COSTUME GUIDELINES 
This is presented to give prospective participants some idea of what is expected of them if they wish to be part of the Red Company or participate at a Red Company sponsored event. These are very basic guidelines; please note that there is much latitude in them for the exercise of good judgment, as the spirit we wish to foster is one of enthusiasm to get it right.

OVERVIEW
All garments should reflect the station of the wearer from carter to soldier to lord. As a general rule, everything should look right at close quarters, but what is not visible is not an issue. If you used a sewing machine rather than hand stitching your garments, or you are wearing modern underpants, we don't care as long as we don't have to look at it. However, clothing that is correct from the skin out gives you far greater flexibility as far as removing pieces, or loosening bits, as needed for comfort or utility. Please resist the urge to trim your garments, as there was little or no trimming used in 15th C. designs.

FABRICS
*Wool is strongly recommended, with heavy linen or linsey-woolsy being an acceptable runner up. Take care when choosing synthetic blends as they tend to melt if they contact fire, and can be hot and scratchy to wear.
*Subdued or washed out colors such as shades of blue, brick red, brown, green, yellow, tan, gray are always good choices.
*Linen is recommended for shirts, drawers and shifts and ladies' headcoverings. It can be anything from a nice beige "oatmeal" linen to a fine "lawn", with the finer, whiter shades for the better off. Cotton is acceptable for visible undergarments, as long as it has some body and has no patterns or prints on it.
*Silks, brocades and velvets are expensive, and should be chosen and used with care.

GARMENTS
Men:
*Simply cut, white or off-white shirt with no pleating.
*Hip length wool doublet with one of several style sleeves, small stand up collar.
*Hose made of bias cut wool or fulled wool jersey. Legs may be joined in crotch or separate. Either style tie into the doublet near the waist.
*All men are strongly encouraged to wear some form of head covering- coif, hood or hat.
*OPTIONAL: Woolen Coat, hood, gloves or mittens

Women:
*Simple "A" shaped white or off-white smock.
*Gown with fitted bodice, no boning or padding, long or short fitted sleeves, full skirt fits into waist with no pleating. Closes up center front with hooks or lacing. Modest scoop or "V" neckline. Gowns with short sleeves should be worn with pin on sleeves during chilly weather.
*Turban, wimple, hood or other coif to cover hair. No hair shows, with exception of braids looped under the ears in the Continental fashion.
*OPTIONAL: Overgown, coat, hood, gloves or mittens

ACCESSORIES
*Keep accessories simple.
*Belts are very narrow, usually less than an inch wide, with a simple frame buckle and short tail.
*Men's pouches are usually of the "kidney" pattern
*Ladies' pouches are generally simple drawstring pouches suspended from the belt by a long cord.
*Jewelry is simple and inexpensive; pins, brooches and finger rings.
*Historically correct shoes are strongly encouraged, but as a temporary measure you can get away with most "Wild Oats" styles of shoe or boot, or any other simple shoe with no heel.

Resources
RESEARCH
There are a number of good books available that cover the Wars of the Roses period. Among those are:
*Embleton - The Medieval Soldier (a great source for the visual effect we are trying to create), Windrow and Greene publishers.
*Houston, Mary G. - Medieval Costume in England and France, The 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries. Dover publishers
*Scott - A Visual History of Costume: the Fourteenth & Fifteenth Century, Batsford
*Embleton - Armies of Medieval Burgundy, 1364-1477, Osprey publishers
*Embleton - The Swiss at War 1300-1500, Osprey publishers
*Embleton - English Longbowmen 1330-1515, Osprey publishers

If you’d rather purchase your kit than make it, we recommend several sources:

General Sutlery
*The Swan & Lion Sutlery (Historic Enterprises)- forage bags, archery items, pottery, cutlery, horn items, pewter, shoes, etc. http://www.historicenterprises.com
*Gode Erthe Pottes- Household stoneware products
Glenn Herbert, Box 83, Ouaquaga, NY 13826, 607.655.1376,

Clothin
*Black Swan Designs (Historic Enterprises)- clothing, hats, accessories http://www.historicenterprises.com
*Castle Collections- clothing, hats accessories, etc. http://www.castle-collections.com/
*Seams Historic- amazing clothing http://www.angela.essenhigh.ukgateway.net/ http://www.seams-historic.co.uk

Accessories
*Plantagenet Shoes http://www.plantagenetshoes.freeserve.co.uk/
*Talbot's Fine Accessories- shoes, buckles, rosaries, jewelry http://antiquities.cloud-9.net
*Gaukler Medieval Wares- pewter, jewelry http://www.medievalwares.com/
*King’s Keep -Bronze buckles, academic books http://www.kingskeep.com/
*Billy & Charlie - pendants, belts, buttons. misc. pewterware http://www.billyandcharlie.com
*London accessories -belts, belt mounts, buckles http://www.londonaccessories.com
*Dru Shoemaker -shoes, some accessories http://www.members.home.net/meisterdru/meisterdru.html

Armour and weaponry
*Arms & Armour http://www.armor.com/
*Museum Replicas- some items acceptable - caveat emptor! http://www.museumreplicas.com/home.htm
*Robert Macpherson- extraordinarily exquisite armour http://www.lightlink.com/armory/armory.html
*Peter Johnson- Swords http://www.algonet.se/~enda/hand_eng.htm
*Lutel- swords http://www.lutel.cz/
* Albion Small Arms- handgonnes http://www.albion-small-arms.freeserve.co.uk
*Tom Justus- armour
http://justus.pair.com/