Lucius Aternius Calidus — Medieval Mali Hat and Tunic

• Name: Lucius Aternius Calidus
• Title of your Project: Medieval Mali Hat and Tunic
• Location: Barony of Bhakail
• East Kingdom Wiki Link: N/A
• Website/Blog Link: https://luciusaterniuscalidus.netlify.app/
• Category: clothing

For a while, I’ve wanted to try my hand at making some West African clothing, but I wasn’t really sure where to start. There just aren’t as many resources for it as there are for European things. And I’m also just chronically insecure, which in this case manifested as me not wanting to try for the longest time because I felt like the bar would be a lot higher since there aren’t that many people in the SCA doing West African things but in general, the A&S community has a lot of people with professional or academic experience related to history. I also worried about accidentally making something inaccurate or offensive, since there isn’t as much information, and African cultures are often appropriated. All of these things I still worry about, and the last concern is probably the most valid, but anyway, here are my attempts at making some medieval Mali clothing.

I created a tunic based on a 14th or 15th century found in a burial cave, and a hat based on a more modern image, but it’s likely that the hat could’ve been worn in period as well, since it appeared to be a kufi, which were common in most Islamic countries. Feel free to check out the blog post on my website for more info!

Optional Additional Links: https://luciusaterniuscalidus.netlify.app/posts/2025/maliclothes/