Zenobia (240–274?) was the great Syrian queen of Palmyra who built a desert empire, conquered Egypt, and briefly gave the Romans a run for their money. She lost in the end, alas, and was paraded through Rome in chains—which is why “Zenobia in Chains” has been such a popular theme in art. The two Victorian paintings above are examples of the genre. On the left, “Queen Zenobia’s Last Look Upon Palmyra” (by Herbert Schmalz) shows her in chains with a Roman soldier waiting to lead her away. In Edward Poynter’s “Zenobia Captive,” on the right, we see the chains encircling her neck as well as her wrists. The Romans were hugely impressed with Zenobia, actually, and legend tells that Emperor Aurelian thought so highly of his royal captive that he set her free. Well, maybe. Or maybe she took her own life, as her heroine Cleopatra did. No one knows for sure.
Our costume design is basically a 3-D version of Zenobia in Chains: Syrian-inflected Hellenistic clothing (draped tunics and layers) plus some fake chains from the costume store. We’re going to do a white linen tunic, as in the painting on the left; and a shorter tapestry over-tunic, as in the painting on the right; plus a sash. No cloak. You’ll have your hands full with the chains. The pieces we suggest, from left to right:
1. White flat sheet. This is for your tunic; we give you instructions below on how to pin it together. The size sheet depends on your height, but a full-size works for most people.
2. Acanthus pattern tapestry throw. This is for your over-tunic, which you’ll pin together and wear over the white tunic. All you need is a woven throw that looks like it could be an ancient pattern. The acanthus design in this tapestry is ideal, but you can use anything that doesn’t look too modern or pictorial (no kittens or Pittsburgh Steelers). You could even use the reverse of a throw, since the back of a tapestry just looks like multi-colored threads.
3. Multicolor scarf. Use this as a belt over your tapestry tunic.
4. Gold crown. A substantial-looking one like this, without medieval gingerbread, is ideal.
5. Gold snake armband. You can also pile on as much gold jewelry as you have: earrings, necklaces, rings.
6. Prison chains. The all-important chains!
Shoes: Simple leather sandals or boots.
How to make the tunic: The simplest ancient tunic for costuming purposes is the Doric chiton, which consists of a single rectangle of fabric folded around the body. All you need is a flat sheet, some safety pins, and a belt or cord. Here are your chiton instructions:
How to do the second tunic (the tapestry throw): You’re going to wrap this around your body and pin it on your shoulders, just as with the first tunic. However, the throw is much shorter than the sheet (it’s only 53″ x 70″), so you may not want to do an overfold. Just experiment to see how long you want it to hang down.
Then use your scarf as a sash to swaddle around your waist and hips. The look will be very drapey with lots of rich fabric texture.
There’s bling and there’s bling. And then there’s Queen Puabi (ca. 2600 BCE). When Leonard Woolley excavated her tomb at Ur in the 1920s, the world gasped. So much gold! So many jewels! Her headdress became legendary: a massive thing of gold leaves and flowers and ribbons, all covering what was apparently an enormous bouffant wig. And you wanna talk about dripping with jewels: Puabi literally was. She was wearing a cape of gold and gemstone beads, fastened around her shoulders and cascading to her waist. This lady was rich. She was also probably a queen in her own right, though it was so long ago we can’t be sure. This was ancient Sumer, around the time of the First Dynasty of Ur. The pyramids in Egypt probably hadn’t even been built yet.
Our illustration above shows some of the jewelry that was recovered from Puabi’s tomb. On the right is her reconstructed cape and headdress from the Penn Museum (see the short video “Dressing Queen Puabi”). The image in the upper left shows that same headdress on a mannequin, and the picture below that shows the jewelry found with one of Puabi’s attendants (she was accompanied to the afterlife by loyal retainers who were buried with her.) The painting in the center is an artist’s conception of a wealthy Sumerian lady’s toilet, based on the things found in Puabi’s tomb. The pieces we suggest, from left to right:
An early vintage newspaper illustration of how Puabi or one of her attendants may have looked. Artist unknown.
