Several members of various lodges make & wear their own Viking outfits
During the over two hundred years of the Viking Age, multiple versions of women’s clothing existed. Viking dress varied depending upon many things – the location, time, and wealth of the household. Although functionality was important, at some point fashion probably played a role in the design of the clothing as well. For example, before Christianity, when the Oriental influence was felt because of the Viking trade routes, Swedish women wore quite provocative fashions. Not enough research is available to say if this was true in other parts of Scandinavia.
Viking women's clothing included many richly colored fabrics that helped cheer up the long days spent inside during the dark winter. The dye colors were created from plants or earthen pigments and included reds, blues, purple, green, yellow, brown and black. Wealth may have played a part in the color of the garment as the brighter and more colorful dyes cost more or had to come from raids or trading abroad.
Favored clothing material was linen and wool. Linen was normally used for the basic dress and wool for the overlay (sometimes called a tunic or apron), shawl and cape. Other material was used if raids or trading had proven successful in securing textiles. The women's dress could be plain or pleated and have openings anywhere. The Vikings would bring back fine European wool and Byzantium or China silk which the upper class (kings, jarls and merchants) would use for their family's garments.
Most dresses were ankle-length, had an under-dress and an additional overlay (apron/tunic) of some sort to help protect the main dress. The shawl and cape were used for warmth. The overlay was held in place on the dress with brooches. In early Swedish versions, the apron was not as long as the ones shown on this page and the brooches were placed near the bosom to accentuate it. Leather was used for making shoes and fur linings added for warmth. Some sort of wool leggings or stockings was also worn.
Married Viking women wore either a scarf or tight fitting head band. Viking women also used the brooch to hold things by attaching chains with various objects at the end. The women would carry their keys, scissors, a knife, and other household items in such a fashion.
Viking women made most of their own clothes. However, wives of jarls and kings often had other women making their garments. Wool and flax (used to make linen) were widely available, as was spinning wheels and weaving looms.
The brooch was the main utilitarian piece of jewelry the Viking women and men owned. They were used as pins, fasteners or clasps. Until the end of the Viking period, these were not considered pieces of jewelry but functional items. Depending upon economic means, they could be made of silver, bronze, iron, or bone.
The jewelry adorning Viking women was made from the same materials as the brooch and occasionally from gold. Embellishing jewelry with amber and bright glass pieces was also favored at times. The two brooches holding the tunic onto the dress would sometimes be joined by a band of glass beads. The jewelry had interesting designs and exquisite craftsmanship. Some jewelry designs were based on everyday objects found in the Vikings lives while others were influenced by foreign designs. Finger rings, arm-rings, bracelets, pendants, ear rings and necklaces were amongst the items used. An internet search for Viking Jewelry is a good way to view some of the many types.
Jewelry was considered a status symbol, so the more you wore, the richer the family was thought to be. In one ancient text, it appears that the Vikings had certain rules regarding the amount of jewelry a wife could get based on the amount of trade the husband had done. Silver coins and jewelry were the currency of trade. In certain markets the Vikings would be paid in silver coins of Arabic origin. "Each husbandman who owns 10,000 dirkhems has one such ornament made for his wife; if he has 20,000 he has two made, and each 10,000 means a new ornament for his wife."1
