thrifting a plus-size ren faire costume

that i might actually wear again 🤞

I’m going to my first Renaissance Fair soon, which is HARD TO BELIEVE seeing as I’m such a big dork!!!! what!!!

I know a lot of people geek out over historical accuracy. I’m not one of those people (yet). I just wanted to buy secondhand pieces I can re-wear. I learned my lesson the hard way after thrifting a cape for a vampire-themed edition of Blood on the Clocktower: I was in a rush and bought something cheap that’s the sort of sweaty silky polyester I’ll never wear again if I can help it. My bad!

So this time, I was a little more careful. First I did some in-depth googling for inspo:

lmk if i stole your picture and you want me to remove it (sorry!)

(I know, many of these are more pirate-y than Renaissance. But the goal was something easy, cheap, and entry-level. If I end up going to more ren fairs, I can up my game later—or buy something cool from a vendor there.)

Some common themes were emerging:

• a loose blousy cotton/linen tan or cream shirt, either lace-up or off-the-shoulder

• a brown or green corset or lace-up vest

• loose pants in green, tan, brown, or black (ideally tucked into high boots), because I’ve recently realized I hate skirts and thus would probably not re-wear a maxi skirt

• leather (or faux leather) accessories—especially a belt

• comfortable, flat lace-up boots

With that unofficial shopping list, I hit up my fave 3 thrifting sites: Poshmark, Mercari, and ThredUp.

(Why all three? A quick aside: in my experience, Poshmark has good quality stuff and you can make an offer, but sometimes the prices are high. Mercari seems to have lower prices AND you can make an offer, but recently I placed several Mercari orders that got cancelled because the seller never shipped it. :( You can’t make an offer on ThredUp, but you know the items are in stock, and sometimes there are good sales, like this weekend for Memorial Day. Not sponsored, just sayin’.)

As a plus-size person, aka fat (which is not a bad word), sizing can be tricky. A one-size-fits-all belt probably doesn’t actually fit all. ThredUp’s measurements are often hilariously and frustratingly questionable—a shirt that’s marked as 2x will say in the description that the chest measures 33 inches. (So…it’s actually a medium? 😞)

I spent literally hours searching for this stuff and checking the measurements and fabric content (cotton, linen, or rayon only, baby!). You might think that’s a waste of time, but I absolutely love online shopping. I like to think it activates the hunter-gatherer part of my brain. (It’s the thrill of the chase, even if I’m chasing clothes that can’t actually run away from me! I feel the same way about the hilarious phrase “mushroom-hunting.” Mushrooms don’t have feet, silly!)

I digress. Anyway, here’s what I ended up ordering:

Green top: Mercari. Boots: Poshmark. Everything else: ThredUp. Knight not included.

I’m hoping I can layer the off-white blouse under the green pseudo-corset top, but I got the brown (chestnut? mahogany?) tee as a backup; both of them are shirts I could easily wear in everyday life. The faux-fur vest/capelet is a little silly and has the lowest re-wear potential, but it’s just fun and makes me think of Game of Thrones (even though I’ve only seen half an episode). Two pairs of pants, both of which are generic enough to re-wear, because buying pants online is a crapshoot and hopefully one will fit (I’ll return the other pair). My plan is to cut the fingies off the gloves for a sort of archer vibe, or just general badassery. Buying shoes online is hugely risky (especially because Poshmark doesn’t accept returns) but I knew my size in the brand (Dankso) and know it’s reliably comfy, so fingers crossed. I’ll either knot the belt around my waist or try to make some sort of headband out of it.

You might be thinking, why don’t you just wear things you already have? Believe it or not, I don’t actually own a white blouse (I dyed the one I had purple), and my one pair of brown pants has cargo pockets, which is just not the vibe. (I recently went through a whimsigoth phase, so most of my closet is black or purple, along with some hot pink circa Barbie.)

I probably could’ve saved money by going to thrift stores IRL, but that probably would’ve taken even longer (and I doubt Goodwill is having a Memorial Day sale). Now to hope that things actually fit and I can make an outfit that looks halfway decent! ⚔️