1. Twin size flannel flat sheet. The early Mesopotamian woman’s tunic was simply a rectangle of wool wrapped spirally around the body. The ideal size for the rectangle is about 48 inches by 108 inches, so a twin size sheet is a little bit off (the standard twin is 66 x 96 inches). It’s workable though; just fold down the excess. We give you instructions below on how to wrap it around your body. The fibers recovered from Puabi’s tomb suggest that her dress was dyed with red ochre, so we suggest the garnet sheet.
2. Oversize wig. Don’t get us started on the absurdity of all black wigs being labelled “geisha wigs.” At any rate, this huge wig looks more Sumerian than Japanese to us. In fact, it’s almost a perfect match for Puabi. Her wig was probably made of padded wool or felt rather than actual hair, so don’t worry if the costume wig is fakey.
3. Gold leaf wreath. Rest this on top of your enormous wig.
4. Gold door knocker earrings. These are the perfect shape and size (3.25 inches long) for Puabi. If you don’t have pierced ears you can just tie them to the wig.
5. Package of twelve 27-inch glass bead necklaces. In lieu of a gemstone bead cape, we recommend that you pile on a bunch of multicolor glass bead necklaces, rather in the fashion of Puabi’s attendant. These necklaces from Firemountain Gems are a great bargain.
6. Optional: multicolor beads, package of ten 16-inch strands. These are temporarily strung bead strands designed to be taken apart and used in jewelry. But you can easily use them as is for Halloween—just put a dab of glue or a piece of tape on the ends to make sure the beads stay on. If you want to try making a Puabi-style beaded cape, or even just some temporary bracelets, these are an inexpensive way to go. You can also get strands of just blue beads or just red beads, or pretty much anything else at Firemountain.
How to make the tunic: The early Mesopotamian tunic was just a big rectangle of cloth taken straight off the loom and wrapped around the body. All you need is a twin size sheet or a belly dance veil, plus some safety pins to help keep things in position. Here are your instructions:
Shoes: The Sumerians didn’t wear any. But that probably won’t work if you’re going out, so just wear simple flat sandals.
Makeup: The Sumerians liked to outline their eyes very heavily with kohl, so wear eyeliner top and bottom.
Illustration credits: The painting of a Sumerian lady in the center of our main illustration is by Federico Castellon and appeared in the June 4, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine. All of the items from Puabi’s tomb are in the collection of the Penn Museum.
Himiko (3rd century) was the first recorded ruler of Japan. The Chinese chroniclers described her as a great shaman queen who united 30 warring clans, established the imperial throne, sent diplomatic envoys to China, and ruled over her people with the aid of “magic and sorcery.” It seems that male dominance had not yet come to Japan.
The illustrations above are based on archaeological findings from the period when Himiko is believed to have lived. Our costume mostly draws from the detail sketch of Himiko in white. The pieces we suggest, from left to right:
1. White handpainted kimono robe
2. Vintage striped obi. Tie this in the ancient way, just like in the Himiko illustration: wrap it once or twice around your body, knot it in the front, and let the ends hang to the ground.
3. Leaf hair wreath. Yes, we know what kind of leaves those look like. Himiko was a shaman, see? And hemp was very much part of ancient religious rituals in Japan.
4. Leaf lei. Matches the hair wreath. If you get a couple of them you can splice them together for double length, and then do a cross-body sash thing like in the Himiko illustration.
5. Red agate necklace. Agate jewelry has been recovered from ancient Japanese tombs, so an agate bead necklace like this is perfect.
Costume illustration credits: The large background image is copyright Newton Graphic Science Magazine, from their “Nihon no ruutsu.” It’s borrowed from the Heritage of Japan site, which has lots of great info. The detail illustration of Himiko is by Angus McBride.
Eleanor of Aquitaine is famed for her great patronage of the arts, and one of the finest poets at her court may have been her own sister-in-law. Marie de France (ca. 1140-1200) was a high-ranking Anglo-Norman noblewoman whose precise identity is unknown. She referred to herself briefly in her poems (“My name is Marie and I am from France”), but offered no other biographical details. Based on clues here and there, historians have long speculated that she was a half-sister to Eleanor’s husband, Henry II. Whoever she was, her fables, poems, and romances were brilliant. Not only was her work incredibly popular with her contemporaries, but it had an enormous influence on the development of French and English literature.
