I am in Key West this evening a found a most surprising source for excellent costuming: Fairvilla, 520 Front St, Key West, FL, 305-292-0458. Why is this a surprising source? ... Half the store has very high quality costuming (movie calibre) while the other half is adult novelties. I saw a breath taking colonial/pirate dress coat in the window and ventured in. They had an excellent selection of high quality costuming along with actual recognizable movie costumes from a number of notable films reasonably for sale. These were not light weight costumes but items that were really tailored for use. Like I said, it is for real and a most unexpected find.

Dan.

Do they have a website ?

Wayne,

Their website only has their adult novelties. The Manager noted that he would email pics of anything I wanted on request.

Dan.

Im looking for one of those pirate type, coachmans Jackets.

Wayne,

That is exactly what they havein various colors and sizes. I'd call them and ask to email you digital pic. The quality was outstanding ... very high end.

Dan.

Jas. Townsend also has 18th Century clothing that could fit the "pirate" theme.

18th Century Men's Clothing

I shop here a lot. The 18th Century Civilian Coats are pretty piratey. They also have great 18th Century work shirts, knee breeches, waistcoats, and sailors' slops, ticorn hats, etc.

I own the wool Civilian Coat. It's beautiful. Another member of our colonial militia got the new linen coat this year and it's very nice, too. Everything in my avatar photo is from Townsend except the checked shirt, which my wife made.

If you look through the whole site, you might find other great props to add to your presentations.

Over the last 8 years, I've never had a problem with them.

I've recently been wanting to put together a turn-of-the-century victorian style parlor act and found this as a great resource for authentic clothing (if anyone's interested):

http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/mens_v......alloween

as well as this one:

http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/scoat/menscoats.html

When you call it "Victorian" you can add another hundred bucks to the price.

It's cheaper when it's plain ol' "western." Wild West Mercantile Nice 19th Century stuff at reasonable prices. Remember that most "western" stuff was just eastern stuff that was shipped out there.

Depends on the brand. The link you put up had more options, but, the "reasonable priced" options looked cheap to me and the other options that looked nicer were about the same price as the links I provided (because they were the same "brands".)

example (from the link you provided):

http://www.wwmerc.com/cgi-bin/category.c......ory=3150

For me, it's more about quality rather than the best possible price.... but your link definitely had more options.

Like I said earlier, I was very surprised at the quality from this unexpected source. I had hoped to buy a coat myself on the spot but they did not have my size. It's too bad they don't have a website but the manager said he'd gladly email digital photos if anyone wanted.

Dan.

Genshi,

It't tough to judge a piece of clothing by its photograph on a website, or in a catalog. Higher price does not always mean higher quality. In fact lots of times it only means better product photography, settings, advertising copy writing and production values. I live in a place where lots of clothing was manufactured and the same nice Portuguese women were sewing the designer name suits and the store brand ones.

I own the Frontier Classics Coat and matching trousers in brown, as pictured. They are a nice,heavy brushed cotton. The pants are so comfortable that I'd love to wear them all the time. I bought a patterned Wah Maker vest from the closeout section, and a red satin puff tie and sleeve garters. My brown derby came from "Hats in the Belfry." It makes a very nice outfit for my historical walking tours and the cost was very reasonable. Wild West Mercantile frequently has 20% discounts and closeouts.

Although Wah Maker is one of the tops names for this style clothing, and has a far better photographer for their products, I don't like the quality of my Wah Maker vest as much as I do the Frontier Classics coat. The Wah Maker buttonholes are finished poorly and I nearly lost a button the second time I wore it.

I searched everything from Civil War re-enacting suppliers to the fancy "Victorian/Edwardian" websites and for my needs Wild West Mercantile was the best.

I have not ordered from Frontier Classics but have placed orders with Wild West Merchantile and can also vouch for their quality as well.

Dan.

CJRichard,

Thanks for the info. It is true that it is sometimes misleading to tell in photographs. You obviously have more experience with this and I have not seen any of this stuff in person yet, so I very well may be wrong in my assessment; I had just found an outfit that I really liked and am close to purchasing, but it IS expensive and I really wish there was a local store in my areea that carried this stuff so I can actually try it on. (there are certain things I don't like buying online, clothing, and electronics.) So I myself am not sure what I will do (what I wanted just looked good in the photo.)

Thanks again for your insight.

Buying clothing online or from catalogs can be tough. But with some of the things historical re-enactors or performer have to buy, it's nearly impossible to find nearby sources. Be sure to check the return/exchange policies.

Be aware, though, that if you're after historical clothing, many re-enacting suppliers sell excellent patterns for many different time periods. It's often much cheaper to buy the fabric you want and have a friend or local tailor sew it for you. Then it can be fit and adjusted before it's done.

Colonial/pirate shirts, for example, are very, very easy to make. My wife made the checked shirt in my avatar photo and I hand stitched a wool one myself, just to say I did it.

I think I remember reading in one of these threads that Whit Haydn bought some of his outfit ready-made then had it altered for a better fit.