Now, you can easily make modifications. If you're playing a drunkard, loosen the tie. Later, remove the pants. If you're playing a poor person, lose the jacket and tie, and roll up the sleeves. Casual? Turn up the collar, loosen the tie, and carry the jacket on one finger over your shoulder. Mysterious? Wear the jacket, turn up the jacket collar, and keep your hands in your pockets. Alien posing as human? Wear the shirt backwards, tie the tie around the outside of the collar, and hold one end of it in your left hand at all times.

There you go. You're now set to portray virtually any male figure from any time period from oh, say, six thousand years ago to six thousand years from now. Give or take a few years. This has been the standard male uniform ever since ancient Egypt, where the Pharaohs presiding over the Valley of Kings in the upper Nile would put on their jacket and tie to go down to the river and watch the slaves try to build pyramids while it was raining frogs or something. Plus, in the future men will dress exactly like this as they pilot spaceships through black holes and pulsars and stuff. You can look it up. It's in the books. Really.

You may scoff at this, doubting the accuracy of my historical research. That brings us to the second principle of non-costuming. Don't take any crap from anybody. Sooner or later if you follow this scheme you're going to walk into the "Clan of the Cave Mole" game and be surrounded by twenty vaguely pissed-off LARPers in fur loincloths that they made themselves by chopping up twenty dollar fur coats they found at Goodwill , freezing their asses off in the Ramada air conditioning. And one of them will walk up to you, dragging the four-foot anatomically-correct plastic mastodon femur they ordered from bigfakebones.com, and that LARPer is going to try to tell you that your natty suit-and-tie combo isn't historically accurate. And if they're really being a hardass about it, they'll persist in this belief even after you remove your tie, shoes and socks and then drape your jacket over your head just like cavemen used to do.

There are about a hundred ways of dealing with this situation. I'll give you two. First is the Etruscan Maneuver. Claim that your costume is historically accurate - in fact, it's a pretty good representation of depictions of Etruscans of that period. This works because nobody knows what Etruscans are, or where they come from. If you speak authoritatively enough, they should back down.

The second technique is known as the What-World-Are-You-In Maneuver. To illustrate:

"You know, that sportcoat isn't really appropriate for a medieval setting."

"Of what dost thou speakest to me that I heareth with mine ears? Some strange tongue indeed! Is this sport of which thou doth prattle known to me?"

"Oh...Um...I mean, You seem to come from a far-off land, to be dressed so strangely. Are you some demon-blooded vagabond, to be wearing a garment of such strange cut?"

"It's a sportcoat, moron. I got it at the mall. So what character are you playing? That's a nice leather-looking jacket thing you've got going there."

"Ah...Um...I'm a fourth level elven thief, and I..."

"Guards! Guards! A self-professed thief has come into our midst? Arrest this knave at once! Deliver us from the scourge of the Guild!"

And so on.

All joking aside, I have incredible respect for those folks who cruise thrift shops, yard sales, and costume clearances and who always seem to have exactly the right ensemble for any role. It can and does add measurably to their enjoyment, and to mine if I'm playing with them. But if it's not your thing, don't sweat about it. LARP isn't about critiquing how well other people dress - that's too much like real life. LARP is about having fun.

Go do that.