tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/costumes-7673/articlesCostumes – The Conversation2023-10-24T12:22:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126872023-10-24T12:22:19Z2023-10-24T12:22:19ZHow ‘La Catrina’ became the iconic symbol of Day of the Dead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552390/original/file-20231005-24-skza08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=191%2C191%2C5051%2C3450&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A girl dressed as a 'catrina' takes part in the Catrinas Parade in Mexico City to celebrate Day of the Dead.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/girl-dressed-as-catrina-walks-while-taking-part-in-the-news-photo/617638204?adppopup=true">Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 13, 1944, thousands of people clashed with police on the steps of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/about-us/mission-and-history/history">the Art Institute of Chicago</a>. </p>
<p>The melee was unrelated to U.S. participation in World War II, labor unrest or President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-seizes-control-of-montgomery-ward">controversial move to seize control</a> of local Chicago industries. </p>
<p>Rather, a massive, impatient art crowd overwhelmed the museum’s capacity, causing mayhem. That’s how desperately people wanted to see the U.S. premiere of an exhibition titled “Posada: Printmaker to the Mexican People.”</p>
<p>The exhibition featured the prints of <a href="https://www.posada-art-foundation.com/about-posada">José Guadalupe Posada</a>, a Mexican engraver who had died in 1913. On display were his calaveras, the satirical skull and skeleton illustrations he made for Day of the Dead, which he printed on cheap, single-sheet newspapers known as broadsides.</p>
<p>One specific calavera, or skull, attracted more attention than the others. </p>
<p>Known as La Catrina, she was a garish skeleton with a wide, toothy grin and an oversized feathered hat. A large print of her <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8528/gallery-of-art-interpretation-who-is-posada">hung on the museum’s wall</a>. Audiences saw her featured in the museum’s promotional materials. She was even the cover girl of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8526/the-art-of-jose-guadalupe-posada-lent-by-the-department-of-fine-arts-of-mexico">the exhibition catalog</a>. Back in Mexico she’d been virtually unknown, but the U.S. exhibition made La Catrina an international sensation.</p>
<p>Today, La Catrina is Posada’s most recognizable creation. She’s the icon of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/top-ten-day-of-dead-mexico">Day of the Dead</a>, Mexico’s annual fiesta in honor of the deceased that takes place annually on Nov. 1 and 2. Her visage is endlessly reproduced during the holiday. Her idolization has made her Mexico’s unofficial national totem, perhaps second only to <a href="https://theconversation.com/warrior-servant-mother-unifier-the-virgin-mary-has-played-many-roles-through-the-centuries-165596">the Virgin of Guadalupe</a>. </p>
<p>While some people might presume it’s always been this way, La Catrina is actually a transcultural icon whose prestige and popularity are equal parts invention and accident.</p>
<h2>A life of obscurity</h2>
<p>When Posada first engraved her <a href="https://www.posada-art-foundation.com/posada-lacatrina">in 1912</a>, she wasn’t even called La Catrina. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Peach colored program cover featuring a print of a skeleton wearing a lavish hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The catalog cover for ‘Posada,’ a 1944 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, features what came to be known as La Catrina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8526/the-art-of-jose-guadalupe-posada-lent-by-the-department-of-fine-arts-of-mexico">The Art Institute of Chicago</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In the original print, she’s Calavera Garbancera, a <a href="https://glasstire.com/2019/11/02/jose-guadalupe-posada-and-diego-rivera-fashion-catrina-from-sellout-to-national-icon-and-back-again/">title used</a> to refer to indigenous peasant women who sold garbanzo beans at the street markets.</p>
<p>Posada illustrated her in ostentatious attire to satirize the way the garbanceras attempted to pass as upper-class by powdering their faces and wearing fashionable French attire. So even from the beginning, La Catrina was transcultural – a rural indigenous woman adopting European customs to survive in Mexico’s urban, mixed-race society.</p>
<p>Like Posada’s other illustrations, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1360573">the 1912 broadside</a> was sold for a penny to primarily poor and working-class men throughout Mexico City and nearby areas. But there was nothing particularly significant about Calavera Garbancera. Like her creator, she remained obscure for many years.</p>
<p>Posada died <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Guadalupe-Mexican-Broadside-Institute-Chicago/dp/0300121377">broke and unknown</a>, but his illustrations <a href="https://www.unmpress.com/9780826319043/posadas-broadsheets/">had an afterlife</a>. His publisher reused them for other broadsides well into the 1920s. Calavera Garbancera got recycled as various other characters, none particularly noteworthy. Meanwhile, nobody really knew who made the calavera broadsides they saw around the capital every Day of the Dead.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Printed broadsheet featuring text and a drawing of a skeleton wearing a big hat on green paper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Revolutionary Calavera,’ by José Guadalupe Posada, printed on a broadside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/revolutionary-calavera-c-1910-creator-josé-guadalupe-posada-news-photo/1447192444?adppopup=true">Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>That changed in the mid-1920s when Posada’s work drew the attention of French artist Jean Charlot, a leading figure in the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Mexican_Mural_Renaissance_1920_1925.html?id=_g9ZAAAAMAAJ">Mexican Renaissance</a>, that creative outburst of nationalist murals and artworks that transpired in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution.</p>
<p>Charlot was enamored of the calavera illustrations he saw around Mexico City, but he didn’t know who created them. He eventually tracked down Posada’s publisher and began researching the engraver. Charlot <a href="https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/779806#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1673%2C0%2C5895%2C3299">published articles</a> about Posada and introduced the artist’s calaveras to other Mexican Renaissance artists and intellectuals. Among the most important were painter <a href="https://www.diegorivera.org/">Diego Rivera</a> and critic <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/18/archives/frances-toor-66-wrote-on-mexico-author-of-books-on-folkways-and-of.html">Frances Toor</a>.</p>
<h2>From La Garbancera to La Catrina</h2>
<p>Rivera, of course, is arguably the greatest artist in Mexican history. <a href="https://theconversation.com/detroit-1932-when-diego-rivera-and-frida-kahlo-came-to-town-38884">His epic murals</a> remain internationally famous. </p>
<p>Frances Toor, on the other hand, was a modest Jewish intellectual who made her career writing about Mexican culture. In 1925 she started publishing <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43466157">Mexican Folkways</a>, a popular bilingual magazine distributed in Mexico and the U.S. With Diego Rivera as her art editor, she started using the magazine to promote Posada. In annual October-November issues, Toor and Rivera featured large reprints of Posada’s calaveras. </p>
<p>However, Calavera Garbancera was never among them. She wasn’t important enough to showcase.</p>
<p>In 1930, Toor and Rivera published <a href="https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/343276">the first book</a> of Posada’s engravings, which sold throughout Mexico and the U.S. In it, La Garbancera finally made an appearance. But she had a new name – Calavera Catrina. For reasons unknown, Toor and Rivera chose the honorific, which referred to her as a female dandy. The calavera was forevermore La Catrina.</p>
<p>Her fame, however, didn’t truly arrive until Posada’s riotous debut at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1944. The exhibition was a collaboration between the museum and the Mexican government. It was funded and facilitated by a special White House propaganda agency that used <a href="https://www.academia.edu/29923182/Jos%C3%A9_Guadalupe_Posada_Art_Institute_of_Chicago_1944_pdf?email_work_card=view-paper">cultural diplomacy</a> to fortify solidarity with Latin America during World War II. </p>
<p>This boosterism allowed the Posada exhibition to tour and give La Catrina wider exposure. She was seen and promoted in New York, Philadelphia, Mexico City and elsewhere in Mexico.</p>
<p>Perhaps more important was the exhibition catalog, which featured La Catrina as cover girl. It sold at each tour location. <a href="https://www.artic.edu/institutional-archives">Complimentary copies</a> were also distributed to prominent U.S. and Mexican authors and artists. They started writing about La Catrina and refashioning her in their artworks, popularizing her on both sides of the border.</p>
<h2>La Catrina goes global</h2>
<p>In 1947, Diego Rivera further immortalized La Catrina when he made her the focal point of one of his most famous murals, “<a href="https://www.diegorivera.org/dream-of-a-sunday-afternoon-in-alameda-park.jsp">Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park</a>.” </p>
<p>The mural portrays Mexican history from the Spanish conquest to the Mexican Revolution. La Catrina stands at the literal center of this history, where Rivera painted her holding hands with Posada on one side and a boyhood version of himself on the other.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting of an elegantly dressed skeleton holding hands with a boy and a man wearing hats." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail of Diego Rivera’s mural ‘Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park,’ which hangs at the Diego Rivera Mural Museum in Mexico City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksherman/4080802657">Nick Sherman/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rivera’s fame – and La Catrina’s newfound gravitas – inspired Mexican and Mexican American artists to incorporate her into their works, too. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/El_D%C3%ADa_de_Los_Muertos.html?id=BTNQAAAAMAAJ">Folk artists</a> in Mexico began fashioning her into ceramic toys, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/En_Calavera.html?id=3mJQAAAAMAAJ">papier-mâché figurines</a> and other crafts sold during Day of the Dead. Mexican Americans utilized La Catrina in their murals, paintings and political posters as part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-chicana-women-artists-have-often-used-the-figure-of-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-for-political-messages-213720">Chicano Movement</a>, which pushed for Mexican American civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Extravagent costume featuring a headdress, skull mask and red and black cloak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each year, Los Angeles native Christina Sanchez dresses as ‘Catrina Christina’ for Day of the Dead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mars Sandoval</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>La Catrina’s image is now used to sell anything <a href="https://tee-luv.com/products/victoria-beer-mexican-la-catrina-t-shirt-black">from beer</a> to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/us/day-of-the-dead-barbie-cultural-appropriation-trnd/index.html">Barbie dolls</a>. You can order La Catrina costumes from <a href="https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/catrina-costume">Walmart</a> and <a href="https://www.spirithalloween.com/product/adult-la-catrina-day-of-the-dead-trumpet-dress-costume/175819.uts">Spirit Halloween</a> stores.</p>
<p>In fact, La Catrina costume parades and contests are a relatively new Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico and the U.S. Participants span race, ethnicity and nationality. </p>
<p>Some people, such as “<a href="https://shoutoutla.com/meet-christina-sanchez-catrina-christina/">Catrina Christina</a>” in Los Angeles, don a costume each year as a way to honor the dearly departed on Día de los Muertos. Others dress as La Catrina to grow their <a href="https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2021/11/02/content-creators-use-their-platforms-to-celebrate-dia-de-los-muertos/">social media following</a>, or impersonate her to make money.</p>
<p>Posada probably never expected his female calavera to become so famous. He merely wanted to use traditional Day of the Dead humor to make fun of the flamboyantly dressed garbanceras he saw hanging around Mexico City’s central plaza. </p>
<p>Today, during Día de los Muertos, that same central plaza is filled with hundreds of La Catrina impersonators who, for a few dollars, will pose for photographs with tourists all too willing to pay for such a “traditional” cultural experience with an “authentic” Day of the Dead icon. </p>
<p>Posada, meanwhile, is likely laughing somewhere in the land of the dead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Sandoval does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An obscure Mexican engraver named José Guadalupe Posada created the satirical skull in the early 1900s and sold it for a penny. But after he died, it took on a life of its own.Mathew Sandoval, Associate Teaching Professor in Culture & Performance, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157342023-10-24T11:26:32Z2023-10-24T11:26:32ZHow the Playboy bunny suit went from uniform to Halloween costume<p>In the 2004 film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/">Mean Girls</a>, Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is invited to a Halloween party. Previously homeschooled, Cady dresses as a zombie bride, but is shocked to find her peers wearing much more suggestive costumes. “In girl world”, Cady muses, “Halloween is the one time a year when a girl can dress like a total slut, and no other girls can say anything about it.”</p>
<p>One of those girls, Regina George (Rachel McAdams), is wearing one of the most culturally significant costumes of the last decade: the Playboy bunny suit.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Halloween scene from Mean Girls.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Originally designed in 1960 as a uniform for female workers of the Playboy clubs, the Playboy bunny suit was the first service uniform <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=j5I62jQSEAIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+bunny+years&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=patent&f=false">to be patented</a> in the US. Yet despite this, the costume has been replicated and sold by <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/playboy-fashion-nova-bunny-costume-lawsuit/">numerous fashion retailers</a> (sometimes attracting legal action by Playboy), becoming one of the most prevalent fancy dress and Halloween costumes. </p>
<p>Every October the <a href="https://www.playboy.com/read/the-authentic-bunny-suit">instantly recognisable Playboy bunny suit</a> – with its corseted bodysuit, ears, tail, cuffs, collar, bow tie, and name-tag rosette on the hip – is the costume of choice for <a href="https://www.insider.com/keanu-reeves-red-table-talk-matrix-halloween-playboy-bunny-2021-12">celebrities</a> such as <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a29621841/kylie-jenner-playboy-bunny-outfit-halloween-2019/">Kylie Jenner</a> and <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8891961/Paris-Hilton-transforms-ideal-Playboy-Bunny-models-Halloween-costumes-Instagram.html">Paris Hilton</a>, and normies alike. </p>
<h2>The history of the Playboy bunny suit</h2>
<p>The bunny suit’s origin has been subject to much misinformation. It has been falsely reported that the suit was designed by <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/09/28/she-designed-the-famous-playboy-bunny-costume/">Zelda Wynn Valdes</a>, known for her <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/obituaries/zelda-wynn-valdes-overlooked.html">figure-hugging designs</a> for clients such as Ella Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker.</p>
<p>Though the story that it was created by an under-recognised black designer is compelling, the truth is that many different hands went into the creation of the suit. </p>
<p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zelda-wynn-valdes-an-interview-with-nancy-deihl/id1350850605?i=1000510307173">While Wynn Valdes did create</a> bunny suits for the New York Playboy Club, the original concept came from <a href="https://fidmmuseum.org/2017/09/a-colony-of-colors-the-iconic-playboy-bunny.html">Ilsa Taurins</a>, the girlfriend of a former Playboy promotions director. Her mother sewed the first prototype. </p>
