all, it is his normal clothes, and instead looks at the camera, then aside, and grins – perhaps he is not meant to be playing with the equipment after all.

He then tugs on his collar a bit, and looks himself up and down in the camera. Clearly, Samuel Daniel is very vain and likes to make a lot of his appearance. Finally, after he’s happy with how he looks, he scoots away from the waiting video out of shot.

I would hope that the waiting video gives enough ideas to those who would be watching and possibly asking questions. In that it shows I am in character, and also in costume, in the way I behave when I am fully on the screen, grinning, and being very concerned with my image. While similarly leaving enough blank and unexplained so that people might ask more questions.

Phase 3: Character Information

Samuel Daniel

17 Years old. Born 1596.

English, with Italian ancestry. Parents are wealthy merchants focusing on the tinker-trade. He lives away from home in a small rented room in London, close to the playhouses.

Samuel got involved in acting at the age of ten years old by becoming a member of the Children of the Chapel – a child-specific group who performed plays to court. He began by specifically performing female parts, but quickly left in 1606 after several scandals involving the plays that were performed that landed the company in some disrepute and several of the writers in jail. Due to his acting capabilities, however, he swiftly gained a position in the King’s Men theatre troupe, again, performing female roles. He has stayed in that position to this day, performing both on stage at the theatre and to the court. He can sing, play the mandolin and thinks he makes a rather convincing woman on the stage.

Phase 3: Thoughts Pre-Study Plan

After getting my assessment for Phase 2 I do not know quite what to think. It was noted that apparently I had not mentioned that I wanted to use this MA as a way to get into the film industry, which I for one think is not entirely true. As, at the very beginning of Phase 1 when we did our personal presentations, I presented my film I produced in my third year of my Film degree. Stated the jobs I did, what I enjoyed and how I wanted to get involved in the film industry. It was when I mentioned cosplay and my costumes – relating my hobby to the MA so there was more understanding as to why I took a costume MA that suddenly all tutors took great interest in my costume history, in the idea of character and my apparent ‘psychosis’ of gender. It was through their persuasion and discussion that I abandoned my film aspect – even though I had said at numerous tutorials at the beginning I would like to do something filmic. However as the MA went on it seemed like I had to deviate from that. Hence why I have been getting involved in my own filmic projects on the side.

I just feel very deflated as I actually did extensive work for my PDP but apparently it wasn’t enough to warrant a reasonable mark, so generally I’m a bit of a loss at what to do. There was further discussion in my assessment regarding gender at a psychological level – which I have stated on numerous occasions that I don’t want to bother with. It feels like this attempt to get me to look into it is like everyone is telling me that I have a psychological ‘problem’ with gender views and values and identity, which is horribly frustrating. The reason I don’t want to go into too much detail with gender is because I find gender boring, it is not something I care about because I find gender to be fluid – as I have mentioned before. Therefore, I think little of it, and it doesn’t bother me, but it comes across that because it doesn’t bother me, it must be something I must research and look into to find out WHY. I don’t want to find out why. That is my view that is my opinion. What I think is not a ‘problem’, I do not have an ‘identity problem’ because of my views on gender, so why, is it so important for me to look into it when I could look into something that I might actually be interested in?

I don’t want to perform the character externally either – this is something else I have expressed before. I would want to perform it purely in a digital platform because that is essentially what they are created for. Why would I drag a character out of the platform they have been created in? I don’t entirely know.

Quite frankly, since the assessment my head is in a bit of a mess, and I don’t feel like doing Phase 3 as I had thought before. I have asked for a tutorial to be booked. I just want to get everything sorted now. Though I feel all my research for Phase 2 was pretty redundant as my mark was so low. So I don’t know what to focus my work on next and I don’t know what the uni expects of me to get me an okay mark? Am I supposed to dance around outside naked, quoting Twelfth Night and blag something about how I’m exploring my inner gender psyche? Because that is what it feels like. I’ve known from the beginning that what the uni and I see are two completely different things, so it is incredibly difficult to work in a way that seems to fit the uni’s views and criteria. I thought the course was going to be significantly different to what I have been given, I was hoping to learn new skills and techniques to create exciting new costumes and the likes – whereas it has been completely the opposite, so it is very difficult to try and feel like I am actually getting anything out of this course. The only thing at the moment is the knowledge that I shall hopefully at least get some ‘MA’ letters on my CV at the end of it. It would be nice, at least, perhaps after Phase 3 to feel like I have achieved more than that. But at the moment, it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

Hair & Makeup

This is my hair and makeup test for when I dress as Samuel Daniel. I’ve tried to make myself look slightly more boy-ish in appearance, yet not too much, as I’m still supposed to look like a young man capable of performing as a woman on stage.

