Picking Colors

If the event that the costume you're making is for a wedding, find out what colors the bride and groom are wearing and avoid them. Otherwise, anything listed here would work. Remember though that in the Middle Ages the quality and color of garments was an indication of the wealth and social class of the wearer. This was before the invention of the synthetic dyes which allow us to cheaply produce vibrant colors like purple and crimson. "Purple dye was extracted by crushing thousands of tiny sea snails; similarly, crimson dye was obtained by crushing a certain type of beetle." Whew! That's alot of trouble to go through for a garment, and be assured that only the richest personages were able to afford such luxuries. But, since it's likely that your garment is intended for a party and not a historical recreation it's okay to be lax about "period" colors, so just use this info as a style guideline and you should be okay.

Royal Colors:

royal purple, scarlet red (traditional bridal color), cobalt blue, gold

Noble Colors:

black, white, blues, dull reds, gray

Peasant Colors:

earth tones, greens, browns