<p>Since its debut in 1960, the bunny suit has been seen in numerous colours and patterns – <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/chocolate-playboy-bunny-costume_n_58eb9f22e4b0ca64d917d2cf">even once made entirely of chocolate</a> – but the design has remained largely unchanged.</p>
<p>In 1963, journalist and activist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gloria-Steinem">Gloria Steinem</a> spent two weeks working undercover as a bunny in the New York Playboy Club researching her two part exposé, <a href="https://sociologyinfocus.com/files/pdf/show-a%20bunny_s%20tale-part%20two-june%201963.pdf">A Bunny’s Tale</a>. </p>
<p>Steinem critiqued Playboy’s treatment of bunnies, drawing attention to the discomfort of long shifts wearing the costume, violating examinations by a Playboy-affiliated doctor and the egregious merit/demerit system <a href="https://archive.org/details/1969-bunnymanual">laid out in the employee manual</a>. </p>
<p>Bunnies could receive demerits for a long list of perceived errors, including unkempt hair, chewing gum or incorrectly bent bunny ears.</p>
<p>But not everyone agreed. Kathryn Leigh Scott, author of <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/The-Bunny-Years/Kathryn-Leigh-Scott/9781451663280">The Bunny Years</a> (1998), worked alongside Steinem during her undercover stint. She claims that the reality of working as a bunny was more nuanced than Steinem portrayed. According to Scott, the club provided an opportunity to travel and earn a decent wage in a time where there were less opportunities for women in the workforce. </p>
<p>The last of the original US Playboy clubs <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/15/us/last-of-playboy-clubs-in-us-to-shut-down.html">closed in 1988</a> and attempts to reopen them in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna47679946">Las Vegas</a> and <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/14/nyc-playboy-club-bunnies-to-hang-up-tails-and-ears-after-just-one-year/">New York</a> have been short-lived, but the bunny remains a contentious subject of feminist debate. </p>
<p>In the recent docuseries <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/secrets-of-playboy">Secrets of Playboy</a> (2022), former bunnies came forward with accounts of sexual harassment and assault in Playboy clubs. However, many women who have worn the costume <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhmxX1bnre4/?hl=en">both for work</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CRkGwC3pd84/?hl=en">leisure</a> have also claimed that they find the Playboy bunny suit <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/22/the-playboy-bunny-empowered">sexually empowering</a>. </p>
<h2>The rise of the ‘sexy’ Halloween costume</h2>
<p>The rise in popularity of the Playboy bunny as a Halloween outfit can be linked to the increase in popularity of the “sexy” Halloween costume. In the US, modern adult Halloween costumes entered the cultural zietgeist in the 1970s. Writing for <a href="https://time.com/3547024/sexy-halloween-costumes-history/">Time magazine</a>, journalist Laura Stampler credits this to LGBTQ+ Halloween parades, which encouraged outlandish and creative costumes.</p>
<p>By the 1990s and 2000s, Halloween costumes reflected the the rise of <a href="https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/2449/1/Postfeminist_media_culture_(LSERO).pdf">postfeminist</a>, overtly sexualised media representations of women. Sexy costumes began to dominate Halloween parties, offering a campy reflection of pop culture. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Playboy bunny suit in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite changing times, browse any website selling Halloween costumes and variations of the Playboy bunny costume still pop up. This continuing popularity could partly be due to Playboy’s lasting cultural impact (the brand turned 70 this year). Or it could be due to a perceived distinction between the iconic “bunnies” and the Playboy brand. </p>
<p>The costume’s appearance in media from anime such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbYsz3hOeAw&app=desktop">Dragon Ball</a>, to films such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIGz4I56Lc8">Legally Blonde</a> and Bridget Jones’s Diary has led to the Playboy bunny becoming a pop culture icon in her own right.</p>
<h2>Embodying the Playboy bunny</h2>
<p>Call me a bad feminist, but I love the Playboy bunny costume. In November 2017, while studying for my MFA in Chicago at an institution that was once <a href="https://fnewsmagazine.com/2017/11/hef-this-the-complicated-history-of-saics-connection-to-hugh-hefner/">gifted the original Playboy Mansion</a>, I flew to New York to attend a bunny casting.</p>
<p>Unlike Steinem, my attempt to go undercover proved fruitless. On reflection, I wanted to go through the Playboy bunny casting process because I wanted to know what it felt like to wear the suit.</p>
<p>In 2021, my friend Amber Sylvia and I set out to create the bunny suit of my dreams. Embellished with over 10,000 rhinestones, my suit celebrates the countless women of Playboy, who continue to inspire both my research and art practices. </p>
<p>Dressed as a Playboy bunny, I realised why – over 60 years on – it continues to be a popular costume choice. I became an exaggerated version of myself. The ears and heels made me stand taller while the corseting exaggerated my feminine features.</p>
<p>Regina George made a smart Halloween costume choice. For me, the Playboy bunny represents feminine sexuality in its most playful and heightened form. And considering its history – originally crafted for the enjoyment of male Playboy club patrons – it’s a little spooky, too.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daisy McManaman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Playboy bunny represents feminine sexuality in its most playful and heightened form.Daisy McManaman, PhD Candidate, Centre for Women's Studies, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155382023-10-19T23:59:48Z2023-10-19T23:59:48ZDressing up for Halloween? You could be in breach of copyright law, but it’s unlikely you’ll be sued<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554433/original/file-20231018-19-u84nxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C1%2C994%2C577&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-halloween-group-children-suits-pumpkins-1175523997">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Love it or loathe it, it’s almost Halloween.</p>
<p>While it’s traditionally seen as an American holiday, <a href="https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/ara-roy-morgan-media-release-halloween-2023">more Australians are preparing to celebrate it</a> this year.</p>
<p>Many jump at the chance to dress up as their favourite fictional character, but have you ever stopped to wonder whether you could be breaking copyright law?</p>
<p>Here’s what we know about costumes, cosplay and copyright.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/books-3-has-revealed-thousands-of-pirated-australian-books-in-the-age-of-ai-is-copyright-law-still-fit-for-purpose-214637">Books 3 has revealed thousands of pirated Australian books. In the age of AI, is copyright law still fit for purpose?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is copyright?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/short_guide_to_copyright.pdf">Copyright is a legal right</a> that grants the creator of an original creative work exclusive rights over the way their work is used or distributed. </p>
<p>The idea of the author holding exclusive rights is to encourage the creation of new works. </p>
<p>Importantly, copyright does not exist in the <em>idea</em> of a character, but in <a href="https://www.theipmatters.com/post/the-concept-of-idea-expression-dichotomy-under-copyright-law#:%7E:text=Idea%2DExpression%20Dichotomy%20means%20that,expressions%20of%20these%20ideas%20are.">its <em>expression</em> in tangible form</a>. </p>
<p>For example, copyright cannot exist in the general idea of a young wizard who attends a magical school and embarks on adventures. </p>
<p>However, copyright can exist in the expression of the specific details, characters and descriptions J.K. Rowling used to bring Harry Potter to life in her books. </p>
<p>Whether copyright exists depends on two things: the expression of the character, and the type of work that has been created.</p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2022C00192">Copyright Act 1968</a>, copyright applies to various categories of original authored works, provided they meet specific criteria. These works include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a literary, artistic, or dramatic work</p></li>
<li><p>a sound recording</p></li>
<li><p>a film.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Taking Harry Potter films as an example, Warner Bros. could assert copyright in several aspects of their films as separate works. </p>
<p>These could be the original written screenplay as a literary work, the musical score as a musical work, the recorded music as sound recordings and the films as cinematographic works.</p>
<p>The initial design sketches and photographs of costumes in the Harry Potter films could qualify as artistic works. </p>
<p>In 2011, a <a href="https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2011/39.html">UK court case</a> considered whether a Star Wars stormtrooper helmet was a sculpture (artistic work) for the purposes of copyright protection. </p>
<p>The case involved one of the craftsmen who helped design the stormtrooper costume. He used his original tools to make stormtrooper helmets and sold them to the general public. Lucasfilm alleged infringement on the basis the helmets were copyrightable sculptures. </p>
<p>However, the UK court rejected this argument. It found that while the helmets had practical functionality, they didn’t have an artistic purpose and therefore were not covered by copyright.</p>
<p>While this issue has not been tested under Australian law, the ruling might be similar.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of small children in Halloween costumes run towards the camera smiling" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554438/original/file-20231018-17-dgam7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Whether a cosplay costume infringes copyright will require examination in the courts, something that hasn’t happened in Australia yet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-kids-halloween-party-1173596917">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-was-halloween-invented-once-a-celtic-pagan-tradition-the-holiday-has-evolved-to-let-kids-and-adults-try-on-new-identities-192379">How was Halloween invented? Once a Celtic pagan tradition, the holiday has evolved to let kids and adults try on new identities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can copyright be infringed?</h2>
<p>Infringement is found when a person uses either the entire or a “substantial part” of an original copyrighted work.</p>
<p>The Australian courts have found the idea of a “substantial part” to be a significant, important or distinctive part of the copyrighted material. </p>
<p>That part doesn’t have to be big. <a href="https://austlii.community/foswiki/NTLawHbk/Infringementsubstantialpartrequirement">Even a tiny part</a> can infringe copyright if it’s distinctive enough.</p>
<h2>How does this all apply to costumes?</h2>
<p>Along with Halloween dress-ups, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-cosplay-20759">cosplay</a> – the hobby of replicating and embodying a wide range of characters through detailed costumes – is another increasingly popular activity.</p>
<p>For cosplayers if the expression of the character is distinctly reproduced, then this might be deemed a “substantial part” of an original work and could therefore be a breach of copyright.</p>
<p>Whether a cosplay costume infringes copyright will require examination in the courts, something that hasn’t happened in Australia yet. </p>
<p>However, the greater the differences between the costume and the original work, the less likely a finding of infringement. </p>
<p>This means relatively small differences in costume elements and features could make a big difference to the outcome.</p>
<h2>Costumes as promotional material</h2>
<p>But even if a costume is technically infringing copyright, are you really going to get sued? Is J.K. Rowling really going to sue a fan for making a Harry Potter costume at Halloween? </p>
<p>This is highly unlikely, particularly when there is no commercial activity involved.</p>
<p>Many authors and artists are proud of the fact their characters are so celebrated through costumes, cosplay and fandom. Homage to creative works plays a vital part of modern pop culture. </p>
<p>For example, as seen with the Game of Thrones, <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-8-years-of-memes-videos-and-role-playing-what-now-for-game-of-thrones-multimedia-fans-117254">fandom</a> can have a significant influence on the success and longevity of the work. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dolls-and-dollars-why-small-businesses-should-be-wary-of-cashing-in-on-barbiemania-with-their-branding-210875">Dolls and dollars: why small businesses should be wary of cashing in on Barbiemania with their branding</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>And ultimately, this can help to promote sales of the original work.</p>
<p>If, however, a person engages in commercial activity, they are more likely to be sued for infringement. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2016/944.html">2016, an Australian Federal Court</a> case addressed copyright infringement of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “one ring” inscription from Lord of the Rings. Over eight years, the respondent’s jewellery websites sold about 1,300 rings with this inscription. </p>
<p>The court ruled the inscription was an artistic work and was therefore protected by copyright. Through the respondent’s commercial activity, they had reproduced and sold a substantial part of the inscription, without licence or consent and were found liable.</p>
<p>So if you create your favourite character’s costume this Halloween, even if you are technically infringing copyright, the chances of you being sued are low. </p>
<p>If, however, you engage in commercial activities, your chances of being sued are much higher.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wellett Potter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Traditionally seen as an American holiday, more Australians are preparing to celebrate Halloween. Here’s what we know about costumes, cosplay and copyright, just in time for the spooky season.Wellett Potter, Lecturer in Law, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135992023-10-09T13:32:37Z2023-10-09T13:32:37ZSho Madjozi: the pop star using traditional culture to shape a fresh identity for young South Africans<p>South African rapper <a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/directory/sho-madjozi">Sho Madjozi</a> is a bold and colourful presence in pop culture, as famous for her catchy lyrics as for using traditional clothing and dance in a fresh way. </p>
<p>The musician, actress and poet is also one of very few young South African artists working in a minority language, Xitsonga. With 12 official languages in South Africa, Xitsonga is the first language of only about <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/census/census_2011/census_products/Census_2011_Census_in_brief.pdf#page=29">4.5%</a> of the population, mostly in the rural northern province of the country called Limpopo. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tsonga">Tsonga people</a> also live in neighbouring Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Eswatini.</p>
<p>Yet, in 2019, “<a href="https://twitter.com/shomadjozi/status/1367138022676963329?s=61&t=tS_HwqEZjVfiFydTA2hItQ">village girl</a>” Sho Madjozi burst onto the world stage with her hit song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9bGITkIHmM">John Cena</a>, winning a <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/tshisa-live/tshisa-live/2019-06-24-watch-halala-sho-madjozi-bags-a-bet/">BET award</a> in the US for Best International Newcomer. By 2021 she had established herself as <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/entertainment/2019-06-02-sho-madjozi-wins-big-at-sama25/">best female artist</a> at the South African Music Awards.</p>
<p>But Sho Madjozi is about more than music. She’s also about setting trends – through reinventing Tsonga costume, hairstyles and dance. She’s done this in a way that helps shape her region’s cultural identity. </p>
<p>Cultural identity is not something that’s fixed. Identities change, transcending time, place and history. Sho Madjozi shows how this happens when she mixes the authentic culture of the Tsonga people with popular global culture to produce a unique – or hybrid – identity and performance style.</p>
