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Women's Clothing Demonstration


     As with most reenactment eras, Sixteenth Century Spanish Colonial living history tends toward the military side of things. There are some historical examples of conquistadoras who accompanied the early expeditions, but those entradas were by and large composed of men.  This may be sterotypical observation on my part, but I find that males continue to be fascinated by armor and weapons long after the females accompaning them have become quite bored. 

  To rectify this situation Bob Munson has developed a crowd pleasing demostration of Spanish women's clothing.  He finds a volunteer from th audience, preferably a fetching lass, and dresses her up in typical garb of the era.

 

     From her underclothing on up, including the vital (and laugh generating) "bumroll" she is dressed before the audience in one of Bob's wife's old dresses.
     During the dressing process, Bob expounds upon nature of the clothing.  The names of the various pieces and the materials that it is constructed of are mentioned.  He also comments  upon how little or how much clothing would be worn when and where.  The fact that little but the underclothign would be worn around the casa doesn't seem to bother the listers too much.  However, an audible gasp can usually be heard from the teenage girls in attendence when it is explained that the reason for this is that for a typical women of the age on the colonial frontier this one set of clothing would likely hav to serve them for a year at least. 

     The denouement comes when attaching the headress and Bob notes the necessity of shaving or plucking the forhead for a proper 'look.'  The volunteer usually shakes her head at Bob's suggestion, at which point he doffs his helmet, revealing his receeding hairline, and states that, "But, I do!"

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Timothy Burke