There are no surviving images of Marie de France, but her clothing would have been similar to what Eleanor of Aquitaine and other noble ladies of the period were wearing. (And by the way, you can easily turn this whole thing into an Eleanor of Aquitaine costume just by adding a crown.) The fashionable gown in the late 12th century was the bliaut, a dramatic side-laced dress that hugged the figure and flared out to a full skirt. Sleeves were long and bell-like. Veils were de rigueur, and Eleanor of Aquitaine is said to have introduced the barbette, a chin strap which framed the face and provided a convenient perch for securing the veil. The pieces we suggest, from left to right:
Twelfth century French noblewomen. From European Civil and Military Clothing: From the First to the Eighteenth Century by Frederick Stibbert.
1. Twelfth-century gown. This beautiful gown is made of linen and follows the authentic bliaut pattern, with side-lacing, tapestry trim, and a sash belt. It’s perfect. Unfortunately, it’s also expensive ($189). It’s even more expensive when you add a medieval chemise, which is the proper undergarment to make sure your arms and chest are covered (people didn’t show much skin back in the day). If you can afford it, then by all means go for it. But we also suggest a less expensive alternative in #2.
2. Alternate choice: Arwen dress from Holy Clothing. This isn’t trying to be an authentic medieval gown, you understand; it’s more a fantasy kind of thing. But it’s an excellent value (about $65) and looks wonderful. Also available in a bunch of other colors and in sizes up to 5X.
3. Silk oval veil. You have to wear a veil to be a proper 12th century lady, and this one is ideal. You can also get a slightly cheaper linen veil (choose oval rather than rectangular). As for how to attach the veil to your head, first we suggest you read this page for an excellent discussion of how all this headgear works. Then we suggest you get either a barbette (#4) or a wimple (#5).
4. Barbette. This is the chin strap allegedly introduced by Eleanor of Aquitaine. It fastens on top of your head, and then you pin your veil to it. (You might need to use a fillet as well.) Notice that this arrangement will not provide you with any coverage of your neck and upper chest, which is why you might want to consider a wimple (#5) instead.
5. Wimple. Instead of a barbette and fillet, you can just wear a wimple, which is the hood-like thing that we nowadays associate with nuns. It covers your head and neck, and then you pin your veil to the top. This would be an especially good style if you’re wearing the Arwen dress, which is a little too low-cut to look properly medieval. You can either tuck the wimple into the top of the dress or drape it around your shoulders.
6. Medieval writing set. This is a prop to carry with you in case you want to dash off some poems. In Old French.
Main illustration credits: The painting of Rosamund Clifford is Fair Rosamund by John William Waterhouse. (Rosamund was the favorite mistress of Henry II and a very unpopular person with Eleanor of Aquitaine.) The drawing of Eleanor is based on her tomb effigy; we don’t know the artist. The costume plate of a 12th century noblewoman looks like a Victorian thing, but we have no information about it.
Denise Benedetto in costume as Civil War spy Mary Bowser, at Germanna Community College’s Black History Month Living History event on February 11, 2012. (Photo credit: Germanna Community College / Flickr)
Despite our name, Take Back Halloween isn’t just about Halloween. From the very beginning we’ve served as a handy year-round resource guide for do-it-yourself historical costumes, no matter what the occasion. Black History Month, Women’s History Month, community festivals, school plays, historical reenactments—we do it all. Or rather, our readers do it all, and tell us about it by email.
A child-size Phillis Wheatley costume from Heritage Costumes.
For Black History Month in February we always get tons of searches and queries about putting together costumes for Phillis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, and other African American luminaries. We also get a lot of inquiries about figures in continental African history, such as the great Queen Nzinga. So I thought it might be helpful to post the links for our most popular costumes this month:
Women in African American History
Women in African History
And a note about children’s costumes…
Um, we don’t have any. Everybody asks us this, but the fact is, at this point it’s just beyond our scope to include children’s costumes. I know, I know, it’s a bummer. My apologies to all you moms out there! But there are some commercial costume places selling kids’ outfits that look like they’d work. Heritage Costumes has a Black History Month page, with costumes for Harriet Tubman, Phillis Wheatley, and Sojourner Truth. The boys’ costumes look good too. (Now if only they would add a costume for Madam Walker! Late Victorian and Edwardian costumes are hard enough to find for adults; for children they’re virtually impossible.)
Mardi Gras costumers in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans.