<p>We recently published a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681392.2023.2227293?scroll=top">research paper</a> that analyses this. We place her as an artist whose work demonstrates a fascinating interface between the “authentic” (Tsonga culture) and the “hybrid” (an innovative new voice, with innovation and novelty being central to the global culture industries).</p>
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<p>We conclude that by merging popular and traditional cultures, Sho Madjozi is the latest in a long line of young African artists who help shape youth culture identity. In the process she shines a light on a lesser-known ethnic group, keeping traditional knowledge alive so that others may learn from it and be inspired by it. </p>
<h2>Who is Sho Madjozi?</h2>
<p>Sho Madjozi was born Maya Christinah Xichavo Wegerif, from a biracial union between her Swedish father and Tsonga mother. This provides a further fascinating framework for the idea of authenticity and hybridity in her work. </p>
<p>In South Africa, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-slavery-and-early-colonisation-south-africa">colonialism</a> and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> suppressed indigenous cultures. Apartheid, introduced by a white-minority government, was a policy based on separate development for different racially categorised people. The <a href="https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01829/06lv01884.htm">law</a> banned sexual relations between people categorised as black and white. Yet people fell in love across the colour lines. </p>
<p>Sho Madjozi’s mixed parentage creates a hybrid form of identity because of historical processes of cultural contact, transformation and change among different peoples of the world. </p>
<p>As if to underscore the in-betweenness of her cultural heritage, a considerable part of her youth and childhood was spent in Senegal in west Africa. This also demonstrates the notion of circulation that characterises the contemporary <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/17/world/africa/who-are-afropolitans/index.html">Afropolitan</a> (a generation that is both African and cosmopolitan). </p>
<p>Sho Madjozi chose proudly to adopt a Tsonga signature style in her stage career. She <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/entertainment/sho-madjozi-it-makes-sense-for-me-to-rap-in-xitsonga-10990362">says</a> that, for her, blackness means “not erasing everything that I am … and never accepting a form of beauty where it’s as far away from me as possible”.</p>
<figure>
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<p>She makes it clear that a pure native identity is simply no longer available. In its place comes a moving map of cultural images and an ever-changing sense of self.</p>
<h2>Costume, hair and dance</h2>
<p>Characteristically, Sho Madjozi adapts and reinterprets the Tsonga tinguvu skirt, commonly called the <a href="https://makotis.com/xibelani/">xibelani skirt</a> as it’s used to perform the traditional <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsOJ6VP1e84">xibelani dance</a>. The xibelani skirt is gathered in the waist, accentuated at the top of the hips and consists of many layers of fabric that create a distinctive volume when the wearer dances in it. </p>
<p>Sho Madjozi <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/the-history-of-the-xibelani-a-look-behind-sjo-madjozis-signature-look-20200226#">reinterprets</a> this skirt. She pairs it with modern fashion items, sometimes shortening it or making it longer, reinventing its form. This contrasts and merges indigenous culture with fashion, tradition with modernity, and the local with the global. </p>
<p>She also incorporates vibrant Tsonga colours (pinks, yellows, purples, blues and greens) in her creative reinterpretations of costume. She does the same with her <a href="https://briefly.co.za/entertainment/celebrities/158996-sho-madjozis-iconic-hairstyles-4-stunning-earned-john-cena-hitmaker-queen-colourful-hair/">hair</a>, weaving bright Tsonga colours into it, adorning it with beads, experimenting with traditional accessories in her cornrows. </p>
<p>The xibelani <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsOJ6VP1e84">dance</a> is also central to Sho Madjozi’s act. It’s native to Tsonga women, where girls learn it to celebrate their heritage and perform it on special occasions. Xibelani means “hitting to the rhythm”. The dancer shakes their hips, exaggerated by the skirt, with the whole body following. This is often accompanied by hand clapping and whistling.</p>
<p>Sho Madjozi’s colourful and iconic redesigns of Tsonga costume are signs of what it means to be Tsonga in southern Africa today. She uses popular urban youth culture to spread Tsonga xibelani culture in a national space. </p>
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<p>She does so in a time when young South Africans often find themselves grappling to retain traditional cultural values in an ever-changing and fast-paced globalising world. </p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>Traditional costume often represents old ways that resist change. Sho Madjozi’s innovations around xibelani speak differently. Through her performances, social media image and public profile, she rises above conventional attitudes that often perceive minority ethnic groups as the conservative gatekeepers of unchanging cultures. </p>
<p>She presents Tsonga tradition and culture at the cutting edge of positive identity formation. She does so in ways that inspire, attract and convince other young South Africans to embrace local cultures in their own construction of urban identities.</p>
<p>She acts as a cultural agent for the transmission of positive change and values across ethnic, national and international boundaries. </p>
<p>Sho Madjozi embodies the words of <a href="https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/taiye-selasi">Taiye Selasi</a>, the young British-born, US-based writer, photographer and cultural activist of Nigerian and Ghanaian origin. Selasi <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/03/27/175466870/debut-novel-tackles-african-immigrant-stereotypes">says</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What distinguishes (Afropolitans) is a willingness to complicate Africa … we seek to comprehend the cultural complexity, to honour the intellectual and spiritual legacy, and to sustain our parents’ cultures.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213599/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Costume, hair and dance allow her to modernise Tsonga culture – and help shape youth identity.Owen Seda, Associate Professor in Performing Arts, Tshwane University of TechnologyMotshidisi Manyeneng, Lecturer in Costume Theory and theatre costumer, Tshwane University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126072023-09-22T01:25:31Z2023-09-22T01:25:31ZKids dressing up as older people is harmless fun, right? No, it’s ageist, whatever Bluey says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548462/original/file-20230915-23-t7k9vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C997%2C640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-cute-little-baby-cosplaying-old-2161560119">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A child once approached me, hunched over, carrying a vacuum cleaner like a walking stick. In a wobbly voice, he asked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Do you want to play grannies?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The idea came from the children’s TV show Bluey, which <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ABCKidsCommunity/videos/bluey-grannies/468144817266668/">has</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ABCKidsCommunity/videos/new-bluey-episodes-the-grannies-are-back-abc-kids/371436135028190/">episodes</a>, <a href="https://www.bluey.tv/products/grannies-book/">a book</a>, <a href="https://www.discountmags.com/magazine/bluey-september-1-2023-digital">magazine</a> editions and an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBlueyTV/videos/grannies-filter-bluey/5728362390510269/">image filter</a> about dressing up as “grannies”.</p>
<p>Children are also dressing up as 100-year-olds to mark their first “100 days of school”, an idea <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/old-people-s-home-for-five-year-olds-prep-students-don-senior-citizen-attire-20230801-p5dszb.html">gaining popularity</a> <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/cardigans-wigs-and-canes-why-kindy-students-are-dressing-up-as-100-year-olds-20230720-p5dpu8.html">in Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Is this all just harmless fun?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1632154977664921600"}"></div></p>
<h2>How stereotypes take hold</h2>
<p>When I look at the older people in my life, or the patients I see as a geriatrician, I cannot imagine how to suck out the individual to formulate a “look”.</p>
<p>But Google “older person dress-ups” and you will find <a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/dress-up-like-youre-100-years-old-100thdayofschool--15199717464361356/">Pinterests</a> and <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Dress-Up-Like-an-Old-Person#:%7E:text=Dress%20in%20comfortable%2C%20loose%2Dfitting,older%20people%20may%20wear%20include%3A&text=Oversized%20sweatshirts">Wikihow pages</a> doing just that.</p>
<p>Waistcoats, walking sticks, glasses and hunched backs are the key. If you’re a “granny”, don’t forget a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBlueyTV/videos/games-you-can-play-at-home-grannies-bluey/645964056227345/">shawl and tinned beans</a>. You can buy “old lady” <a href="https://www.spotlightstores.com/party/costumes-and-accessories/costume-accessories/wigs-hair-accessories/wigs/spartys-kids-old-lady-wig-with-curlers/80578132?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0vWnBhC6ARIsAJpJM6emZHoNxO72pUa80Wc8ihYYiq3AohZ_w72jmuWBBDlficdCMy_rsK8aAj47EALw_wcB">wigs</a> or an “old man” <a href="https://www.bigw.com.au/product/facial-hair-set-old-man-3-pieces/p/305026">moustache and bushy eyebrows</a>.</p>
<p>This depiction of how older people look and behave is a stereotype. And if dressing up as an older person is an example, such stereotypes are all around us.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Older stylish couple sitting on sofa" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548471/original/file-20230915-19-6zhh04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What do older people really look like? I can’t see a walking stick or shawl. Can you?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-elderly-couple-sitting-on-sofa-2204006701">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-dont-grown-ups-play-like-kids-199176">Curious Kids: why don't grown-ups play like kids?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s the harm?</h2>
<p>There is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hypa.12170">some debate</a> about whether stereotyping is intrinsically wrong, and if it is, why. But there is plenty of research about the harms of <em>age</em> stereotypes or ageism. That’s harm to current older people and harm to future older people.</p>
<p>The World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">defines ageism</a> as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or ourselves based on age.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ageism <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">contributes to</a> social isolation, reduced health and life expectancy and costs economies <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/60/1/174/5166947">billions of dollars</a> globally. </p>
<p>When it comes to health, the impact of negative stereotypes and beliefs about ageing may be even <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/60/1/174/5166947">more harmful</a> than the discrimination itself. </p>
<p>In laboratory studies, older people perform <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4360754/">worse</a> than expected on tasks such as memory or thinking after being shown negative stereotypes about ageing. This may be due to a “<a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/stereotype-threat.html">stereotype threat</a>”. This is when a person’s performance is impaired because they are worried about confirming a negative stereotype about the group they belong to. In other words, they perform less well because they’re worried about acting “old”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Older man doing a jigsaw puzzle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548465/original/file-20230915-23-lvzcr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Older people perform less well on some tasks after seeing negative stereotypes of ageing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/senior-male-hands-working-on-puzzle-1957542670">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another theory is “stereotype embodiment”. This is where people absorb negative stereotypes throughout their life and come to believe decline is an inevitable consequence of ageing. This leads to biological, psychological and physiological changes that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2927354/">create</a> a self-fulfilling prophecy. </p>
<p>I have seen this in my clinic with people who do well, until they realise they’re an older person – a birthday, a fall, a revelation when they look in the mirror. Then, they stop going out, stop exercising, stop seeing their friends. </p>
<p>Evidence for “stereotype embodiment” comes from studies that show people with more negative views about ageing are more likely to have higher levels of stress hormones (such as cortisol and C-reactive protein) and are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7182003/">less likely</a> to engage in health behaviours, such as exercising and eating healthy foods.</p>
<p>Younger adults with negative views about ageing are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2666386/">more likely</a> to have a heart attack up to about 40 years later. People with the most negative attitudes towards ageing have a lower life expectancy by as much as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12150226/">7.5 years</a>. </p>
<p>Children are particularly susceptible to absorbing stereotypes, a process <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-09385-010">that starts</a> in early childhood. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Older woman dressed in modern clothes enjoying herself making hand signals" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548464/original/file-20230915-25-k8hrpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You don’t see many children dressing up like this older person. There’s a reason for that.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/funny-grandmother-portraits-senior-old-woman-1522642565">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-people-get-old-190142">Curious Kids: why do people get old?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ageism is all around us</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">One in two people</a> have ageist views, so tackling ageism is complicated given it is socially acceptable and normalised. </p>
<p>Think of all the birthday cards and jokes about ageing or phrases like “geezer” and “old duck”. Assuming a person (including yourself) is “too old” for something. Older people say it is harder to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-06/senior-job-seekers-struggle-to-get-a-foot-in-the-door/102563144">find work</a> and they face discrimination in <a href="https://www.hcnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Ageism-in-Health-Care_final.pdf">health care</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-out-flowers-on-tiktok-is-this-a-random-act-of-kindness-or-just-benevolent-ageism-187064">Giving out flowers on TikTok: is this a 'random act of kindness' or just benevolent ageism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can we reduce ageism?</h2>
<p>We can reduce ageism through laws, policies and education. But we can also reduce it via <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">intergenerational contact</a>, where older people and younger people come together. This helps break down the segregation that allows stereotypes to fester. Think of the TV series <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/old-people-s-home-for-4-year-olds">Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds</a> or the follow-up <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/old-people-s-home-for-teenagers">Old People’s Home for Teenagers</a>. More simply, children can hang out with their older relatives, neighbours and friends. </p>
<p>We can also challenge a negative view of ageing. What if we allowed kids to imagine their lives as grandparents and 100-year-olds as freely as they view their current selves? What would be the harm in that?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Mitchell is affiliated with the Australian Labor Party.