Makeup consists of a basic foundation and powder, followed by numerous applications of a brown shadow on various areas of my face to bring out more boyish aspects of my appearance. I have put shadows around my jawline to try and make it look a little more boyish, trying to square it out and make it more defined. I have a particularly rounded jawline, whereas men and boys have a more square-set one, so shadowing it should bring it out some more.

I also put shadows around the corners of my eyes to change their shape somewhat and to make them look more deeply set, while putting more around the edges of my nose to make it look thinner, and the corners of my mouth to make them look wider, and the shape to look somewhat different. Of course I have thickened and darkened my eyebrows to make them match the colour of the wig, and to again change their appearance and shape somewhat, while still trying to retain a fairly feminine look of my own. My hairline is shadowed, specifically my widow’s peak, just in case, before having a lace front wig put on top.

Hopefully I shall have a hat made by the time I begin to take photos of myself in the outfit and for the videos which should make the wig look more convincing – as it is usually the top of the head that tends to give away whether or not a wig is very obviously a wig, and a hat should be an easy enough way to get around that problem.

Making the Outfit

After researching at the Globe’s archives and costume department to see the traditional way in which the costumes were made, I have tried to create my own costume in a similar way, trying to use original ways in which the clothes were put together. I am attempting to use points to attach the various items of clothing together, such as the hose attached to the doublet, and the sleeves attached to the doublet also via a collection of points, tied together, therefore the sleeves would be detachable – in the style of the period. This would be done, as in the period people generally wore their wealth, as there were no real banks for people to contain their money. Their wealth would be in their belongings and their clothes. So should someone be short of money, they would sell items of clothing – such as their sleeves – to earn some money.

The original pattern I made was based off the pattern printed in Historical Costumes and How to Make them, it was very useful in giving me the basic shapes I needed, and included patterns for a doublet, hose, sleeves and a cape. I adapted the patterns slightly, such as the hose in the book were specifically Venetian hose, which, after the research I did pertaining to the type of clothes young men such as Samuel Daniel might have worn was not suitable. So I adapted the pattern into making a pair of French hose with added cannions instead. Similarly, the style of sleeves in the book were for the larger, more pronounced and stuffed sleeves of the earlier period of the middle 1500s, whereas Samuel Daniel’s style of clothing is based more on the early 1600-style of clothing, in which the sleeves were significantly less stuffed and were much tighter on the arms, and around the wrists.

I started work on the doublet first; I had managed to come across a lucky find in a charity shop of finding an old bed linen set of the colour and pattern-style I wanted for Samuel’s doublet. It was 100% cotton and perfect for what I needed. In my design, the doublet is an orange colour, trying to bring out the bright, youthful colours gentlemen of the period might have worn. I was hoping to find something with a matching pattern so it would look detailed and to the period, rather than having to make a pattern entirely from slashing the doublet in the style of the Romeo doublet at in the Globe’s costume archives. (The black doublet with pink slashings). Thankfully, the fabric I found had an interesting mix of oranges, yellows and terracotta’s which suited the style I wanted, and so I felt that was all that was needed. I tried to keep in style with the Globe’s way of making doublets, it was my first attempt at using quilting for the inner-lining of the doublet. All doublets were generally lined with quilting, due to the nature of the British weather being significantly colder than what it is today – of course, should the weather ever have gotten too hot, again, points could be used to remove one’s sleeves, and make the outfit a lot cooler.

While researching at the Globe I also took note of the shoulder-arches on most doublets, used to define the shoulders, I made a pair of these out of the same bed-linen material, while using the lining of the bed linen as lining for the shoulder arches themselves. They are stuffed with wadding to give them the particular pronounced look of the period. As luck would have it, after I raided my gran’s sewing box for anything that could be useful to me, I came across some spare material which I believe might have been used to upholster an armchair. The material was a dark orange/brown colour, and had a rather ‘nubbly’-texture to it, which I felt was quite suitable for the period I was aiming for with my doublet. So along the edge of the shoulder-arches I have piped the material to again, give it a more defined quality.

I used the same upholstery material to make the collar for the doublet, the darker colour offsetting the lighter yellow of the pattern on the doublet very nicely. I felt the colours all easily complimented each other, and gave the doublet an almost continental look, with all the oranges, yellows and terracotta’s. However, in the design I wanted to make a stark contrast between colours, by using bright blue against orange. Clothing of the period was particularly bold and colours were often mixed and matched as people were far braver in trying out colour combinations which might not fully mix such as blues mixed with green and green and pink and so on. So to try and recreate this bravery with colours that people had of the time, I needed a good blue to offset with the oranges of the doublet. I had come across a lovely turquoise inkle braid which I have used as a trim on the edging of the entirety of the doublet. It is a different colour blue to that of the hose, but the fact that there is blue still included creates – I believe – a good balance between both matching the rest of the outfit, and also creating the stark contrast with the rest of it.

