I gotta say I completely agree with Thrush. There really is no excuse for looking like crap after your first five events.
Don't have money? T-tunics are inexpensive and can be made out of anything. An hour of hand stitching and your done. Your mothers old linen and some thread will run you a couple of dollars (mostly for the thread). Pants are easy, look for some plain pajama pants. Sweats are fine, but I have found that pjs tend to look a little better. Or look up wrap pants/silly pants. It works and looks fine.
Boots? take some left over bedsheet and a staple gun, staple the bottom to the rubber soles and wrap the rest of the fabric around your boot/shoe. Tie something around it to secure or punch holes and put in a toggle. Not everthing on your feet has to be leather.
Have a little bit of money? Salvation Army, Good Will, Thrift stores. I am constantly procuring stuff from them that requires only a little alteration to look decent. Took a pair of 4 dollar boots that had a single velcro strap and put a buckle on them. Not the best, but it beats Nikes. With this option you will probably need multiple visits to find the right stuff. Occasionally you will find something muslim or indian which in my experience requires almost no alteration. Again, for pants pjs work fine, just try to stay away from the playstation/angry birds pjs. Look for some dark colored boots/shoes. Sometimes you don't even need to alter them to be passing. We seem to be more tolerant of footwear looking modern so long as it doesn't scream NIKE across the side.
Have some more money? medievalcollectibles, badass garb, and a slew of other sites I cannot immediately recall(including the place I purchased my skirtl from, can't remember the name but the price was maybe 60 dollars, a fantastic deal considering I have been wearing it for over 2 years and it only has a little hole in some of the stitching. I think thrush got his blue one from the same place) Hell, ask someone who is dressed well where they got there stuff and then go there, if its too expensive look on amazon or any number of sites. Focus on getting yourself looking good from about 10 feet away and then save some more money and build off of that. Pick an idea and stick to it until you are done.
Have lots of money? Come see me and bring your wallet. I won't make you anything, but I'll gladly accept your money
There are plenty of ways to save money. I tried MANY MANY times to wear winnigas right. They just kept falling off my legs and coming undone so I went out to cvs and got some ace bandages. From a distance they look fine, from close up the effect lessens, but they still resemble what I was trying to acheive, they also don't fall off my legs like the real thing. Total cost for me to look slightly more like a Dane from the 800's? 4$ A little bit of dye from walmart and I will have invested a wopping 6 bucks.
Note that I haven't mentioned armor at all. Armor is armor and not garb. It can cover bad garb but you may not always be wearing it. What would you do if your armor doesn't pass check in and the only thing you are wearing underneath is spandex and track pants? Look like crap, thats what. I certainly wouldn't expect you to wear your armor anyway and endanger myself and everyone else on the field just so you can continue to look good.
Plus armor that looks good will look great over an awesome set of garb.
*end rant, consume coffee*