Opinions are my own and do not represent the views of my affilitated universities or health care employer. </span></em></p>Children absorb these stereotypes from a young age. And ageism is all around us.Lisa Mitchell, Geriatrician working in clinical practice. PhD Candidate at The University of Melbourne studying ethics and ageism in health care. Affiliate lecturer, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2118262023-08-21T03:14:31Z2023-08-21T03:14:31ZIt’s Book Week but your child is too anxious to take part. 5 expert tips to save the day<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543382/original/file-20230818-29-6ttzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C1%2C997%2C664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/harry-potter-costume">Brothers Art/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://cbca.org.au/cbca-book-week">Book Week</a> is here again. Around Australia, parents of primary school-aged children are coming up with costumes, so their kids can take part in parades. </p>
<p>Some kids are going to love wearing costumes and showing them off to classmates and teachers. </p>
<p>But, what if after all that effort, your child doesn’t want to wear their costume? Or, they get to school and nerves take over.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1693394267367247947"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-week-its-not-the-costume-that-matters-but-falling-in-love-with-reading-188748">Book Week: it's not the costume that matters, but falling in love with reading</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3 things not to do</h2>
<p><strong>1.</strong> Plan an extravagant costume without your child’s input. It can be helpful to <a href="https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/connecting-communicating/communicating/communicating-well-with-children">engage your a child</a> in decision-making and problem solving when they are calm. </p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> Keep your child home. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153628">Avoidance</a> can make anxiety worse. And, avoidance sends the message that the Book Week parade is definitely something to fear. </p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> Get angry and upset with your child. While you might feel annoyed or disappointed, kids <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(96)00040-2">learn from our reactions</a>. And, we don’t want to teach them talking about feelings is a bad thing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kids-driving-you-crazy-try-these-science-backed-anger-management-tips-for-parents-194163">Kids driving you crazy? Try these science-backed anger management tips for parents</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why kids might not want to take part in the school parade</h2>
<p>It could be they are feeling anxious about looking silly in their costume. Maybe they are worried no one will know their Book Week character. Perhaps, they are concerned other kids will make fun of them. </p>
<p>About <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-children/contents/health/children-mental-illness">6.9% of Australian children</a> and adolescents have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, with <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/11/the-mental-health-of-children-and-adolescents_0.pdf">past surveys</a> showing 2.3% experience social anxiety. Yet these figures only include those who qualify for a diagnosis. Many other children have difficulties with worries and fears that might not be interfering with their daily life. </p>
<p>Anxiety is a normal human emotion evoked when we think there is an imminent threat. But, it can be hard to know what to do to <a href="https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/health-daily-care/mental-health/anxiety-in-children#how-to-support-children-with-anxiety-nav-title">support kids who are feeling anxious</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anxiety-can-look-different-in-children-heres-what-to-look-for-and-some-treatments-to-consider-189685">Anxiety can look different in children. Here's what to look for and some treatments to consider</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5 ways to support your child</h2>
<p>So, what can parents or carers do? Here are some helpful tips. </p>
<h2>1. Get input from kids early and often</h2>
<p>Follow your child’s lead for a costume idea or give options so they can feel they have a choice in what they will wear. Even if it’s a simple choice like “do you want to wear the red shirt or the green shirt?” Choices help us to feel in control.</p>
<h2>2. Play ‘thought detective’ with your child</h2>
<p>Often, we can believe worried thoughts are true. But there are often more realistic ways to look at the situation. You can ask questions to help your child come up with alternative ways of thinking about the upcoming parade. Could the feelings be re-framed as excitement? Or freedom from uniforms or usual school clothes? You can also help your child understand what to expect. This might assist with worries they will be the only kid in a costume or that they won’t know what to do.</p>
<h2>3. Encourage your child to take small steps</h2>
<p>You want to encourage your child to be <a href="https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/health-daily-care/mental-health/anxiety-stepladder-approach">slightly out of their comfort zone</a>, but not completely overwhelmed. Maybe it’s wearing their normal clothes and holding a picture of a character from a book. Perhaps it’s a hat or mask? Perhaps they feel brave enough to wear a costume, but not do the parade. Of course, if they get to school and feel ready to do the parade, then encourage them to do so. By <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.103982">facing fears</a>, it gives children a chance to experience whether their worries come true or not. And, often, worries don’t come true.</p>
<h2>4. Use rewards to help motivation</h2>
<p><a href="https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/connecting-communicating/connecting/praise">Rewards</a> help motivate children to do things they might not otherwise want to do. Rewards could be stickers, food treats, a small toy, high fives or some special time together. Your child might be willing to do the parade if they know that they will get extra special time with you. This could be time playing a favourite game, going to the park with you, or time together reading a favourite book. </p>
<h2>5. Practise calming strategies</h2>
<p>When a child feels anxiety in their body, they will experience physical sensations. This may mean they feel like they want to run away from the situation, freeze or even have an emotional outburst. This might happen before going to school or at the time of the parade. Parents can help kids by using calming strategies, such as taking <a href="https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/rheumatology/Breathing_and_relaxation_strategies.pdf">big breaths</a> or counting. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Chn0GUivx8i","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Treatment for anxiety in kids</h2>
<p>If anxiety keeps interfering with your child’s life, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01351-6">treatments</a> that can help to reduce symptoms. It can be worth talking to a professional to get them early support. </p>
<p>You can get support from the school counsellor, your GP, a private psychologist or even an <a href="https://www.triplep-parenting.net.au/au/free-parenting-courses/fear-less-triple-p-online/">online treatment program</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01309-0">Parents</a> and carers are important people in children’s lives. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-016-0180-6">How you react</a> to your child’s anxiety can really help them as they grow and develop. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-think-my-child-has-anxiety-what-are-the-treatment-options-199098">I think my child has anxiety. What are the treatment options?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frances Doyle receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council's Medical Research Future Fund. </span></em></p>You stayed up all night to make a Book Week costume – but now your child won’t wear it. In fact they don’t want to go at all. Here are some ideas to try.Frances Doyle, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1887482022-08-21T20:02:34Z2022-08-21T20:02:34ZBook Week: it’s not the costume that matters, but falling in love with reading<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479558/original/file-20220817-20-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C8%2C1911%2C1356&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image by Victoria_Borodinova from Pixabay </span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>My phone pings and it’s a message from my brother. Do we have an old white dress my niece could borrow for a Book Week costume for school? </p>
<p><a href="https://cbca.org.au/cbca-book-week">Book Week</a> is upon us once again and all around Australia, family WhatsApp groups are lighting up with similar requests from parents and carers of primary school aged children.</p>
<p>Mothers are staring at cardboard boxes wondering how they can help their child transform into a rainbow fish. Fathers are corralling children down the aisles of Spotlight trying to find the costume section. Carers are asking children about how they want to dress for the Book Week parade, and what’s needed to complete the look.</p>
<p>In the scramble for costumes, which can add to the work of already stressed parents and carers, the point of Book Week – for kids to fall in love with reading – can get lost.</p>
<p>In fact, a vast body of research <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284286/reading_for_pleasure.pdf">evidence</a> shows what’s crucial to building a love of reading is allowing children the time and freedom to read what interests them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479561/original/file-20220817-22-7olb0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some children will use a costume to play around with the fictional character and interact in role.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by RODNAE Productions/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dressing up as a fictional character does have benefits</h2>
<p>I’m not saying the Book Week costume is pointless; dressing up as your favourite book character is a great way to celebrate reading, particularly when all students and teachers take part. </p>
<p>In Australia – where most school students wear uniforms – every school day out of uniform has a sense of celebration.</p>
<p>Some children will use their Book Week costume to play around with the fictional character and interact in role. </p>
<p>A child I know revelled in dressing up as Professor Snape from Harry Potter and playfully patrolled the playground in character. He was pursued by a gang of younger Potter fans with their house colours on, yelling out to him in role and giggling when he responded gruffly as Snape. </p>
<p>These children were playing but they were also learning; it was an opportunity to improvise scenes based on a novel they loved to read, and to celebrate this reading across the school.</p>
<p>“Snape” himself had read the novels when he was younger; his love of the text and pleasures of the fictional world spurred him on to read a much more difficult text than he normally would at that age.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479562/original/file-20220817-12-tnigzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dressing up can allow a child to celebrate the character and texts they love.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by cottonbro/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What really matters is not the costume, but falling in love with reading</h2>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284286/reading_for_pleasure.pdf">Extensive research</a> shows reading for pleasure improves young people’s overall reading skills, as well as test outcomes. </p>
<p>Creating a culture of reading in school can help children fall in love with reading, where children read books they choose themselves for their own pleasure. </p>
<p>Some schools provide a <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-silent-reading-in-schools-123531">time and place for silent reading</a> as part of the school day, but sadly this is not always the case. </p>
<p>Providing time for sustained, self-selected reading is important, as many children do not read for pleasure outside school time. </p>
<p>Finding a book they love, with help from another child, a teacher, or librarian, can help a child to develop the habit of reading.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479564/original/file-20220817-14-y2ci23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Finding a book they love can help a child develop a reading habit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what would work to help my child fall in love with reading?</h2>
<p>Encourage your child’s reading of fiction and let them choose books for themselves. </p>
<p>Facilitate trips to the library if you can, and spend time with them selecting what interests them. </p>
<p>Don’t judge your kids on what they love, and don’t force your kids to read what you deem a “worthy” book.</p>
<p>Too often kids experience what author and teacher <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-Pemw9rwdo8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=dressing+up+character+confidence+drama+school+gallagher&ots=KAkdW9mHdk&sig=KoYqmCAg2Sjo9hUtVCMgvrXjoNc#v=onepage&q&f=false">Kelly Gallagher calls “readicide”</a>: the “systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices of schools”.</p>
<p>It’s possible to commit readicide in the home if it becomes a forced, systematic chore where your child has no choice over what they are reading.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479565/original/file-20220817-14-f8fjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t judge your kids on what they love or force them to read books you deem ‘worthy’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image by Victoria_Borodinova from Pixabay</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, rather than judging, enjoy their pleasures and invite them to share their books with you. </p>
<p>Share your own reading with them, and make it visible to them. </p>
<p>I read novels on my phone, which I love, as I can read in bed with the light off. But it’s not as obvious when I am reading fiction as it would be if I was reading a printed book – so I try to bring up my reading in my conversations with my children.</p>
<p>It’s a small action, but anything you can to do help establish a culture of reading in the family helps establish reading for pleasure as a normalised behaviour. </p>
<p>So this Book Week, don’t stress about the costume, and don’t worry about what the other mums or dads are sewing or buying. </p>
<p>Just let your kid read what they want and enjoy it together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188748/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne O'Mara receives funding from The Australian Research Council and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a member of the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English Council. </span></em></p>This Book Week, don’t stress about the costume and don’t worry about what the other mums or dads are sewing or buying. Costumes are fun but what matters is to let your kid read what they enjoy.Joanne O'Mara, Associate Professor in Education, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1778272022-03-03T04:47:23Z2022-03-03T04:47:23ZFrom dark knight to bat-nipples: the evolution of the Batman costume<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449717/original/file-20220303-15-gidbmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1400%2C1047&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Nice outfit” said an approving Jack Nicholson to the caped crusader in Tim Burton’s 1989 movie version of Batman, resplendent in menacing black rubber with bulging pecs, a six pack and very pointy ears.</p>
<p>This is the first of Batman’s many batsuits that visitors see upon entering the Gold Coast equivalent to Bruce Wayne’s bat cave, Movie World’s <a href="https://movieworld.com.au/attractions/wb-studio-showcase">showcase exhibition Batman Legacy</a>. The Dark Knight mannequin stands resolutely, fists coiled by his side, posed ready to leap into one of the nearby batmobiles. </p>
