Black Bart
Roberts himself made a gallant figure, at the time of the engagement, being dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in his hand, and two pairs of pistols slung over his shoulders ...
— A General History of the ... Pyrates (1724), p.212
Cravat
I feel that Black Bart would have almost certainly worn a cravat especially if he got dressed ina wasitcoat and breifs every time before battle. Cravats were best known and suited to go with wasitcoats and worn by high class men. The cravat is a neckband, the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie and bow tie, originating from 17th-century military unit known as the Croats. From the end of the 16th century, the term band applied to any long-strip neckcloth that was not a ruff. The ruff, a starched, pleated white linen strip, originated earlier in the 16th century as a neckcloth (readily changeable, to minimize the soiling of a doublet), as a bib, or as a napkin. A band could be either a plain, attached shirt collar or a detachable "falling band" that draped over the doublet collar. It is possible that cravats were initially worn to hide shirts which were not immaculately clean. Alternatively, it was thought to serve as psychological protection of the neck during battle from attack by a spear. From looking at the images of red waistocats I found that the combination of a white shirt and red waistcoat and tie was a very nice colour combination and so I will likley try givving Black Bart a red cravat to match his red waistocat.
Red Waistcoat
Black Bart was described as wearing a red waistocat ebfore batte and so this is an essential part of clothing I should in-corporate into his design in order to make it more authentic and close to the real thing.A waistcoat has a full vertical opening in the front, which fastens with buttons or snaps. Both single-breasted and double-breasted waistcoats exist, regardless of the formality of dress, but single-breasted ones are more common. In a three piece suit, the cloth used matches the jacket and trousers. Waistcoats can also have lapels or revers depending on the style.
Before wristwatches became popular, gentlemen kept their pocket watches in the front waistcoat pocket, with the watch on a watch chain threaded through a buttonhole. Sometimes an extra hole was made in line with the buttonholes for this use. A bar on the end of the chain held it in place to catch the chain if it were dropped or pulled. Waistcoats are now worn less, so the pocket watch may be more likely be stored in a trouser pocket.
Wearing a belt with a waistcoat, and indeed any suit, is not traditional. To give a more comfortable hang to the trousers, the waistcoat instead covers a pair of braces underneath it (suspenders in the U.S.). A custom still sometimes practised is to leave the bottom button undone. This is said to have been started by King Edward VII (then the Prince of Wales), whose expanding waistline required it. Variations on this include that he forgot to fasten the lower button when dressing and this was copied. It has also been suggested that the practice originated to prevent the waistcoat riding up when on horseback.
Red Breeches
Black bard is decribed to have worn Breeches everytime before battle which are an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. The breeches were normally closed and fastened about the leg, along its open seams at varied lengths, and to the knee, by either buttons or by a draw-string, or by one or more straps and buckle or brooches. Formerly a standard item of Western men's clothing, they had fallen out of use by the mid 20th century in favor of trousers. Modern athletic garments used for English riding and fencing, although called breeches or britches, differ from breeches in ways discussed in this article.
Cavilier Hat
cavalier hat is a variety of wide-brimmed hat popular in the seventeenth century.[1] These hats were often made from felt, and usually trimmed with an ostrich plume. They were often cocked up[1] or had one side of the brim pinned to the side of the crown of the hat (similar to the slouch hat) which was then decorated with feathers.