Hi, everybody! We’re back after our holiday break/anti-hacking fight-to-the-death (which we won, by the way), and raring to go. We have 17 new costumes to design, plus 2 Special Request costumes from Kickstarter backers, plus whatever else we can squeeze in. It’s going to be a big year, and we need all the time we can get.
But enough about us; what about you? Do you feel like thinking about costumes in February? Do you need a full nine-month gestation period to plan your October extravaganza? Or are you busy getting ready for Mardi Gras, like the fine folks in the picture up top?
Head over to our Facebook page and take the poll: How soon do you start planning your Halloween costume?
Brighid was one of the most prominent Irish goddesses in the pre-Christian era. Fundamentally a fire-and-sun goddess, she was also associated with springtime and fertility; with poetry, healing, and smithery; and with water, nature, and the land itself. She was so important that rather than abolish her, the Church simply incorporated her as Saint Brigid.
Modern depictions of Brighid typically show her with red hair, wearing green medieval-looking garb or an ancient tunic, and carrying a flame. The pieces we suggest, from left to right:
1. Green velvet cloak. This gorgeous cloak from Artemisia Designs is made of rich green velvet and lined with black satin. Very goddessy.
2. Full-length chemise in white, cream, or yellow. The early Irish leine (chemise or tunic) was pretty simple. It could be sewn with straight sleeves, like this, or it could be a sleeveless unsewn tunic pinned at the shoulders, like the Greeks wore (see #3). By the 1500s the Irish were famous for dying their leines with saffron, but it’s not clear when this preference for yellow developed.
3. Alternative tunic option: white flat sheet. If you want to go with an unsewn tunic, all you need is a sheet. In Celtic contexts the unsewn tunic is often referred to as the “bog dress,” because Iron Age versions of it have been recovered from peat bogs. It was remarkably similar to the Greek chiton; we give you instructions below on how to pin it together.
4. Long red wig.
5. Celtic circlet.
6. Faux Flame 4-in-1 Torch. This is a great way to carry your sacred fire with you without accidentally burning anything up. It’s a battery-operated faux flame torch that’s convertible; you can hold it as a torch, set it on a table, hang it on the wall, or suspend it from a chain. Here’s a short video of it in action: 4-in-1 Burning Torch Flame Light.
How to make a chiton: The simplest ancient tunic for costuming purposes is the Doric chiton, which consists of a single rectangle of fabric folded around the body. This became the jeans-and-T-shirt of the classical world, and was worn from northern Europe to the Mediterranean. All you need is a flat sheet, some safety pins, and a belt or cord. (You can get a rope belt here in white, natural, or gold.) Here are your chiton instructions:
Some people are just born geniuses. Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) was kidnapped from Senegal and sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight, eventually landing up with the Wheatley family of Boston. Within 16 months she had mastered English and was reading the most difficult passages in the King James Bible. Next she tackled Greek and Latin, and by age 14 was a published poet. And she was still a slave. (The Wheatleys eventually freed her.)
The illustration above left, by Scipio Moorhead, appeared on the frontispiece of Phillis’s Poems on Various Subjects; on the right is a modern version by Donna Berger. What both of these images show is a colonial woman’s basic daytime outfit: dress, apron, shawl, and cap. The pieces we suggest, from left to right:
1. Colonial outfit. This 4-piece set gives you everything you need: dress, apron, mob cap, and a shawl to tie over your shoulders in front.
2. To carry with you: Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings.
3. Ballpoint feather pen. This is a fun prop: it looks like a colonial quill pen, but it’s really a ballpoint.
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was the original superstar diva. She left behind the racism of the United States to become a sensation in France, where she was celebrated as one of the most glamorous women in the world. She was a fabulous entertainer, a devoted animal lover (she was famous for walking her pet cheetah on the streets of Paris, both of them wearing matching diamonds), an outspoken civil rights advocate, an adoptive mother of 12 (her “Rainbow Tribe”), and even a spy for the French Resistance (she smuggled messages on her music sheets). An altogether amazing woman.
If you want to channel La Baker, here are the pieces we suggest:
1. Gorgeous sequined 1920s-style gown in champagne. This fabulous dress looks very à la Baker to us. Incredibly glamorous.