<p>The exhibition is billed by the theme park as the “largest official Batman exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere”, encompassing multiple bat suits, vehicles, movie props and costumes from the cinematic Batman franchise from 1989 to 2017.</p>
<p>Having been first introduced to readers through comic books in 1939, there would be very few of us around who wouldn’t remember a time when this superhero was a massive part of popular culture - and as the years have gone by, the caped crusader has adapted to suit the era he is in. This is exemplified through the changing nature of his costumes - from grim-dark leather, to bat-nipples to bespoke-emo.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449092/original/file-20220301-13-151h5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Simple fabric and pantomine aesthetic</h2>
<p>Batman made his debut on March 29 in issue 27 of Detective Comics and his immediate popularity saw his first cinematic depiction in a low-budget serial in 1943, followed by a longer series in 1949. In these early depictions Batman’s suit was a simple fabric costume with a pantomime aesthetic filled by burly actors, ill-fitting for the most part. </p>
<p>This remained the case through to Adam West’s caped crusader in the 1960s, when the character was portrayed on screen in full colour for the first time. This depiction of Batman in light grey and blue was very true to the batsuit as seen in the parallel comic series of the era, including the chest-mounted bat-symbol enclosed in a yellow ellipse, which was heavily armoured and sought to act as a target for gunfire (rather than the superhero’s head). </p>
<p>For several generations of fans, West became the established look of the caped crusader. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449662/original/file-20220302-23-1htiz39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adam West portrayed Batman in the 1960s series of the same name and its 1966 theatrical feature film.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The dark knight</h2>
<p>When Tim Burton’s Batman emerged blacker-than-black in 1989, the aesthetic reflected the darker direction of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11323132/frank-miller-best-batman">The Dark Knight Returns comic series</a> earlier that decade. </p>
<p>The casting of Michael Keaton as the titular Batman <a href="https://batman-on-film.com/5981/b89-30-wsj-reports-on-reacts-to-the-casting-of-keaton-as-batman/">raised some controversy</a> at the time, as the comedic actor’s slight build didn’t reflect the established muscular look of Bruce Wayne/Batman. </p>
<p>This was resolved with Keaton’s bravura performance and his bat suit (and all subsequent suits) which had external stylised muscles incorporated into it – transforming Keaton into a much more formidable figure. The actor had to endure adding 40 rubbery kilograms to his overall bodyweight, the cape alone weighing in at 18 kg. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449093/original/file-20220301-21-kb6slv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros.</span></span>
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<h2>External nipples</h2>
<p>Although his initial film did well at the box office, Tim Burton’s grim Batman Returns (1993) did not reach the same heights, leading to Joel Schumacher taking charge as director. </p>
<p>Batman Forever (1995) had a more colourful and lighter touch, reflected in Jim Carrey’s sparkly Riddler onesy style jumpsuit, and Tommy Lee-Jones Two-Face fuschia dominated outfit. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449672/original/file-20220302-17-8adesm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Director Joel Schumacher brought colour and camp aesthetic to the Batman franchise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
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<p>Batman Forever also saw the introduction of Robin, with both he and Batman (now played by Val Kilmer) sporting highly stylised suits that further accentuated musculature, with the added addition of external nipples.</p>
<p>The infamous bat-nipples even <a href="https://www.cbr.com/batman-and-robin-joel-schumacher-perceived-gay-subtext/">led to accusations</a> that the openly gay Schumacher was furnishing the superheroes with homoerotic motifs. The director rejected this, stating he was trying to bring the feeling of classical antiquity to the costumes. Co-creator of Batman, Bob Kane was also unimpressed, as Jim Carey <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/batman-forever-why-the-batsuit-had-nipples/">recalled hearing him say</a> “I never put nipples on a Batsuit. Whoever heard of nipples on the Batsuit?”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449712/original/file-20220303-17-1xvlfuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The introduction of nipples to Robin’s suit were controversial.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros.</span></span>
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<p>The final film of the series was Batman and Robin (1997), which was <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/2/3/7965963/batman-and-robin-netflix-defense-superhero-movies">panned by contemporary critics</a> (particularly for multiple glistening chest and butt close-ups in the film) as was the performance of new Batman actor George Clooney, who was later to say that he <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/george-clooney-batman-robin-b1772095.html">“killed the franchise”.</a></p>
<p>By now Batman and Robin superhero’s suits had evolved to resemble life-sized over-stylised glossy plastic action figures, and much of the criticism levelled at the film dealt with the <a href="https://gamerant.com/batman-robin-best-toy-commercial/">aggressive marketing of the toys associated with it</a>.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-jokers-origin-story-comes-at-a-perfect-moment-clowns-define-our-times-123009">The Joker’s origin story comes at a perfect moment: clowns define our times</a>
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<h2>Muscles and reboot</h2>
<p>The 2005 rebooted series directed by Christopher Nolan saw method-driven actor Christian Bale <a href="https://www.fatfighterblogs.com/how-christian-bale-went-from-pathetically-skinny-to-super-buff/">physically transform himself</a> into a bulked up Bruce Wayne, reflecting the original comic look of the muscled millionaire - but also mirroring the swathe of men’s health magazines and websites that promoted male body-building in the new century.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449715/original/file-20220303-17-17o215c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Christian Bale’s muscular Batman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB.</span></span>
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<p>In parallel franchises of the 2000’s, Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig and Robert Downey Jr. all similarly buffed up to portray their respective characters Wolverine, James Bond and Ironman. </p>
<p>The heavily fabricated Batsuit reached something of an apotheosis in Batman vs. Superman (2016) and Justice League (2017) where Ben Affleck’s Batman’s popping veins and bulging sinews strain against the fabric. <a href="https://comicbookmovie.com/batman_vs_superman/learn-all-about-ben-afflecks-monstrous-batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice-batmobile-a127139">Described as “monstrous”</a>, the suit is heavy, menacing, and unforgiving – with Batman’s maxed-out physical perfection closely resembling his appearance in the 2010’s <a href="https://arkhamcity.fandom.com/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Series">Arkham series</a> of video games.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449713/original/file-20220303-21-r211r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The bulky Batman suit of Batman vs Superman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros.</span></span>
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<h2>Batman today</h2>
<p>While not featured in the Batman Legacy exhibition, Robert Pattinson’s new iteration of the caped crusader in The Batman (2022) sees a less bulky muscle tone.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449719/original/file-20220303-15-vyi6kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Robert Pattinson as Batman in The Batman (2022).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB.</span></span>
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<p>The suit is simplified to angular motifs, the mask and cowl sporting a certain hand-stitched bespoke look, while both the Riddler’s army surplus garb and the Penguin’s gangster chic are much understated, marking a full departure from the Burton/Schumacher films.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alasdair Macintyre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Back in black: the dark aesthetic of the caped crusader has evolved through several eras of iconic batsuits, each one reflecting a different style of Batman film.Alasdair Macintyre, Associate lecturer visual arts, artist, PhD candidate, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1611862021-05-21T05:16:02Z2021-05-21T05:16:02ZMuch more than music: 10 Eurovision costumes that stole the show<p>From its <a href="https://eurovision.tv/history/in-a-nutshell">humble beginnings in 1956</a>, when just seven nations participated, Eurovision has grown to epic proportions. </p>
<p>Known for its kitschy mix of Euro-pop, bizarre choreography and hammy performances, an estimated <a href="https://eurovision.tv/story/182-million-viewers-2019-eurovision-song-contest">182 million viewers</a> tuned in to watch the competition in 2019. This year, 39 acts seek international glory.</p>
<p>Although the competition centres on the music, the costumes rival for attention. They are a kind of language, embodying the cultural values and the expressive agency of the artist. The Eurovision costume is a performer in its own right, and so here are ten of the best (or most head-scratching) costumes from Eurovision history.</p>
<h2>Conchita Wurst in gold</h2>
<p>Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst won the coveted prize in 2014, wearing an elegant gold brocade, floor-length bodycon gown teamed with a perfectly manicured beard and glossy, long hair. </p>
<p>In choosing a dress which hugged to her curves, Wurst reached the high glamour of performers such as Celine Dion (who won Eurovision for Switzerland <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1988">in 1988</a>), while the juxtaposition of the beard announced her status as a genderqueer artist. </p>
<p>On the world stage, Wurst was seen to break ground for others to fearlessly follow in her footsteps.</p>
<h2>The demonic Lordi</h2>
<p>The demonic costumes and corpse-like masks worn by Finland’s heavy metal band Lordi were wholly embraced by the crowds, resulting in them taking out the 2006 title. </p>
<p>The ghoulish prosthetics and Kiss-inspired costumes included fur, studs, chains, claws and horns, capturing the spirit of heavy metal — it also catered to Finland’s <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/europe/finland/articles/a-glimpse-at-finlands-love-affair-with-heavy-metal/">healthy appetite</a> for the music genre which thrives in the country. </p>
<h2>Silver star Verka Serduchka</h2>
<p>For even unsuccessful contestants there is the opportunity for costumes to leave a lasting legacy. </p>
<p>Ukrainian performer Verka Serduchka did just that in 2007, donning a disco ball skullcap, matching tie and metallic trench while shadowed by silver-clad backup dancers. </p>
<p>Like Conchita Wurst, Verka Serduchka is a drag persona: Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko’s flamboyant middle-aged woman, where a full-bosom was as much as the costume as a headpiece topped by a gigantic silver star.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-song-to-unite-the-gender-politics-of-eurovision-still-divide-41754">A song to unite? The gender politics of Eurovision still divide</a>
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<h2>Aliona Moon’s shifting canvas</h2>
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<p>Moldovan singer, Aliona Moon, stood on a rising platform in a five metre long gown on which projections transformed the fabric from cosmic nebula to a flaming pyre.</p>
<p>The dress itself was fairly unremarkable, but the use of digital projection recast Moon’s costume from dress to canvas. The projections shifted with the song’s tempo, adding drama and suspense as it reached a crescendo.</p>
<h2>A very messy Wig Wam</h2>
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<p>For their 2005 entry, Norwegian outfit Wig Wam presented a bewildering vision of glam rock meets camp cowboy.</p>
<p>The lead singer’s costume gave a clear nod to music icons of the 70s and 80s: think Suzi Quatro’s Can The Can, David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust or Alice Cooper’s School’s Out. The crotch-hugging silver spandex suit flared hard at the legs and scooped low on the chest, bearing the requisite rocker’s hairy chest. </p>
<p>Luckily for Wig Wam, all eyes stayed on the lead singer, since his fellow band member’s costumes were an incoherent, incomprehensible mix of rock fashion genres and decades.</p>
<h2>The sexy Svetlana Loboda</h2>
<p>Ukraine’s 2009 artist Svetlana Loboda performed in a burlesque costume as she was flipped around the stage by buff, gyrating, scantily dressed gladiators. </p>
<p>Burlesque, known for its eroticism and use in cabaret, was the perfect match for Loboda’s song “Be My Valentine (Anti-Crisis Girl)”, but Loboda and her gladiators were flanked by two statuesque Marie Antoinette-meets-Lady Liberty figures in silver lamé — perplexing bookends to a performance that was nothing short of chaotic. </p>
<h2>Buranovskiye Babushki’s traditional dress</h2>
<p>Eurovision is not just a competition for the young and sequinned. In 2012, Buranovskiye Babushki endearingly sang a mixture of folk and pop in traditional Udmurt dress. </p>
<p>The Udmurt people are an ethnic group from central Russia, and their traditional dress combines detailed embroidery with vibrant red fabrics in a tradition that reaches back centuries. </p>
<p>Over the course of Eurovision’s history, the Buranovskiye Babushki were perhaps the most faithful example of national dress — and their costumes remained unchanged by their Eurovision fame.</p>
<h2>Dschinghis Khan is not Mongolian</h2>
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<p>The implied connections to Genghis Khan from Germany’s cringe-worthy 1979 entry, Dschinghis Khan left the audience scratching their heads. </p>
<p>It only becomes more bizarre when you realise the costume approximates nothing close to Mongolian dress.</p>
<p>Instead, Dschinghis Khan wore a bolero-style jacket covered by a golden cape and matching pants, topped by a rhinestone crown. A discerning eye might also catch the cavalier boots carrying the singer around the stage — another unlikely item of dress in the early Mongol empire.</p>
<h2>The baffling Dustin the Turkey</h2>
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<p>Representing Ireland in 2008 was Dustin the Turkey. Almost improbably, the DJ — a Muppet-like bird with a large beak and a sequined jacket – was upstaged by the dancers’ deeply confusing assemblage of lamé, feathered headdresses and loincloths. </p>
<p>The only relationship you could glean from this frankly baffling arrangement was the colours of Ireland’s national flag. </p>
<h2>The best of 2021: TIX</h2>
<p>So far, the 2021 competition has not disappointed. Norway’s artist <a href="https://eurovision.tv/gallery/norway-first-semi-final-2021">TIX</a> combined enormous feathered wings with neck-to-toe sequins, headband and aviator sunglasses — in addition to an array of chains, a beastly dance crew of horned devils, pyrotechnics and the obligatory light show. </p>