Unfortunately no matter how hard I tried I could not find any suitable buttons to be used that were the same as the sort I found up at the Globe. The buttons there were round wooden buttons that had then been covered with silk thread to match the doublet. I tried to find such round wooden buttons but to no avail, so I had to search for buttons which I felt would be just as suited to clothing of the period. I came across a collection of buttons that had the look of dark leather plaited together. Leather at the time was very easy to come by, and the pattern was simple, yet elegant and I felt it suited what I needed very well. Also, the darkness of the buttons I felt brought the doublet to life, considering the rest of the doublet colours are very light and bright. The button loops are simply plaited string sewn together.

The Globe outfits had hand-stitched eyelets for which the points could be threaded through. These would be used to tie the various pieces of one’s outfit together, such as the doublet, hose and sleeves. (I unfortunately did not have enough time to put eyelets on the sleeves – but this will be rectified once I get the outfit back from assessment.) I did not have time to do my own hand-stitched eyelets, so instead I used grommets instead as a way of threading the points through. The points themselves are based off the points I saw used at the Globe. They are blue ribbon with metal corset nubs sewn onto the ends, which would then be threaded through the eyelets. [I need to sew a large collection of these to tie everything together.]

The sleeves are made of blue silk dupion with peach underlining and quilting for the lining. The blue is bright enough to make a stark contrast between the colours on the rest of the doublet, and matching the cannions on the hose. They are slashed so as to show the peach underlining, done in the style of the period and to match the rest of the doublet. Eyelets will be added around the edge of the upper sleeves to thread points through which would allow the sleeves to be attached to the doublet.

The hose were sewn from the pattern used in the book as before, though I shortened them somewhat so as to make them French Hose, which are considerably shorter than that of Venetian hose. They are made from gold silk dupion which shines blue in the light, the hose are stuffed with wadding to make them thick and stick out. The cannions are blue silk dupion with small slashes, stuffed with wadding with gold embroidery appliquéd on in a decorative manner. The lower britches are the underside of the fabric used for the doublet, a darker orange in colour with the yellow thread-swirls and patterns used on the underside to try and match the colours, but still have a bit of variety on par with the rest of the hose.

Group Critique with Leigh Clarke.

It is always disheartening when the first thing you are told after you have done your presentation is "I'm sorry but I don't know much about your particular subject." I really don't understand the point of someone who does not necessarily know what I am talking about to then go and critique my work or my work practice. What is the sense in that? If you want to sort out something with your account you would in theory go to your bank - not to the local fish and chip shop to ask for advice. It seems this is the case however with the critiques. You have one single person come in and discuss all the different matters from Fine Art, Photography, Costume, Graphic Design and so on. I am not putting the person critiquing at fault - it is not their fault if they do not know every aspect of all the different MA pathways that are being done - but considering the university is taking it upon themselves to open up more MA pathways in the future, I certainly think they should take it upon themselves to revise the whole Group Critiquing system.

That being said, even though Clarke knew little about the subject matter, his words and suggestions were very interesting - it was just a shame it had absolutely nothing to do with my subject matter (another disheartening point). I explained from the top my line of thought, creating a character, how I wanted to do it, etc. and I ended up mentioning and showing my original designs for the character - the regency uniforms. I mentioned how I enjoyed military uniforms, especially historical ones and so on, before going off and saying how instead I wanted to focus on something different, and hence I went into the Jacobean side of things.

The impression I got was he chose to pretty much blank out the rest of what I said. He mentioned going to the Globe was very good, and showed I put in hard work, and then he said "You may want to look into this or ignore it altogether" Obviously, I was a littler apprehensive about hearing what he had to say after that remark. At which point he went on a massive tirade about military uniforms, how they had different meanings nowadays since we (ordinary citizens) are not involved in wars, it is the army that deal with them, and therefore wars and ergo uniforms do not mean the same thing anymore.

His notes I was given:

• Military clothing connotations
• Regimes
• Dick Jewell - Kinky Galinky, 80's
• Old Vic
• Boy George/Leigh Bowery/80's
• Beatles Sgt. Pepper Cover
• Wearing propaganda - book

Which was all well and good, I found it all very interesting as I do generally have an interest in military uniforms - I like making them, looking at them and studying them. However the frustrating thing was that currently I am NOT doing any work on military uniforms, I'm working on Jacobean clothing and I have no interest in changing my work in Phase 2 currently.

