News - Happy Birthday, Elise!

Once upon a time, when the world was quieter and the grass was greener and we had no idea what ArmStreet would grow into, we decided to make a dress. It was a long, simple dress, made from linen and photographed with a cheap old camera on the local school’s football field.

The dress was called the “Red Elise”, and is still for sale on our website today - who would have guessed that this humble dress would become the foundation of what is now a huge line of ArmStreet-designed medieval clothing!

Though the dress was plain and would be considered modest compared to some of our more recent creations, it made its way into the hearts of customers all over the world and quickly became a bestseller. 10 years later, the Red Elise dress is still one of our most popular designs. Basic yet elegant, we feel that this dress is an absolute must for every medieval woman who wishes to be fashionable. 

Though we have tons of pictures of this dress in most of the colors available, customers are always asking us how this dress looks in burgundy linen or green linen.

The popularity of the Red Elise absolutely comes from the fact that it is a fashion chameleon. Not only is it available in a handful of different colors, but the dress itself is so basic that it can blend in with almost any attire. We’ve seen our dress at countless events, festivals, SCA celebrations, LARP games and weddings - worn both by brides and bridesmaids!

Depending on which accessories you choose to put with this dress, it can represent a ton of different characters. “Red Elise” has been worn by dark queens, bashful princesses, witch doctors, peasants, noblewomen,  pirates - basically any character you could possibly imagine. It is incredibly customisable and really easy to adapt to different styles. May it be used as a simple base layer or showcased as the main focus point of a costume, the possibilities for this dress are only limited by your imagination.

To celebrate the birthday of this fantastic piece of design, we decided to take pictures of every available color and give it a fresh update.

We also designed a matching apron and a chaperon style hat made from linen to go with this dress, which add another layer and make for a very plain, "farm girl" look. Since those simple beginnings, though, "Red Elise" has evolved far beyond being a simple farm girl! We redesigned the skirt and improved the pattern of the matching chaperon, making this wardrobe staple even better than before.

So, without further ado, we’d like to introduce to our new-old dress, the “Red Elise”!