<p>Whether you consider Eurovision a cultural cringe or you remain an unabashed die-hard fan, after 65 years it remains a true costume spectacle.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-out-of-eurovision-but-dont-write-off-filmed-performances-they-could-make-for-a-greener-more-global-contest-161005">Australia is out of Eurovision but don't write off filmed performances: they could make for a greener, more global contest</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161186/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laini Burton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Eurovision costumes embody the cultural values, national spirit and expressive agency of the artist. Here are the best (and weirdest) of the bunch.Laini Burton, Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1533762021-01-25T13:30:41Z2021-01-25T13:30:41ZStrange costumes of Capitol rioters echo the early days of the Ku Klux Klan - before the white sheets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380221/original/file-20210122-13-1bfdan7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C20%2C4537%2C2984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fringe groups have long understood that capturing the public's attention is the best way to spread their views.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/piece-of-graffiti-art-depicting-the-washington-capitol-news-photo/1295805725?adppopup=true">Karwai Tang/WireImage via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After the riots at the Capitol, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/capitol-rioter-horned-hat-gloats-feds-work-identify-suspects-n1253392">images</a> of Jacob Chansley, who’s been dubbed the “QAnon Shaman,” were <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/insurrection-capitol-extremist-groups-invs/index.html">splashed across news</a> outlets.</p>
<p>Chansley’s outlandish costume – consisting of American flag-themed face paint, a hat made of bison horns and coyote skins, a shirtless, tattooed torso and brown pants – was met with fascination and ridicule. </p>
<p>Given the outrageous nature of his garb, it might be easy to dismiss Chansley and the others wearing costumes or uniforms at the Capitol as silly or unhinged outliers. </p>
<p>However, after spending the last decade <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vvv4XfkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">studying the rhetoric</a> of organized racist groups in the United States, I know how outfits that look harmless and eccentric can actually have an insidious effect. In fact, costumes and uniforms have played a central role in the appeal of extremist groups throughout the history of the country.</p>
<h2>The triumph of the spectacle</h2>
<p>For many extremist groups, a primary goal is to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2012.01415.x">spread their group’s ideology</a> to the mainstream public. In order to accomplish this, groups need to gain as much widespread recognition as they can. </p>
<p>Costumes and uniforms are a form of spectacle that attract attention.</p>
<p>While most people recognize the infamous hood and white robes of the 1920s Klan, early Klan costumes were homemade, individualized and much more bizarre. </p>
<p>In the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Fiery_Cross.html?id=6O_XYBMhNYAC">imagination was encouraged</a>” in the creation of costumes by members, who competed to create the most “outrageous outfit.” </p>
<p>Historian Elaine Parsons notes that early Klan costumes <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ku_Klux/Gl60CAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+birth+of+the+klan+during+reconstruction&printsec=frontcover">were composed of</a> animal skins, horns, conical hats and gowns featuring a range of colors and patterns. Modeled after garb from carnivals and Mardi Gras traditions, the spectacle and performance of early Klan costumes helped to spur the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3659969">swift growth of the group</a>, which an 1884 history of the Klan described as “<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31819">a wave of excitement, spreading by contagions</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An 1871 engraving depicts a group of Klansmen surrounding a man on his knees with a rope around his neck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early Ku Klux Klan outfits had a carnival-like quality to them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/political-cartoon-in-which-ku-klux-klansmen-threaten-to-news-photo/640486525?adppopup=true">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And it is no coincidence that the revival of the Klan in the 1920s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/02/08/383279630/100-years-later-whats-the-legacy-of-birth-of-a-nation">was in part popularized</a> by the costumed Klansmen portrayed in the blockbuster film “Birth of a Nation.” </p>
<p>Like the early Ku Klux Klan, the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/10/27/what-you-need-know-about-qanon">viral spread of the QAnon conspiracy theory</a> has been driven through spectacle. Chansley admitted as much. He has commented that his costume <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/01/06/arizona-qanon-supporter-jake-angeli-joins-storming-u-s-capitol/6568513002/">gets people’s attention</a>, which then gives him the opportunity to spread the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.html">tenets of the conspiracy theory</a>: that the world’s governments and banks are run by secret rings of Satan-worshiping pedophiles that manage child sex-trafficking organizations. </p>
<p>Other members of the movement are keenly aware of how their clothing can work to influence others. </p>
<p>Doug Jensen, the man seen in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/10/politics/doug-jensen-capitol-hill-police-officer/index.html">a viral video</a> at the head of a mob chasing a police officer through the Capitol building, <a href="https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/iowa-man-charged-in-capitol-riot-says-he-chased-officer-so-qanon-would-get-the-credit">said in an interview</a> that he purposefully positioned himself leading the charge wearing a “Q” shirt so that “Q” could “get the credit.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Jensen in a black hat and black t-shirt leads a mob of riotors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Douglas Jensen confronts police in the U.S. Capitol wearing a ‘Q’ shirt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeekPhotoGallery-NorthAmerica/5213ab83f87f407ca74c1c84500ad43b/photo?Query=capitol%20AND%20breach&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1239&currentItemNo=95">Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Costumes and community</h2>
<p>Costumes and uniforms in extremist movements serve a second purpose: fostering community among members. </p>
<p>While Klan costumes became more homogeneous in the early 20th century, the white hood and robes did more than conceal the wearer’s identity. They also created a sense of “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631493690">magnetism and prestige</a>” through group secrecy. One ritual of membership involved other members lifting their masks after new recruits joined.</p>
<p>In the era of the internet, costumes and uniforms help groups construct community in a different way. </p>
<p>Most organized extremist groups in the United States primarily communicate in anonymous online spaces, and members are often separated geographically. </p>
<p>For these reasons, costumes, uniforms and symbols on clothing can act as physical indicators of group unity. This can work to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2021/01/decoding-hate-symbols-seen-at-capitol-insurrection/">bring divergent groups together</a> – such as via a MAGA hat – or to denote a belief in a specific ideology, like patches with the QAnon motto “WWG1WGA,” an abbreviation for “Where We Go One, We Go All.”</p>
<p>To be sure, there are ways in which costumes and uniforms do more than simply operate as identifiers. </p>
<p>Hitler’s Nazi party believed that mass gatherings gave attendees a “<a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/1291660995?fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar">sense of being protectively surrounded by a movement</a>,” with the uniformed guard creating “a tendency to place the center of authority in the Nazi party.” In other words, because people often associate uniforms with legitimacy or power, the use of uniforms can help extremist groups persuade people that they should be trusted. </p>
<h2>A higher cause</h2>
<p>With its costumes, the Reconstruction-era Klan liked to perpetuate the legend that its members were <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Fiery_Cross/6O_XYBMhNYAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+fiery+cross&printsec=frontcover">the ghosts of Confederate soldiers</a>. However, the Klan of the 1920s drew heavily upon religion in framing its mission as a holy cause. </p>
<p>One of the most violent Mississippi chapters of the Ku Klux Klan believed their members were chosen by God to conduct a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvs32rk6">holy war</a> against the civil rights movement. Psychologist Wyn Craig Wade has noted how the “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Fiery_Cross.html?id=6O_XYBMhNYAC">act of donning the costume was often recounted as ‘a holy experience’</a>” by members of the Ku Klux Klan.</p>
<p>It should be no surprise, then, that today’s racist and extremist groups have also used this tactic. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22d6tRXxVeg">In describing the meaning of his costume</a>, Chansley notes QAnon is engaged in a “war of a spiritual nature” and that his costume represents his status as a “light occultic force of the side of God” necessary to defeat an unseen, omnipotent force of evil. Some contemporary neo-Nazi and racist groups incorporate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/world/europe/vikings-sweden-paganism-neonazis.html">Norse symbolism and mythology</a>, while others, following the Klan, use Christianity to frame their racist ideology as righteous or divine.</p>
<p>Although costumes cannot tell us the entire story of a group or movement, they can provide a window into understanding how the groups and movements form and how their ideologies are spread. </p>
<p>While they never need to be entertained, neither should they be ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth Ladenburg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For many extremist groups, a primary goal is to spread their ideology. Costumes and uniforms – even ridiculous ones – are a form of spectacle that can garner attention and interest.Kenneth Ladenburg, Instructor of English, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1478352020-10-25T12:43:37Z2020-10-25T12:43:37ZDressed to kill: 6 ways horror folklore is fashioned in the movies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365099/original/file-20201022-13-5cbzhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C66%2C1482%2C968&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The Craft: Legacy,' to be released this fall, is a remake of the 1996 teen witch film 'The Craft' and suggests the continued relevance of punk and goth influences for rebellious teens. Here, detail from the 2020 poster.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sony Pictures/Blumhouse Productions)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Beauty is pain,” goes the famous adage. The phrase suggests that in order to fully understand what a society considers beautiful, you must explore ugliness. Enter the horror movie. </p>
<p>Horror often examines “<a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/grant-dread-of-difference-second-edition">the dread of difference</a>” seen in society, and cinema scholars like Barry Keith Grant have studied how horror films explore gender roles.</p>
<p>Women’s <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691166292/men-women-and-chain-saws">violent struggles</a> as perpetrators and victims of horror — in the pursuit of sexual freedom, social empowerment and fulfilment of desire — are reflections of the concerns of a conflicted and changing society.</p>
<p>In the book we edited, <em><a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/fashioning-horror-9781350036185">Fashioning Horror: Dressing to Kill on Screen and in Literature</a></em> we explored how horror literature, film and folklore are expressed through fashion and costume. <a href="https://traversingscribes.wordpress.com">Our approach</a> was informed by our background in fashion studies, folklore and literature, as we investigated the central importance of clothing to the horror genre.</p>
<p>Here, we demonstrate how common fears around femininity are expressed through costume and roles in the movies. </p>
<h2>The ghost</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-are-there-so-many-ghost-stories-about-a-woman-in-w-5851037">well-known popular image of</a> a haunting woman in white is a classic gothic and horror trope rooted in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1259197">European folklore dating back to pre-Christian and pagan times</a>. Whether dressed in the white of a burial shroud, or the white of mourning, “the White Lady” often appeared by moonlight. </p>
<p>The film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000000000298130/"><em>The Ring</em> (2002)</a> based on the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/">Japanese horror film</a> of the same name derived from the <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Ring.html?id=ss0k8a1myFcC&redir_esc=y">novel by Koji Suzuki</a>, shows a contemporary reading of the ghost as related to anxieties about new technology, social change and family relationships. The ghost in white is not seen by moonlight but by the blue glow of a television screen. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915208/">Naomi Watts</a> portrays a journalist who investigates a cursed videotape that seemingly kills the viewer seven days after watching it. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DvvhLPq_kFk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Scene showing the ghost-in-white, Samara, emerging from the screen in ‘The Ring.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2008, designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy took inspiration from the white shirtdress worn by Sadako, the vengeful video ghost in the 1998 Japanese original film, for their <a href="https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2008-ready-to-wear/rodarte">Rodarte fall show</a>.</p>
<h2>The bride</h2>
<p>In horror, the figure of the bride represents the thwarted promise of the virginal woman abandoned or killed before she was to be wed and is related to anxiety about domesticity. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144120/"><em>Bride of Chucky</em> (1998)</a> shows the depths to which two murderous dolls will go to turn human again. </p>
<p>Dolls have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/507499">traditionally</a> been used to instruct girls into their future roles as mothers and wives, and fashion dolls herald new trends. The doll in this movie presents quite a different set of possibilities for those who dare to play with her. Bored by expectations of conventional womanhood, both as a sex symbol and as a housewife, Tiffany (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000236/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm">Jennifer Tilly</a>) transforms herself into a Martha Stewart in the kitchen and a crazed serial killer outside the home. <a href="https://barbie.mattel.com/shop">Barbie</a>, eat your heart out. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The Bride of Chucky and Chucky, two horror doll characters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364561/original/file-20201020-15-nqujsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364561/original/file-20201020-15-nqujsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364561/original/file-20201020-15-nqujsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364561/original/file-20201020-15-nqujsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364561/original/file-20201020-15-nqujsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364561/original/file-20201020-15-nqujsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364561/original/file-20201020-15-nqujsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Characters Tiffany and Chucky, from the horror movie ‘Bride of Chucky,’ part of the Child’s Play series, at the Hollywood Wax Museum in Los Angeles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The mother</h2>
<p><a href="https://lwlies.com/articles/motherhood-horror-cinema-a-quiet-place-hereditary/">Mothers subverting expected norms</a> is a common theme in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/10/28/450657717/why-are-old-women-often-the-face-of-evil-in-fairy-tales-and-folklore">folklore and horror</a>.
