Ivanovich is a magician who has worked the Bristol Faire on and off (and, hopefully, will be back on again next year -- he does a fantastic show). He's also a good friend, and was significantly more of a joy to work with than I was through the process of designing and making his coat. ;)
The coat is based on 18th century russian costume, as sixteenth century russian costume is a) largely undocumented, b) weird, and c) highly impractical in the general region of the midwest 9 out of 12 months. Bristol does not fall during the three months for which it is reasonable. There is a name for the garment herein referred to as "the coat", but it's in russian, which I can't pronounce, and I can't remember it anyway. The coat is made of brushed cotton, lined withgrey cotton twill, and guarded in black felted wool to give it a little body. (This worked too well, a situation which I'm still hoping to resolve.)