That being said, it did strike a thought for me as I remembered an event that happened fairly recently in regards to historical military and so on. As said I have always been a fan of military uniforms, historical military campaigns and so on. When I was younger - about the age of eleven, I was watching a historical documentary on television which had reenacted scenes in it. I said to my dad how I wished to be in such scenes and I wondered how they got people to do it. At which point my dad pointed out to me that there were such things as historical reenactment societies and I could always research them and get involved if I wanted to. Which I did. Unfortunately, at the age of eleven there are few companies that are willing to take you on with an adult, much less on your own. Also, where I am from, Sussex, there are few historical battlegrounds and historical buildings about that do not involve the Vikings, Saxons or Medieval Knights - as much as I enjoy this history, I have little interest to join a society where I run around in chainmail all day. So I left it for many years, hoping to eventually get involved in a society when I was older, and able to get to places by myself. Unforauntely, due to College and eventually University, I was not able to take a look until quite recently when I knew I would be leaving education at the end of this year, and would have some more time to persue historical reenacting as a hobby.

Immediately a found a list of numerous websites for Napoleonic Reenactment groups throughout England - as that was the period of military history I am interested in the most (I adore the height of regimental discipline, the wonderful array of uniforms - as it was for me, when military attire was at its most ornate and decorative - where war was almost an event for a gentlemen to dress in their finaries, as they would for dinner or some other highly proper event). Much to my frustration however, there were many groups that stated on their websites how women who wanted to join could only be 'camp followers' and not be involved in the army ranks whatsoever. (To me, a 'camp follower' essentially accumulates to being a 'groupie' which is not what I wanted to do. I want to get involved in the fighting, I want to shoot rifles and muskets and march with the men in glorious uniforms). Most websites however did not specify, and I sent plenty of emails out to them in hope to get a response about whether I could join as a girl. All of them said no, most of them stating 'it is not historically accurate'.

Of course, I was very angry about this, 'not historically accurate'? Had a black man asked to join, would they also have said no because it was 'not historically accurate'? I also sent emails stating that I was happy to pretend to be a boy for events. I sent photos of me in my male costumes, bound, with fake facial hair and make up to make myself look more manly, saying I would happily be assumed to be a boy and leave it at that. Again, all the replies I got refused my entry, stating that 'there was no historical evidence to suggest a girl dressed as a boy in our particular regiment'. Firstly, I had told them to assume I was not a girl for events, and that I would happily be considered a boy - not a girl dressed as a boy. Secondly, there are plenty of instances of female crossdressers involved in the army, such as Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova [Russian], Friederike Krüger [Prussian], Anna Lühring [Prussian] and James Barry [British] plus more which I haven't researched more in-depth as of yet. I have to say, I was genuinely shocked, and rather upset, that after so many years of looking forward to joining something so much, suddenly I was refused to do what I wanted, simply because of my gender. That is the most frustrating thing. I am not allowed to do something because of my genetics, something I cannot physically change. I understand the need for historical accuracy, however, when I have stated that I am happy to present myself as a boy at all times, I see little need for there to be complete refusal. I can bind my breasts and pack my trousers to appear as a man, and yet, simply because on its most basic level, I am still a girl, my position in a fake, historical army, I am refused. It is historical, but we are still in the modern day. There is supposed  to be equality between genders and yet, due to 'historical accuracy' I am only allowed to swoon as a camp follower instead of doing what I really want to do.

The feelings that stirred up in me during this experience really got me angry. Perhaps it would be interesting to do a project on that for Phase 3? Or perhaps it is too late to rethink things. At the moment, I have so far ceased my attempts to join a historical reenactment society as quite frankly, I do not want to join a group that would refuse my attendance simply due to the fact I have breasts and no penis. (Though my friends had suggested to me I turn up dressed as a boy anyway and see what they say and do - though I do not feel I have the confidence to do that).

I have to say after these experiences I wouldn't mind researching military uniforms (and maybe making them in the future) or considering the viewpoint of gender in the military throughout history - or researching further into crossdressers of the Napoleonic Wars perhaps but really, right now I do not have the time to suddenly do a massive U-turn in my Phase 2 bit of the project. Maybe I'll reconsider Phase 3. However, I don't want to seem like I'm flailing over the place. I shall have a discussion at my next tutorial appointment for Phase 3. But for now I'm still working on my Jacobean outfit - which is going very well.