In the film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7958736/"><em>Ma</em> (2019)</a>, actor <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818055">Octavia Spencer</a> plays a traumatized and psychopathic mother who locks up and drugs her daughter to keep her close. In the film, veterinary assistant Sue Ann (Spencer) is called upon by a group of (mostly white) teenagers to buy them alcohol; the teens nickname her Ma. </p>
<p>Spencer has noted that <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2020/07/viola-davis-betrayed-the-help-systemic-racism-1234573862">due to systemic racism</a>, Black women in Hollywood have faced limited dramatic opportunities for roles that push the stereotypes of Black women as caregivers. The actor said one appeal of starring in <em>Ma</em> was pushing beyond that mould and subverting the idea of <a href="https://variety.com/2019/scene/news/octavia-spencer-on-ma-these-types-of-roles-havent-been-available-to-women-of-color-1203218410/">Black people dying at the beginning of horror films</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-am-not-your-nice-mammy-how-racist-stereotypes-still-impact-women-111028">I am not your nice 'Mammy': How racist stereotypes still impact women</a>
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<p>Viewers learn Sue Ann experienced humiliating teen years and what begins as apparent friendly support soon spirals out of control. </p>
<p>The film mines the hidden depths of Sue Ann’s resentment and fears for her own daughter as she seeks to avenge her own past. A classic transformation scene sees Sue Ann change from wearing mostly scrubs, a reference to self-effacing caregiving roles, into a glamorous outfit. Ma sits at her mirrored vanity table applying lipstick surrounded by red candles. <a href="https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-igq60-Y5Q&list=RDAMVMZ-igq60-Y5Q">“Pow,” she says to her reflection</a> before heading downstairs to kung-fu kick a pyramid of beer cans.</p>
<p>Her retro looks include acid-washed denim, black lace, and leopard print. Through the lens of the teens who laugh at her and find her “uncool,” these outfits suggest society’s discomfort with women stepping out of their roles as matrons and caregivers to maintain an equal place in society. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman sits at a vanity table applying lipstick." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364533/original/file-20201020-17-14ex0p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364533/original/file-20201020-17-14ex0p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364533/original/file-20201020-17-14ex0p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364533/original/file-20201020-17-14ex0p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364533/original/file-20201020-17-14ex0p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364533/original/file-20201020-17-14ex0p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364533/original/file-20201020-17-14ex0p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Octavia Spencer in role as Sue Ann in ‘Ma.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Universal Pictures/YouTube)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The vampiress</h2>
<p>The female vampire turns the notion of female sexuality on its head in horrifying ways. So popular was the archetype of the man-eater in early cinema, that the “vamp” became a recognizable look for fashionable silent film actresses like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000847/">Theda Bara</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0615736/">Musidora</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0620519/">Nita Naldi</a>. </p>
<p>The undead female vampire costumes herself for seduction and disguise. Consumption therefore takes on a dual role, unlocking anxieties about capitalism. The stylish film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714915/"><em>Only Lovers Left Alive</em> (2013)</a>, featuring fashion icon <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0842770/">Tilda Swinton</a>, played with this by costuming her character in a mixture of old and new fabrics, with an emphasis on loungewear. </p>
<p>Swinton’s shock-blonde hair was supplemented by <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2014/04/vampire-costumes-of-only-lovers-left-alive.html">yak wool</a>, further hinting at the not-quite-human nature of the vampire. <em>Vogue</em> even encouraged readers to “<a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/dress-the-part-only-lovers-left-alive-fashion">get the look</a>.” Swinton presents a new type of vampiress; one not reliant on her sexuality to stand out. She has style.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ycOKvWrwYFo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for ‘Only Lovers Left Alive.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The witch</h2>
<p><a href="https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol22/iss3/6">Fears that women will escape patriarchy</a>, particularly through sexual independence, underpin this mythology, and stories of witches can be both terrifying and empowering. </p>
<p>The 1996 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115963/"><em>The Craft</em></a>
inspired <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/qv8qe5/how-the-craft-empowered-a-generation-of-teen-misfits">a generation of teenage girls</a> and included frank explorations of teen suicide, depression, racist bullying, sexual harassment and slut-shaming. <a href="https://www.fairuza.org/">Fairuza Balk</a> plays the iconic teen witch Nancy Downs, an aggressive, angry goth girl, at odds with everyone outside her own small circle. As she gains in power, her appearance becomes wilder. </p>
<p>Films about witches remind viewers that alternatives to the <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Waking-the-Witch/Pam-Grossman/9781982100704">dominant narratives about beauty and women’s bodies are possible</a>. A remake, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J60ueFp-jv8"><em>The Craft: Legacy</em></a> is set to be <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/09/the-craft-legacy-trailer-release-date">released this fall</a>. The presence of chokers, chains, dark lips and short hair in the trailer demonstrates the continued relevance of punk and goth influences for rebellious teens.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four teen witches walking in a row." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364845/original/file-20201021-15-o6rhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C0%2C889%2C429&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364845/original/file-20201021-15-o6rhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364845/original/file-20201021-15-o6rhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364845/original/file-20201021-15-o6rhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364845/original/file-20201021-15-o6rhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364845/original/file-20201021-15-o6rhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364845/original/file-20201021-15-o6rhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 1996 teen witch film ‘The Craft’ followed an angry goth girl, Nancy, second from the left, and her coven.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Columbia Pictures)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The monster</h2>
<p>The fear of a woman’s appearance hiding something monstrous is an ancient trope. From the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Dangerous_Beauty_Medusa_in_Classical_Art_The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art_Bulletin_v75_no_3">ancient Greek gorgon</a>, to the folk tales of many cultures featuring <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004366251_008">seductive female</a> <a href="https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/2924-seven-demon-stories-from-medieval-japan">shape-shifting demons</a>, female beauty has the potential to kill onlookers. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Movie poster shows a giant wasp with the face of a woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364574/original/file-20201020-21-1t17yo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364574/original/file-20201020-21-1t17yo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364574/original/file-20201020-21-1t17yo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364574/original/file-20201020-21-1t17yo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364574/original/file-20201020-21-1t17yo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364574/original/file-20201020-21-1t17yo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364574/original/file-20201020-21-1t17yo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1959 poster for ‘The Wasp Woman.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Filmgroup/Wikipedia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, beauty may also come at a cost to the fashion victim, as seen in the morality tale of female vanity in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054462/"><em>Wasp Woman</em> (1959)</a>. </p>
<p>The fear of female aging, as well as the perceived arrogance and aggression of female executives, underpins this story which is an imaginative take on the of <a href="http://www.sarahalbeebooks.com/2012/07/reel-bugs-the-wasp-woman/">royal jelly in cosmetics</a>, still <a href="https://www.burtsbees.ca/product/skin-nourishment-hydrating-gel-cream">a cosmetic ingredient today</a>. </p>
<p>The character Ms. Starlin (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0127693/">Susan Cabot</a>) is depicted as one with an intemperate desire for youthful good looks, but she is inadvertently transformed into a hideous wasp woman. How similar is this tale, at its core, to the gleeful take-downs of women who have undergone <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3781836/">botched plastic surgeries</a>?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147835/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some horror films explore women’s struggles for empowerment, sexual freedom and self-fulfilment. Six movies show the ghost, bride, mother, vampiress, witch and monster as guises of vengeful women.Julia Petrov, Adjunct professor, Human Ecology, University of AlbertaGudrun D Whitehead, Assistant Professor of Museology, University of IcelandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1259912019-10-28T18:46:33Z2019-10-28T18:46:33ZHalf a billion on Halloween pet costumes is latest sign of America’s out-of-control consumerism<p>Halloween spending is out of control.</p>
<p>Americans <a href="https://nrf.com/insights/holiday-and-seasonal-trends/halloween">are expected to spend US$8.8 billion</a> on candy, costumes and decorations this year – or $86 for every person who plans to celebrate. That includes a <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-are-spending-almost-half-a-billion-on-halloween-costumes-for-their-pets-2019-10-22">half a billion dollars</a> on costumes that Americans are buying for their pets, which is double the amount they spent a decade ago. <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/pet-halloween-costumes-1175283">Pumpkins and hot dogs</a> are the favorites. </p>
<p>How did a holiday that began as a way to honor the dead morph into just another ritual of over-the-top American consumption? As a relatively frugal person who has reused the same Halloween costumes for years, <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/about-the-author/">I found</a> the $86 figure shocking. But I’m hardly the first economist to moan about out-of-control consumerism. </p>
<h2>Day of the decadent</h2>
<p>Halloween <a href="http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/7058/volumes/v17/NA17">started as a Celtic holiday</a> honoring the dead. </p>
<p>It was then <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween#section_3">adopted by the Catholic Church as a time to remember</a> saints. One research paper described Halloween as an “<a href="http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/7058/volumes/v17/NA-17">evolving American consumption ritual</a>,” but a better description might be an over-the-top spending ritual. </p>
<p>To put the $8.8 billion being spent on Halloween in context, the budget for the <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/fy2020-nps-justification.pdf">entire National Park Service</a> is only $4 billion. The U.S. spends <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/19/the-16-billion-business-of-flu.html">less than $2 billion on flu vaccines</a>.</p>
<p>The $86 average may not give us an accurate look at per-person spending. Only about <a href="https://e.infogram.com/_/pEOFKlmH2iK8jWZik2sb?parent_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnrf.com%2Finsights%2Fholiday-and-seasonal-trends%2Fhalloween%2Fhalloween-data-center&src=embed">two-thirds of respondents</a> to the National Retail Federation’s <a href="https://nrf.com/insights/holiday-and-seasonal-trends/halloween">annual survey of Halloween spending</a> said they were celebrating the holiday. And while some spend nothing, others go overboard. </p>
<p>As just one example, the <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/geek-life/tools-toys/tech-stars-open-their-doors-for-a-silicon-valley-halloween">Palo Alto neighborhood where Silicon Valley’s tech stars live</a> is a sight to behold as local moguls try to outdo each other on Halloween decorations, candy and bands. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B4IlrewFE3_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Why people spend like crazy</h2>
<p>In the late 1890s, an economist named <a href="https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Veblen.html">Thorstein Veblen</a> looked at spending in society and wrote an influential book called “<a href="http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/LCS/theoryleisureclass.pdf">The Theory of the Leisure Class</a>,” which explained reasons why people spend. It laid out the idea that some goods and services are bought simply for conspicuous consumption.</p>
<p>Conspicuous consumption is designed to show others you are rich, smart or important. In Veblen’s mind, conspicuous consumption was spending more money on items than they are really worth. Veblen pointed out that people buy homes with rooms that are rarely used, just to show off the owner’s wealth. </p>
<p>If Veblen were writing about the world today, he would probably not focus on real estate. Instead, he might be using examples of people trying to attract attention on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dogsofinstagram/?hl=en">Instagram by dressing their pets in expensive costumes</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding how much people spend on holidays like Halloween and other activities is important because this shows what society values. And apparently, we value what others can see us consume.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay L. Zagorsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Halloween is yet another holiday that has become a mere ritual of America’s very conspicuous consumption.Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer, Questrom School of Business, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048962018-10-26T21:30:07Z2018-10-26T21:30:07ZWhy has Halloween become so popular among adults?<p>Halloween used to be kid stuff. To quit dressing up was an important rite of passage. It meant you were one step closer to becoming an adult. </p>
<p>Not anymore. Today adults have become avid Halloween revelers, <a href="https://nrf.com/blog/the-evolution-of-halloween-3-trends-watch">especially young adults</a>.</p>
<p>By 2005, just over half of adults celebrated Halloween. Today, that number has grown to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/10/24/halloween-adults-costumes-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark/1593177/">over 70 percent</a>. Those between 18 and 34 years old participate at the highest rate, and they’re also the holiday’s biggest spenders, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/27/how-much-more-millennials-will-spend-on-halloween-than-generation-x.html">shelling out over twice as much</a> on their costumes as older adults and children. </p>
<p>Halloween celebrations have changed, too: less trick-or-treating and more parties and bar hopping. Today, <a href="https://vinepair.com/articles/halloween-drinking-holiday/">alcohol is as important as candy</a> to the Halloween economy.</p>
<p>Why has this been happening?</p>
<p>Some blame it on <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/10/28/halloween-used-to-be-for-kids-now-its-for-sad-millennials/">millennials’ refusal to grow up</a> and enter the “real world.”</p>
<p>But that’s too simplistic of an explanation. I’ve been studying how young adults are celebrating Halloween, and what sort of relationship this might have to the changing norms and expectations of adulthood. </p>
<p>Young adults’ embrace of Halloween could have something to do with the fact that adulthood itself has changed. </p>
<p>If Halloween has become more popular among adults, it’s because traditional markers of adulthood have become less clear and less attainable. </p>
<h2>Halloween’s shifting meaning</h2>
<p>Sociologists tell us if you want to understand a culture, <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9780814722275/">look at its holidays</a>. Christmas gift-giving rituals shed light on how we manage social relationships. Thanksgiving feasts depend on shared understandings of family and national origin stories. </p>
<p>Halloween, with its emphasis on identity, horror and transgression, can tell us about who we want to be and what we fear becoming. </p>
<p>Historian Nicholas Rogers <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/halloween-9780195168969?cc=us&lang=en&">has argued</a> that many of the trends and rituals of the holiday are actually tied to conflicting social values. </p>
<p>For example, urban legends about <a href="https://www.history.com/news/how-americans-became-convinced-their-halloween-candy-was-poisoned">razor blades in apples</a> in the 1970s reflected cultural anxieties about loss of community and fear of strangers. More recently, debates about skimpy costumes tap into broader concerns about <a href="https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/your-daughter-wants-a-sexy-halloween-costume-why-and-how-you-should-say-yes/">young girls growing up too quickly</a>.</p>
<p>Halloween has also been a holiday embraced by those who were not full members of society. More than a century ago, Irish immigrants, <a href="http://www.anthropologyinpractice.com/2009/10/from-melting-pot-to-salad-halloween.html">who brought their Halloween traditions with them to America</a>, used the celebration to strengthen community ties. </p>
<p>Initially, their Halloween traditions set them apart. But as they assimilated, they spread the holiday to the rest of the country. By the 1950s, it had become <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/10/how-candy-and-halloween-became-best-friends/64895/">a night for children</a>. Later, <a href="https://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/staff-editorials/10658/halloween-gay-history/">gays and lesbians</a> carved out Halloween as a space where their differences could be celebrated not stigmatized. </p>
<h2>The ‘emerging adult’ and the space between</h2>
<p>Today’s young adults, it could be argued, are living in a sort of purgatory.</p>
<p>Traditional markers of adult responsibility and independence – family, career, home ownership – <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-samuelson-millennials-jobs-adulthood-perspec-0427-jm-20170426-story.html">have either been delayed</a> or abandoned altogether, by choice or necessity. Transitions to adulthood have become uncertain, drawn out and complicated. </p>
