Costumes

Ada Lovelace

Ada Byron Lovelace (1815-1852) was one of the most remarkable visionaries in the history of science. Her friend Charles Babbage invented the Analytical Engine to crunch numbers; it was Ada who ...

Amaterasu

Amaterasu is the Japanese sun goddess, the principal deity in the Shinto pantheon. (And yes, we know she's the ancestor of the Emperor of Japan.  So don't wear this costume if you're going to a ...

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) is the most famous aviator of all time. And it's not just because she disappeared. She was ferociously brave and determined, continually doing things that people said it ...

Amina of Zaria

Amina (ca. 1533-1610) was a brilliant warrior queen of the northern Nigerian Hausa state of Zaria. She is remembered in song as "a woman as capable as a man," which is rather understating the ...

Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was Hollywood's first Chinese American movie star. In fact, for several decades she was Hollywood's only Chinese American movie star, such was the pervasive racism of the ...

Anne Bonny/Mary Read

Pirates of the Caribbean! Real pirates, that is: Anne Bonny (1690s-?) and Mary Read (1690s-1721). They sailed the high seas with the infamous Calico Jack, and so much has been written about the ...

Annie Oakley

Will Rogers called her “the greatest woman rifle shot the world has ever produced.” The Associated Press dispensed with the female qualifier in her obituary, calling her “perhaps the greatest ...

Artemis

Ah, Artemis! Goddess of the wilderness, mistress of the moon, patron of untrammeled womanhood. She races through the hills with her beloved animals, fleet-footed and shining. Artemis is one of the ...

Asase Yaa

Asase Yaa is the earth goddess of the Asante people in Ghana. She created human beings and receives them back into her body when they die; she is also the mother of the gods. There are no temples ...

Athena

Athena is easily the best-known and most popular Greek goddess. Yet none of the so-called "Athena" costumes for sale out there look remotely like her. Come on, people! She's Athena! Helmet! ...

Audrey Hepburn

Dressing up as Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) is easy, since there's a licensed costume that perfectly duplicates her fabulous ensemble in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Her role as Holly Golightly was ...

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is the legendary witch of Slavic folklore, particularly Russian fairy tales. She lives on the edge of the forest in a hut that stands and moves on chicken legs. Baba Yaga herself fills the ...