How to Dress Like a Viking and Anglo-Saxon

Eala traveller! Perhaps you have a Viking day at school and you want to look the part, or maybe you just think that the Anglo-Saxons are cool and you want to be like one, whatever the reason you will need to find out how they dressed in order to create your own costume.

Watch the video below where Ottar the Northman and Aelfwyn the Saxon Woman tell about the type of clothing that they are wearing.

Fashions did change over time for both the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons (more so for women than men) but if we pick a rough time, say the 9th century, then there would be a lot of similarities between the two, especially as experts have had to look at all of the northern European/Germanic cultures to recreate costumes of the time. There would also be personal and regional variations (no one dresses exactly the same today do they) so don't worry about getting things perfect, you may have discovered a hot new Mercian trend!

Men / Boys

For your costume you need two main parts:

• Pair of trousers - any normal pair of trousers will do. Make sure that they are comfortable to wear and aren't likely to fall down. We don't want you to die from embarrassment or from falling over!

• Tunic - a tunic is a long shirt that falls to anywhere between hip and knee length. Ask a grown up if they have a big T-shirt that you can borrow.

That's it! Everything else is to accessorise, the more you can do then the more awesome your costume will look, but don't worry if you can't do/find/make everything on the list, Vikings and Anglo-Saxons would have worn different things depending on the role (job) and wealth they had. The kinds of clothes that rich and poor people wore were the same but rich peoples clothes were much fancier.

Optional Extras:

• Girdle/Belt - this is a thin strip of leather, fabric, braid or cord that you tie around your waist over your tunic/shirt. This can help you look good (especially if you have a fancy one) and also can be useful to hang things from, like a knife, tools or amulets (that's like a lucky charm).

• Shoes - Early on in the Anglo-Saxon era, it appears that many people didn't wear shoes, however by the ninth century they seem to become more common. Which is good because your parents might not like you walking to school with bare feet!

• Leg wraps - These are long thin strips of fabric that are wrapped around your lower legs from your ankles up to your calves. You will need two strips of fabric 8-10cm wide and 3-4 metres long for big legs, or two strips of fabric 6-8cm wide and 2-3 metres long for little legs. It is easiest to roll them up first. Start at the ankle and wrap them around and around your legs (overlapping and keeping it tight) and keep going all the way until you have gone just over the chunky part of your calf (but under your knee) and ideally all of the fabric will be used up. Fasten at the top with a brooch of safety pin (on the outside of your leg - it will hurt if it comes undone otherwise!). WARNING - If leg wraps come undone they can present a trip hazard, and if you trip and fall over in battle then it is certain death! An easy and safe alternative is to wrap a square of fabric around the lower leg and pin to both itself and the trouser leg. You can even us a pen to draw lines on it to make it look like leg wraps.

• Cloak/Cape - Cloaks were made from fabric or animal skins (sometimes both) and can either be fastened at the neck or at the shoulder (of your strong hand).

• Jewellery - Men didn't wear as much jewellery as women but might wear a ring, a bracelet or armband, amulet or sometimes a simple necklace/pendant (like Mjolnir - Thor's hammer).

• Hats and Gloves - It is important to stay warm in the winter so mittens and a hat would be very useful. These could made from fur/animal skin, fabric or even knitted using a technique called needle binding.

• Trims and enhancements - The wealthier you were then the fancier your clothes would be. One way might be having brighter colours another could be sewing trims of intricately woven braid around the cuffs, hem and neckline of your shirt. Your local fabric shop should have some ready made trim that can be sewn (or glued) onto your costume.

Women / Girls

For your costume you are also going to need only two parts:

• An under dress - Although this should go all the way to your ankles the main bit that is going to be visible of this garment is the arms and chest so a long sleeve top, like a T-shirt, will be fine if that is all you have to hand. Because this part isn't visible from the tummy down if you are not comfortable or used to wearing dresses then you can wear shorts, leggings or trousers under the next part:

• An over dress - This is like a tube of fabric that starts just below your armpits and finishes by your ankles. This is held up by 2 strips of fabric that run over your shoulders and attach to the front and back (it should look something like the top of a shopping bag). The two straps can be sewn at the back (or pinned) and pinned with brooches or safety pins at the front. WARNING! Make sure that your overdress gives your legs plenty of room to walk or run, otherwise you will be showing the world your best Flying (or falling) Anglo-Saxon impression!

As with the boys, women's clothing wasn't all that different between Scandinavia and the Anglo-Saxons, and between classes. There were some regional differences like the style of brooches and the richer you were then the more adornments you could have.

Optional Extras

• Girdle/Belt - Your dress(es) should have plenty of room to move in so a belt around the waist to stop it from getting a mind of its own. This could be a leather belt, cord or string or a fancy braid. Having a girdle also gives you something to hang things from, like keys.

• Shoes - As with the boys, shoes seem to become much more common in England by the ninth century. Unless your parents are shoe makers and fancy making you a fabulous set of ninth century shoes then we would recommend wearing something that you are comfortable in. If you have some all black or all brown shoes then that is great but the Anglo-Saxons weren't afraid of colour either.

• Cloak - Girls get cold too, and so would also have a cloak to keep them warm in the winter. These could be anything from a shawl that could be held together or fastened with a brooch to a full cloak with a hood.

• Keys - Women were the head of the house and so they were the keepers of the keys to the household chests. The chests were where you kept valuable items like gold, silver, books, spices etc. Obviously the more keys you had, the more chests you had, which in turn meant the more wealth you had. So wearing keys became a statement of wealth and you could pretend to be wealthier than you are by making fake keys to hang from your belt!

• Jewellery - Again, fashions changed over time as different cultures made their impact on England and Scandinavia, however the most iconic jewellery was that of the two brooches that secured the overdress at the front, by the shoulders. Depending on when and where you were they could be what is referred to as "tortoise shell brooches" (yogurt pots covered in gold paint or card work great for this) or flat circular discs both of which were ornately decorated and could be inlaid with precious stones. Between these two brooches hung various strings of beads of amber, glass etc. across the front of the chest (tying some costume jewellery necklaces to each brooch/pin can work well for this).

• Head coverings - As the Angles and Saxons became Christianised covering the hair became more common (especially for married women). In winter a hooded cloak could help keep the chill off!

• Trims and enhancements - Like with the boys the richer you were then the nicer things you could afford, even just better quality fabrics. Elaborate trims could decorate the hems of your dress, more and rarer gems in your jewellery and even precious metals like gold and silver.

Have fun creating you own costume, and remember you are going to be potentially wearing this all day, so the most important thing is make sure that it is comfortable.