2. Alternative dress: champagne 1920s-style gown with sequin swirls. The swirls on this dress are very Art Deco.
3. Fabulous flapper-style headband.
4. Gorgeous flapper-style bracelet with ring.
5. Long chandelier earrings. These are about three and half inches long and have a lovely Art Deco style.
6. Stuffed cheetah. Josephine’s beloved pet cheetah was named Chiquita. Here’s your very own Chiquita cub to carry with you; we suggest a stretch rhinestone bracelet to slip around Chiquita’s neck as a glamorous diamond collar.
Makeup: The style in the 1920s and 30s was for very thin, long eyebrows. Here’s Tyra Banks as Josephine Baker:
How to do your hair like Josephine Baker: Essence suggests using Mizani Styling Gel to get the look of 1920s-era pin curls. If your hair isn’t the right length for that, you could get an inexpensive flapper-curl wig and use high-shine gel or pomade to slick it down and give it that glossy look.
Our Kickstarter campaign is over, and you know what? WE MADE IT! And then some! Thanks to our wonderful backers and friends, we made our initial Kickstarter goal plus two stretch goals! We are so grateful for the support and incredibly excited about the costumes ahead. And the outpouring of love and good wishes towards our project has been incredibly encouraging. It’s been a joy to connect with so many like-minded souls who love history, mythology, geekiness, and the sheer fun of creating a great costume.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. It’s definitely a wonderful Thanksgiving for us. If you’re one of our backers, I’ll be in touch with you after the holiday to follow up on rewards and all that good stuff. News and announcements about the Kickstarter will be posted on the Updates page. And we’ll keep posting entries in the Costume Candidates series, which you’ll be voting on later to determine our full slate of 2013 costume additions.
Thank you for helping to Take Back Halloween, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Backers of our Kickstarter project will get to vote on which new costumes we do for 2013. This series of posts is designed to briefly introduce the many notable women and legendary figures we’ll be considering.
Seondeok was the greatest queen in Korean history, and the first to rule in her own right. She ascended the throne of Silla, one of the three kingdoms of ancient Korea, in 632. Her reign was by all accounts a glorious success. (The pictures above are from the 2009 TV series “The Great Queen Seondeok,” with Lee Yo-Won in the title role.) Seondeok herself is revered in Korean history for her cleverness and wisdom. Perhaps the most famous story is the one about the peonies: it is said that when Seondeok was a child of seven, her father King Jinpyeong received a box of peony seeds from the emperor of China, along with a painting of what the flowers looked like. When Seondeok saw the painting she remarked that it was a shame the beautiful flowers had such little scent. When her father asked her how she could possibly know this, Seondeok replied that the painting showed no butterflies or bees buzzing around the blossoms.
As queen, Seondeok sponsored the arts, sciences, and Buddhist scholarship. The oldest surviving astronomical observatory in the world, Cheomseongdae, was built during her reign. The period was also full of wars and rebellions, but Seondeok acquitted herself well. Despite some male resentment of “women rulers,” Seondeok held the kingdom together, and upon her death the crown passed peacefully to her chosen successor: her cousin Queen Jindeok.
Think we should add a Seondeok costume to Take Back Halloween? Make sure you join our Kickstarter project so you can vote!
Backers of our Kickstarter project will get to vote on which new costumes we do for 2013. This series of posts is designed to briefly introduce the many notable women and legendary figures we’ll be considering.
Maria Makiling is the most widely known and beloved diwata (fairy or nymph) of the Philippines. As the guardian spirit of Mount Makiling, she is depicted as a beautiful young woman in radiant white clothing, surrounded by the natural flora and fauna. She is shy but gracious and generous, often helping the local people. Stories abound of her giving away baskets of ginger that turn into gold. Other stories tell of her falling in love with mortal men. But she will not tolerate abuse, either of herself or her mountain, and punishes evil-doers by playing tricks on them.
It’s very likely that Maria Makiling is the modern folkloric version of a pre-Christian deity. Diyan Masalanta was the ancient Tagalog goddess of love, whose home was in the forest. When the Spanish arrived, it seems that Diyan Masalanta was renamed Maria Makiling (meaning, in the local parlance, “the woman of Makiling”) and recast as a fairy. And so she lives on, as enchanting as ever.
Think we should add a Maria Makiling costume to Take Back Halloween? Make sure you join our Kickstarter project so you can vote!
