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I am still not entirely convinced that skirts are completely impractical....IF they are no more than about knee length. One might wear long hosen with them of course but that would be dependent on the person and the season.

I have worn dresses in the forest...full length medieval style dresses...although when I say full length I do not mean dragging on the floor..I mean about ankle height. While this can be done, especially along the edges of meadows and along roads and paths, once into thick brush the full length dress becomes absolutely impractical and a massive hindrance. Yes, we see pictures of women hunting fully dressed as everyday habit would dictate...but I am not entirely certain we can rely on this as an absolute depiction of the activity.

Sarmatian, Persian, and Scythian women all hunted and fought and led units with men historically. They are, when depicted, NOT depicted wearing dresses normally worn by women about daily chores of the time. They are, when depicted, wearing pants...or something like them, under either a skirt or long tunic...it is sometimes hard to tell. I suspect pants under a long tunic personally as that is the most practical arrangement. Celtic women and German women also fought along with the men...dressed 'in manly fashion' sometimes, but other times wearing traditional clothing if the records of their enemies are to be trusted.

It has been increasingly obvious that women did a great deal more than the traditional roles that went unrecorded...to large extent, I suspect, because men were writing the histories...in essence writing women out of the 'manly' pursuits. Scythian women could not marry or bear children unless first they had killed an enemy male in combat. We find increasing numbers of barrows with women warriors buried in them, and even in Britain Viking burials are being retested as it has turned out that many heretofore thought to be male due to warrior gear were in fact women.

So. Women are not stupid. They will wear what is practical. Tunic and trousers...which we already know was worn by Norse women as proven by burial finds recently. Skirts perhaps..but really, trousers make for the most practical wear when doing the kinds of things warriors, hunters, and trappers do.

I belong to several lists and it never fails that eventually some fellow will take issue with women doing things that men do and dressing that way saying there is no proof of the habit and that all historical writing says women were not allowed to do 'x' activity. Horse puckey.

This woman wears pants. I might experiment with shorter skirts, but for now it is pants. Chemise top instead of a tunic, but I find them more comfortable and better for me personally. A corselet, perhaps over a jerkin, or under one. Maybe a duster of some kind. Then there are the hooded cloaks and even some hats that I like. Shoes can be the classic fantasy high boot or more historically correct shoes...or even 'shoe-packs' worn by early colonial woodsfolk. Even moccasins...the Scythian's footwear is nearly identical to many Native American footwear, separated by thousands of miles and hundreds of years.

I use forearm guards...aka vambraces too..and I'm tinkering with some leather pauldrons but we'll see. Perhaps a kind of blateus belt or skirt would be a nice addendum..those still have to be experimented with. Fantasy stuff? Sure...but not entirely. Just in the way it is dealt with. Then again, being a Ranger in and of itself is an exercise in fantasy...to one degree or another.

I have a back quiver; I am experimenting with another design that will allow me to draw the arrows from the bottom rather than over the shoulder. If I minimize movement I stand a better chance of not spooking game...or giving myself away. If the arrows lie along my back and not jutting upward I slide through the bush more easily. I get, and have gotten, flak for these notions from a number of directions. Too bad.

I am still experimenting with a number of things. I doubt I shall ever be done doing so; only through this do we learn and improve. This is why I often get into making my own stuff....once I have those skills I can make things to suit my own needs and methods...and my methods are well proven through experience.

There is a tendency in many people to dismiss out of hand anything that goes against the 'factually known'. This is an error, in my opinion, because we are human and we do not know everything..and as increasing numbers of finds are showing, we often get things wrong. Being dismissive out of hand is self-limiting on the person doing so. Yes, it prevents cherished notions from being challenged...but challenge causes growth. I like growing my knowledge, my wisdom, and my experience. I like challenges.

Explore. Living History or Experimental Archaeology if you like are useful. They have their issues, no mistake, but they do have uses. They have shown, pretty well in many cases, that the artists and sculptors are not to be entirely trusted....as trying to make and use things as depicted often proves how impossible it is to do and therefore how much artistic license was taken by the recorder.

Be inquisitive. Question. Experiment. Learn.

Eledhwen