Mark’s obsession with history has penetrated every part of his life and has shaped his career. During the week, he works as an actor-interpreter in Colonial Williamsburg “Revolutionary City”, where history buffs educate the public about 18th century Williamsburg through reenactment.

And in his free time, Mark impersonated Napoleon Bonaparte. 

The obsession with Napoleon goes back to his childhood when his French cousin brought him a Napoleon toy soldier. Then, in 1998, a friend told him that he even looked like Napoleon – they were the same height, 5 feet 5 inches. That, combined with Mark’s general love of history and experience as an actor, led to his new pass-time, dressing up as the French general. 

Mark has been traveling the world ever since, showing up at events and fairs as Napoleon. He’s also recruited fellow reenactors to recreate some of the general’s most iconic moments on the battlefield. And even after decades doing the same character, Mark can’t get enough of his side hustle – he relives history every day, and wouldn’t have it any other way.  

The post Meet the Modern Day Napoleon Bonaparte appeared first on PlayJunkie.

She left her apartment, quit school and moved to Grundtjärn, a tiny village with only ten inhabitants, 100 miles away from her hometown, She wanted to get in touch with nature, and live a simpler life. 

It wasn’t simple at first. Her house was old, the village was far away from anything. She had to figure out how to live without all the modern comforts the city had to offer. The long cold winters, the isolation and the maintenance of the house made the entire experience much less enchanting than she had imagined it. 

But with time, she got used to the different pace of her new life, and finally found in nature what she was missing in the city – inspiration. She started making art and sharing her life with others on social media. Finally, she found her calling. 

Today, Jonna is still living in the same remote village and spending her time making art and living a more traditional life. She shares her experiences with over 1 million subscribers on YouTube, and finally feels connected – to nature, and to others. 

The post Swedish Student Left Everything Behind to Live Like Her Ancestors appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Bernadette is a fashion historian, focusing mostly on 19^th and 18th-century fashion. She hunts down antique sewing patterns and then tries to recreate the cloth as authentically as she can. She buys the right fabric, uses old-school scissors, and even sews by hand since home sewing machines weren’t widely available up until the past couple of decades! And her clothes aren’t meant to sit in a museum. She wears the pieces she makes, to understand exactly how navigating one’s surroundings in those layers of fabric felt like for a 19th-century woman.

And how does one go about becoming a fashion historian? For Bernadette, it was a matter of skill, gumption, and luck. She started out as an assistant costume designer on Broadway and was disappointed to learn that all those beautiful gowns are held in place with duct tapes, zippers, and wires. She wanted to learn how people really used to make clothes, so she signed up for a history of fashion program in New York.

One day she decided to upload a video of herself recreating a dress to YouTube, and that video exploded. Viewers from all over the world were fascinated by her work process and wanted to learn more about historical sewing. So she showed them. Today, Bernadette has half a million subscribers and makes her living teaching others how much value there is in the past.

The post Meet The Historian Who Dresses Like a Victorian appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“First, I do some research about a certain period of time, then I recreate the same makeup and costumes that women used to wear at that particular time in history. I then take the picture, edit it, and add a little story about my character,” Hasbi says.

Her project is called I Became Everything. She cosplays as “cosmonauts, artists, doctors, teachers, queens, warriors, housewives, medieval, millennial, young or old… anyone who has ever existed.”

The post Woman Cosplays as Iconic Women from History appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Mark’s obsession with history has penetrated every part of his life and has shaped his career. During the week, he works as an actor-interpreter in Colonial Williamsburg “Revolutionary City”, where history buffs educate the public about 18th century Williamsburg through reenactment.

And in his free time, Mark impersonated Napoleon Bonaparte. 

The obsession with Napoleon goes back to his childhood when his French cousin brought him a Napoleon toy soldier. Then, in 1998, a friend told him that he even looked like Napoleon – they were the same height, 5 feet 5 inches. That, combined with Mark’s general love of history and experience as an actor, led to his new pass-time, dressing up as the French general. 

Mark has been traveling the world ever since, showing up at events and fairs as Napoleon. He’s also recruited fellow reenactors to recreate some of the general’s most iconic moments on the battlefield. And even after decades doing the same character, Mark can’t get enough of his side hustle – he relives history every day, and wouldn’t have it any other way.  

The post Meet the Modern Day Napoleon Bonaparte appeared first on PlayJunkie.

She left her apartment, quit school and moved to Grundtjärn, a tiny village with only ten inhabitants, 100 miles away from her hometown, She wanted to get in touch with nature, and live a simpler life. 

It wasn’t simple at first. Her house was old, the village was far away from anything. She had to figure out how to live without all the modern comforts the city had to offer. The long cold winters, the isolation and the maintenance of the house made the entire experience much less enchanting than she had imagined it. 

But with time, she got used to the different pace of her new life, and finally found in nature what she was missing in the city – inspiration. She started making art and sharing her life with others on social media. Finally, she found her calling. 

Today, Jonna is still living in the same remote village and spending her time making art and living a more traditional life. She shares her experiences with over 1 million subscribers on YouTube, and finally feels connected – to nature, and to others. 

The post Swedish Student Left Everything Behind to Live Like Her Ancestors appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Bernadette is a fashion historian, focusing mostly on 19^th and 18th-century fashion. She hunts down antique sewing patterns and then tries to recreate the cloth as authentically as she can. She buys the right fabric, uses old-school scissors, and even sews by hand since home sewing machines weren’t widely available up until the past couple of decades! And her clothes aren’t meant to sit in a museum. She wears the pieces she makes, to understand exactly how navigating one’s surroundings in those layers of fabric felt like for a 19th-century woman.

And how does one go about becoming a fashion historian? For Bernadette, it was a matter of skill, gumption, and luck. She started out as an assistant costume designer on Broadway and was disappointed to learn that all those beautiful gowns are held in place with duct tapes, zippers, and wires. She wanted to learn how people really used to make clothes, so she signed up for a history of fashion program in New York.

One day she decided to upload a video of herself recreating a dress to YouTube, and that video exploded. Viewers from all over the world were fascinated by her work process and wanted to learn more about historical sewing. So she showed them. Today, Bernadette has half a million subscribers and makes her living teaching others how much value there is in the past.

The post Meet The Historian Who Dresses Like a Victorian appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“First, I do some research about a certain period of time, then I recreate the same makeup and costumes that women used to wear at that particular time in history. I then take the picture, edit it, and add a little story about my character,” Hasbi says.

Her project is called I Became Everything. She cosplays as “cosmonauts, artists, doctors, teachers, queens, warriors, housewives, medieval, millennial, young or old… anyone who has ever existed.”

The post Woman Cosplays as Iconic Women from History appeared first on PlayJunkie.