Captain of the White Tower

As I mentioned in a previous post, as my Aragorn costume was getting finished, I also started on my FOTR Boromir costume.

I really believe that I have as much fun researching how to duplicate the outfit as wearing it.

In some ways, this outfit was easier to recreate than the Aragorn one - mainly because it was mostly fabric and mainly because Andrea is such a pleasure to work with.

The main pieces of the outfit that I already had or could easily get were:

• black leather pants (from the Aragorn outfit)
• plain black riding boots (could get from Caboots)
• vambraces and underbracers (from the Aragorn outfit)
• black gloves (from Toughgloves)

The pieces I needed to get were:

• wool, leather and maille undershirt
• scarlet tunic with gold embroidery
• blue leather surcoat with three silver clasps
• belt with silver buckle
  
• sword
• horn
• burned velvet cloak with silver lacers

For those of you who also wish to embark on this type of quest, I can't recommend the LOTR Weapons and Warfare book enough. This tome has really everything you could possibly ask for. Out of the seven items, only two (the surcoat and the belt) I knew would be seriously delayed because of Reg, but the other items I had discussed with Andrea (the undershirt, tunic and cloak) and I could rest assured that they would be done on time and be done perfectly. The other items (clasps, sword and horn) I discussed in another entry.

The undershirt was done first. Mainly because the materials needed for the project were readily available. Again, Andrea's attention to detail was amazing. The undershirt is made of boiled wool, leather and aluminum chain maille. The undersleeves beneath the chainmaille are quilted, and Andrea also embroidered stars onto the material since the W&W book indicated that was the design. The chain maille sleeves were made by Michael at Grove Maille - just before he shipped out to Iraq.

As this was getting done, I had been scouring sari stores in NYC looking for the right material. I eventually found some sari material on ebay, but wasn't happy with it once I got it. Then I found Rajesh Nahar at chennaibazaar.com. Rajesh was great working with, and I believe I found another LOTR fan when I explained what I was using the material for. The scarlet satin material was beautiful, and the embroidery was better than I had hoped for. I had the material shipped directly to Andrea. Andrea added the black velvet collar and also found some decorative beading that exactly matched the pictures of Boromir. She was also determined to find the exact buttons for the tunic. You can go here for a view of the tunic.

The burned velvet cloak has an exquisitely soft black satin lining and Andrea was able to dye the velvet to the same shade as the tunic. The fur trimming is rabbit - as opposed to opossum in the original outfit. I felt that that was something I could live with...

The most annoying thing with this outfit was the WAITING. To have so much done and have to wait for all the little pieces to come together was maddening. The clasps. The lacers.

But I'm patient.

Eventually, the clasps and lacers came from Doug - and they were amazing! Eventually, Reg got the clasps placed onto the surcoat and the buckle onto the belt.

(Reg had been telling me the surcoat was "almost done" for about 2-3 months. As I was looking at the web photo albums on his site, I see the completed surcoat prominently displayed at an event he was selling his wares at. Sheesh. I guess he knew what I would say if he asked to show it off after all the delays.)

Like my Aragorn costume, the Boromir outfit was extremely comfortable. I spent the better part of eight hours in the outfit and felt great! I was most surprised at the wool undershirt - it was like wearing a cashmere sweater - soft and very breathable. It's now a bit snug across the chest and the sleeves are now a little short, but since I'm wearing the bracers anyway, it gives me a bit more freedom of movement. The leather gloves are tight ... as they should be ... so I can manage keys, cellphone buttons, whatever. Although it was a bit odd to see the Captain of the White Tower, with his cloak draped back over his shoulders, with his horn and sword -- on a cellphone. It's a little like the (in)famous Brad Pitt/Troy candid shot. The cloak is the same way - warm, but not stiflingly so.