Stage Costume - Practical Stage Handbooks
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Stage Costume - Practical Stage Handbooks - Margot Lister
INTRODUCTION
DETAILS of the dress that may be worn at any particular time, with descriptions of general trends, are presented in tabulated form in the hope that reference will be facilitated and help given both in defining character by dress and suggesting individual differences in appearance, especially when long casts are necessary.
Fashions in dress seldom change abruptly; indeed often they pass very slowly from one country to another. Therefore, the dates that I have included should be regarded as approximate rather than exact.
I have not attempted separate descriptions of the dress of country people, artisans, or servants, because of space considerations, but costumes in utilitarian styles of their time—serviceable stuffs, subdued colours, hard-wearing shoes, and easily laundered linen—should be appropriate for those who have to undertake practical work.
Useful information about ecclesiastical dress may be found in British Costume during XIX Centuries, by Mrs. Charles H. Ashdown (T. C. & E. C. Jack), the Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Terms (Werner Laurie), and Church Vestments by Herbert Norris (J. M. Dent); about military dress in A History of the Uniforms of the British Army, by Cecil Lawson (Peter Davies) and British Military Dress, by James Laver (Penguin Books).
Among the many books to which I have referred, Mrs. Charles Ashdown’s book, noted above, Talbot Hughes’s Dress Design (John Hogg), Nevil Truman’s Historic Costuming (Pitman), R. Turner Wilcox’s The Mode in Costume (Charles Scribner’s Sons), G. M. Trevelyan’s Illustrated English Social History (Longmans) and Miss Lucy Barton’s authoritative and detailed work, Historic Costume for the Stage (A. & C. Black), have been particularly helpful to me. I gratefully acknowledge my debt to the authors of these books and to those of all others that I have consulted.
CHAPTER I
EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN, PERSIAN, AND HEBREW DRESS
(In centuries before Christ and at the beginning of the Christian Era.)
PRODUCERS of plays dealing with ancient times may need a brief description of dress in the countries most often involved. For example, Persian dress is required in the Greek plays that concern the Persian Wars and that of several different civilizations at various epochs of the Old Testament story. The simple tunic or gown, with shawl, cloak, or primitive coat as additional or outer garment, is the main item. Its character varied from country to country.
Egyptian dress.
Plays concerning life in Palestine from 500 B.C. onwards into the Christian era can be costumed in Hebrew dress, with the exception of people of occupying nations and visitors from other countries. In plays of the time of Cleopatra it should be remembered that she probably wore Greek dress at times and that some members of her entourage were Greek.
Egyptian
HEADDRESS
Men: Narrow fillet (band) with end hanging at back. Striped head-cloth, folded in straight line across forehead, two front corners hanging each side of face. Royal headdress: variety of crowns
: round decorative cap with tall, intricate ornament set on top; tall mitre-shaped headdress with ornamentation; ornament in shape of hooded cobra (uraeus) attached to any crown or fillet.
Women: Fillet with pendant ends at back, sometimes ornament, such as lotus, in front; round flat decorative cap placed on, but not confining, hair. Royal headdress: fillet or diadem with uraeus, plume or asp in front; round decorative cap with large ornament surmounted; tall mitre-shaped headdress of various designs with uraeus or other decoration in front; vulture
headdress in form of bird with wings drooping each side of wearer’s head, bird’s head on wearer’s brow, tail extended at back of wearer’s head.
GARMENTS
Men: Narrow tunic of varying length, with short, tight sleeve, cut in one with garment, and round close neckline. Narrow girdle at waist or hips; alternatively, broader girdle with wide apron-type tab hanging down in front. Wider tunic, of soft material with full loose half-length sleeve contrived from fullness of upper part, held in by wide swathed girdle with ends hanging in front. This garment may be transparent, worn over narrow tunic. Rectangle of material wrapped over at waist, leaving upper half of body bare, sometimes arranged with apron-like drapery in front or wide girdle. Loin-cloth for wear as sole garment or under transparent tunic. Large rectangular shawl draped in different ways, usually with right arm free.
Women: Narrow-fitted tunic to instep or ankle, close neckline, short tight sleeve cut in one with garment, high-waisted girdle or none, any drapery brought to front. Short semicircular shoulder cape, tied at neck. Loose tunic of soft material, arranged like similar men’s tunic, but high-waisted, fullness being drawn up in front to outline hips. May be transparent, with narrow tunic worn beneath. Long rectangular shawl or cape, hung down wearer’s back from shoulders, two ends fastened in front at breast, girdle put round if desired, at high waist-level.
FOOTWEAR
Bare feet or sandals with up-turned toe; ornamentation (e.g. lover’s or enemy’s portrait) on sole.
JEWELLERY
Worn by both sexes. Armlets, wrist bracelets, anklets, chains and bead necklaces, broad flat collars
(from base of neck to end of collar-bone or shoulder) of enamel, bead work, or jewels. All stones uncut. Gold or enamel discs as ear-rings.
HAIR
Men: Thick, black, bushy, long, with ears covered or exposed. Sometimes arranged in tiny plaits of even length, hanging straight down, or with two locks brought over shoulders. Some slaves and servants wore it shorter, combed forward from crown. Mitred headdress of Pharaohs covered hair completely. No moustaches. Narrow chin beards.
Women: Hair arranged like that of men, but often longer, falling below shoulders.
MATERIALS AND COLOURS
Linen in various