Cavalier hats get their name from supporters of King Charles I during the English Civil War, known as cavaliers, noted for wearing extravagant clothing. It was a common hat style throughout Europe during the seventeenth century, until it was later replaced in fashion by the tricorne. I feel this is a great and most suitable hat for Black Bart to wear as it is commonly associated that with what the musketeers wear and they are a very serious and defiant group of respectabe skilled swordsmon. these are things Black Bart identifies with and I want him to give off the same expression. also the ostrich feather is a nice touch to a fancy man
African- American common Features
Ashley Montagu lists "neotenous structural traits in which...Negroids [generally] differ from Caucasoids... flattish nose, flat root of the nose, narrower ears, narrower joints, frontal skull eminences, later closure of premaxillary sutures, less hairy, longer eyelashes, [and] cruciform pattern of second and third molars."[25] He also suggested that in the extinct Negroid group termed the "Boskopoids", pedomorphic traits proceeded further than in other Negroids.[25] Additionally, Montagu wrote that the Boskopoids had larger brains than modern humans (1,700 cubic centimeters cranial capacity compared to 1,400 cubic centimeters in modern-day humans), and the projection of their mouth was less than in other Negroids.[25] He believed that the Boskopoids were the ancestors of the Bushmen.[25]
Physical features
Afro-textured hair is tightly coiled, kinky hair. It is a ubiquitous trait among Negroid populations. By consequence, the presence of looser, frizzly hair texture in other populations has often been considered an indication of possible admixture with Negroid peoples.[26]
Commenting on the lack of body hair (glabrousness) of Negroids and Mongoloids, Carleton S. Coon wrote that "[b]oth negroid and mongoloid skin conditions are inimical to excessive hair development except upon the scalp."[27]
Hair
Skin pigmentation
Afro-textured hair is tightly coiled, kinky hair. It is a ubiquitous trait among Negroid populations. By consequence, the presence of looser, frizzly hair texture in other populations has often been considered an indication of possible admixture with Negroid peoples.[26]
Commenting on the lack of body hair (glabrousness) of Negroids and Mongoloids, Carleton S. Coon wrote that "[b]oth negroid and mongoloid skin conditions are inimical to excessive hair development except upon the scalp."[27]
Expression - Stern, Serious & Trusting
Black Barts story gives off a strong impression that he was naturally a born leader with the crew voting him as captain despite his short time on the ship and his ethnicity. He was decribed as been very smart and quick witted and he won many battles which is evidence for that. As well as this Black Bart was passionate about loyalty and coourage and hated cowardliness as the the story described when he arrived upon shore and everyone fled wich made him agry that they would not fight him. I feel to give off ths impression my portrait of Black Bart needs to have a rather serious and calm expression to him. Unlike the othe rportraits where their expression would be dramatic his would be quite stern and relaxed which shows hw was a very calm and defiant figure. The images beloew seem to capture the expression I want for him so I will be using these as reference.
William Kidd
By 1689 he was a member of a French-English pirate crew that sailed in the Caribbean. Captain Kidd and Blessed William became part of a small fleet assembled by Codrington to defend Nevis from the French, with whom the English were at war. In either case, he must have been an experienced leader and sailor by that time. On 11 December 1695, Bellomont, who was now governing New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, asked the "trusty and well beloved Captain Kidd" to attack Thomas Tew, John Ireland, Thomas Wake, William Maze, and all others who associated themselves with pirates, along with any enemy French ships. This request, if turned down, would have been viewed as disloyalty to the crown, the perception of which carried much social stigma, making it difficult for Kidd to turn down the offer so he accepted it.
Expression - Fear
From reading William Kidds story, although he is labelled as a pirate, he seemed as though he was weak and cowardly which cause his crew to control him. Out of fear he would commit acts of piracy to keep the crew happy who were pirates themselves. Kidd was defiantly a coward and so for his expression I want it to be one of fear as that I feel that was his face 90& of the time throughout his life. Also how he got imprisoned, then hung these were all punishments Kidd actually wasn't that deserving was and his court case was completely biased and flawed. It was just one thing bad after another with him and he truly lived a tortured life. He just got himself more and more into trouble because he was too scared to admit his past mistakes.
I've already gone over wigs previously but I just wanted to go over it more for William Kidd as he is the pirate I defiantly fee this is appropriate for and he himself would have worn a white powdered wig. As Kidd was a privateer and hired by the king himself to take down pirates and capture enemy ships I'm sure Kidd would have been well funded and would have dressed very formal and in proper high class attire. One of the most high class items you could wear was a white wig as they were extremely popular during the 1700s . What made me even more sure that Kidd would have likely worn a wig is an illustration of him found in an old book where he is also pictured wearing a wig as you can see below. In that illustration he is wearing a very long white curled wig and this is the style I feel I should go for with him. I have added more references below of the style of wig he could wear to use in the future.
Wigs
Here is a portrait of William Kidd I am unableto find the source but their is no confirmation that this is a true observational study of him. However You can see he is also drawn with a white wig.
This is another illistration of an interpretation of william Kidd on deck of his ship. He is on the right side in black next to the man in purple. You can see he pictured with a long dark brown wig.