<p>In recent years, psychologists and sociologists have coined a term for this transitional life stage, which usually spans someone’s 20s and 30s: “<a href="http://jeffreyarnett.com/articles/EABOOK2004ch1.pdf">emerging adulthood</a>.”</p>
<p>According to these experts, features of emerging adulthood can include identity exploration, focus on the self and a feeling of being caught between two worlds. There’s also a sense of wonder and possibility.</p>
<p>Others have <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931460.001.0001/acprof-9780199931460">a less rosy view</a> of emerging adulthood, describing it as a time of fear and anxiety about an unknowable future. </p>
<h2>Millennial monsters</h2>
<p>So why might an emerging adult be drawn to Halloween?</p>
<p>Most obviously, Halloween costumes let them experiment and explore self and identity. The possibilities are endless. <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/2016/10/125161/best-witch-costumes">Witch</a>? <a href="https://www.instructables.com/id/Robot-Costumes">Robot couple</a>? <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/523613894157925537">Sexy Robot</a>? <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/g23082871/emoji-halloween-costumes-ideas">Emoji</a>? <a href="https://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/banksys-shredded-painting-becomes-years-trendiest-cheap-halloween-costume-37453840.html">Banksy’s shredded art</a>? </p>
<p>Young adults I’ve spoken with often identify this as their favorite part of the holiday – the chance to be, at least for a night, whatever they wish to be.</p>
<p>Costumes are identity work, but they are also just plain work. That matters in a world in which many young adults <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qbv5a7/its-not-just-you-most-millennials-are-bored-at-work">are stuck in unfulfilling jobs</a>. </p>
<p>Cultural critic <a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/malcolm-harris/kids-these-days/9781478992332/">Malcolm Harris</a> argues that young adults – despite being highly educated and hardworking compared to older cohorts – rarely find jobs matching their credentials and abilities. </p>
<p>During Halloween, hard work and creative thinking matter. For example, costume contests, in bars or <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/793trm/2017_wreddit_halloween_costume_contest_megathread/">online</a>, provide opportunities for people to construct costumes that meld humorous or timely cultural references with craft skills. You can do more than simply participate in Halloween; you can “<a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/viral-halloween-costumes-2017-11">win it</a>” with the best costume.</p>
<p>And young adults don’t do it alone. Some have told me that they’ll test out different costumes on social media to see which gets the best response. Others will look to others online for inspiration.</p>
<p>In this way, Halloween meshes with modern networked culture, in which young adults are using social media to navigate the world and make choices. Sociologists have found that many young adults build “<a href="http://alonetogetherbook.com/">collaborative selves</a>” by continuously looking to others online to reinforce and evaluate their identities. </p>
<p>Halloween has always promised the chance to be creative and to become something else. </p>
<p>But in embracing the holiday, emerging adults are doing more than reject traditional adulthood. They’re playing with identity in a way that puts their skills and cultural competence to work. They’re defining new ways to be – and become – an adult. And in the process, they’ve changed the way Halloween is celebrated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104896/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linus Owens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The holiday used to be all about trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. No more – and it could something to do with the fact that traditional markers of adulthood have changed.Linus Owens, Associate Professor of Sociology, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/808052017-07-16T20:03:17Z2017-07-16T20:03:17ZFrom Elizabeth I to high fashion, the tales behind Game of Thrones’ costumes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177785/original/file-20170712-14428-a2ezrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1777%2C999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Costumes tell a story through their design and give the viewer a look at the character's personality.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/mediaviewer/rm2581055488">HBO</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Game of Thrones, which returns today for its seventh season, offers fantasy, horror and intrigue, and, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/jun/19/game-of-thrones-fashion-legacy-michele-clapton">Sarah Mower</a> has put it, shines a light on “our cynical, sophisticated, brutal, hopeless new Dark Ages”. It is also great fun to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-accurate-are-the-costumes-in-tv-period-dramas-75624">watch as a fashion expert</a>, whether you are a “pedant” who needs everything to be historically correct, or a “swooner” who doesn’t mind if it is not. </p>
<p>The show is infamous for its ability to brutally shock audiences. Such visceral, sensorial overload can mean that the breathtaking beauty of the costumes — and especially <a href="http://www.michelecarragherembroidery.com/Game-of-Thrones-Gallery(2829575).htm">Michele Carragher’s stunning embroidery</a> – is sometimes lost on viewers.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Uord1ojddeE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It may be fantasy, but, if we take the time to look closely, we can see myriad historical influences, from medieval northern Europe to 1960s Balenciaga. Designer Michele Clapton’s claim that “we were never bound by the rules of any particular time period” is certainly true. The influences are scattered and often not consistent, which makes the discovery of them all the more piquant.</p>
<p>Whether a particular influence was the designer’s intention or not is, in many respects, unimportant. As with literary analysis, television dramas are an art form open to interpretation.</p>
<h2>Sansa Stark’s second wedding dress</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177669/original/file-20170711-20000-ramd0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3849842/mediaviewer/rm2236550656">HBO</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The circumstances of Sansa Stark’s second wedding to Ramsay Bolton in season five are dark and traumatic. Her groom is a psychopath and her terror as she walks towards him is palpable. Her dress is threaded with reminders of her past life and family, but it also has some very unexpected influences. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178191/original/file-20170714-15666-tnkuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1960s Vogue pattern for a Misses coat/poncho cape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a4/41/5e/a4415ed2fb7ae268b5940c60285f3593.jpg">Pinimg.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To me, the sculptural sleeves of the bodice, a moulded extension of the body of the dress (which was intended to look somewhat like the statues in the crypt at <a href="https://fashionista.com/2015/06/game-of-thrones-season-5-costume-designer-interview">Winterfell, her ancestral home</a>) are reminiscent of 1960s cape coats with their fluid body and high neck.</p>
<p>An especially useful comparison is a <a href="http://www.kci.or.jp/en/archives/digital_archives/1960s/KCI_244">1963 design from the French fashion house Balenciaga</a>, which has a very similar upper-body silhouette. Sansa’s undersleeves, meanwhile, correspond to the 19th-century “bishop” style – a lightweight sleeve, full to the wrist, where it is gathered into a cuff. This could be seen from around 1810 until the early years of the 20th century. In Sansa’s dress it provides a softer edge to a rather severe and encased design. </p>
<h2>Cersei’s wedding outfit</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177670/original/file-20170711-19980-1tvknvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372176/mediaviewer/rm1469490944">HBO</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cersei Lannister’s dress at the fateful wedding of her son, King Joffrey, in season four embodies many of the staples of “fantasy” costume: long flowing sleeves, emblematic embroidery, a trained skirt. These aspects often fall under the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14553832-inside-hbo-s-game-of-thrones">pseudo-medieval banner</a> and indeed this era was on Clapton’s radar when designing the costumes.</p>
<p>More recently, Cersei’s dress also recalls the appropriately royal costume of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. The portrait of Elizabeth I as princess from around 1546 is a beautiful example of the Tudor silhouette: a low, almost off-the-shoulder neckline, a long slender torso, voluminous oversleeves, gold trimming and ornamentation, and a rich colour scheme. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177824/original/file-20170712-15626-14rq3ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attributed to William Scrots, Elizabeth I when a Princess.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The way women held themselves in these dresses, with clasped hands in front of the waist (helping to show off those sleeves), can also be seen in Cersei when she wears her dress. The style both empowers and constrains women. </p>
<p>On the one hand it has an armour-like appearance that might suggest strength and perseverance against the world. On the other, the hampering skirts, sleeves and constraining bodice could imply the very opposite. Clapton has <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14553832-inside-hbo-s-game-of-thrones">said of Cersei</a>: “I don’t know how strong she is really, but she wants to project that image.”</p>
<h2>Daenerys’s pleated skirts</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177671/original/file-20170711-19988-dlljek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daenerys (Emilia Clarke).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3592338/mediaviewer/rm3260140544">HBO</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Self-professed “Stormborn, Mother of Dragons” and other titles too numerous to mention, Daenerys Targaryen is given some of the most striking costumes of the series. Her costumes sit somewhere between Lord of the Rings’ ethereal royal elf Galadriel and the angular lines of Star Trek uniforms. By the most recent series they had evolved to portray – in Clapton’s words – “this sense of power and also a sense of immortality … this rather untouchable [quality and] a removal from reality”. </p>
<p>With Daenerys’s insatiable wish to power forward in life, coupled with her constant re-invention of herself, it is perhaps unexpected that her clothes should have any strong historical connections.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178186/original/file-20170714-28500-1nod5sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ‘Delphos’ Tea Gown designed by Mariano Fortuny.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museum of Fine Arts, Houston</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Quite a few of her costumes appear to be influenced by the iconic pleated dresses of Spanish-born Mariano Fortuny, one of the most important designers of the 20th century. His innovative rolled pleated technique (patented in 1909) recalled the classical statues of ancient Greece and Rome. </p>
<p>Similarly pleated skirts, reaching to the floor, can be seen on a number of Daenerys’s garments and give softness to an often rather harsh ensemble. The connotation of ancient Greece and Rome is an appropriate one for this burgeoning queen, who aims to build empires and tame mythological beasts. </p>
<p>Fortuny’s gowns were also associated with rational and aesthetic dress advocates in the 20th century, who argued for practical yet attractive female clothing. Likewise Daenerys wears trousers under every dress. <a href="https://fashionista.com/2015/06/game-of-thrones-season-5-costume-designer-interview">Clapton has said</a>: “I like that sense of, ‘I can play this [queen] but underneath, I can run’.”</p>
<p>Clapton retired from Game of Thrones after five series, having completed, in her words, “a complete look” for the show’s diverse geographic regions. She left not only a complete “look”, but also a complete mood board of historical influences for successors to draw on. As we move into the seventh season, it will be interesting for eagle-eyed viewers to spot and enjoy new parallels.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lydia Edwards does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Game of Thrones is brutal, shocking and great fun for fashion experts. Not confined to historical accuracy, its influences stretch from medieval northern Europe to 20th-century high fashion.Lydia Edwards, Fashion historian, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/791192017-06-11T20:31:16Z2017-06-11T20:31:16ZNot merely costume: the power and seduction of the Queen’s hats<p>I have been a lover of the Queen’s hats for some time. An absolutely exhaustive source of information is the amazing blog <a href="https://royalhats.wordpress.com">Royal Hats</a>. The Instagram account of the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/royal_collection_trust/?hl=en">Royal Collection Trust</a> is another exciting archive, which frequently documents <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHAXKwdpvVF/">royal hats in video form</a>, spinning in an undefined space so that you can see all their sides and in immense detail. Not since Leigh Bowery has an “Australian” performance artist owed so much to their costumiers, milliners, vendeuses and dressers.</p>
<p>From Australia’s own <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/frederick-fox-topnotch-creations-made-boy-from-jerilderie-a-star-in-london-20131222-2zsra.html">Frederick Fox</a> (who created over 350 hats for the Queen), to the wonderful <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/14/fashion.britishidentity">Simone Mirman</a> and the more recent genius <a href="http://www.philiptreacy.co.uk/">Philip Treacy</a>, the Queen has at her disposal some of the best creative milliners in the world. This suggests an interest in the potential of hats and clothes to tell stories in a way that is beyond fashion or costume, almost like an artist or the way a rock star invents a persona for the stage.</p>
<h2>Merely costume?</h2>
<p>As anyone who has ever watched reality TV show Project Runway can attest, when a judge exclaims, “This is merely costume!” it is one of the worst responses a contestant can receive. The Queen has walked that perilous line for decades to great effect.</p>
<p>To view the terracotta warriors in China she wore an eighties version of a Han dynasty hat, to meet a group of Girl Guides she wore an oversized beret, in Slovakia she wore a cross between a pill box hat and a bedazzled ushanka. Although “right” for the occasion, this also has to be a kind of joke, a piece of humour to set people at ease with wit and generosity.</p>
<p>My favourite in this vein is the hat the Queen wore for Prince Charles’ investiture in 1969. Designed by Simone Mirman, and based on a bonnet worn by Tudor princesses, the hat suited the medieval castle that was backdrop to the event. At the same time, it did not draw focus from Charles’ crown, which he was receiving for the first time.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v01LWt40SnA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It is important to see the Queen’s clothes as doing more than just signifying a place or occasion. In a <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/helen-mirren-queen-elizabeth-costume">Vanity Fair article</a> Helen Mirren admitted that when she first saw her costumes for the 2006 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436697/">The Queen</a>, she almost started crying. The clothes were so dowdy and plain. The first conclusion she came to was, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Queen is completely uninterested in clothes … She’s not at all vain … It’s like a policeman wearing a uniform. She’s wearing her uniform. She doesn’t care what she looks like in it as long as it’s the right thing for the right moment.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173032/original/file-20170609-25091-agub2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Mirren in The Queen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pathé Productions/Granada</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Queen herself seems to concur. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2013961/Princess-Beatrices-Royal-Wedding-hat-Philip-Treacy-defends-it.html">When Philip Treacy asked her</a>, in a lapse of courtly etiquette (one is not supposed to address the Queen directly), “Do you like hats?” the Queen replied drolly, “It is part of the uniform.”</p>
<h2>Hidden excess</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173085/original/file-20170609-20846-12o7f82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Queen at the races last year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters staff</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But of course I don’t believe her. Or this is at least not what you would normally call a uniform. There is always something more in it than mere instrumental reason. The Queen understands all too well that she must not only represent and embody the authority of her position, but she must also seduce the crowd, make them desire her or be awestruck by her. That’s where the artfulness comes in.</p>
<p>When Mirren finally put on her costumes she had an epiphany. The film producers had engaged the Queen’s makers and costumiers to create the clothes, and they were not like any clothes Mirren had worn before. Weighted with lead in the hem, made from the softest mohair, shoes perfectly fitted in fine kid leather: the apparent banality the Queen goes for is actually a lesson in excess. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1049&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1049&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173033/original/file-20170609-32294-164rhzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1049&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Princess Beatrice’s hat designed by Philip Treacy caused a stir at Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding - but that, of course, was the point.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Toby Melville</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And it is a particularly British form of aristocratic excess, in which you work hard, as a princely virtue, not to stand out except to those that know. A similar approach has been used for <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2017/02/jude-law-young-pope-looks">Jude Law’s costumes in The Young Pope</a>. They are a little lighter silk, a little closer fitting, to allow him to exude his brand of restrained sexiness.</p>
<p>The hat is the example par excellence of aristocratic excess, and a particularly British courtly game. It is the style of that class to wear something quite banal but “top it off” with an extravagant hat. This was exactly the move Princess Beatrice made at the most recent Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011. Her Valentino dress and day coat, which by my estimate would have cost around $350,000, tricked the crowd with its lack of obvious luxury. That the internet went wild about Philip Treacy’s hat as always amazed me; of course the hat was outlandish. That is the game.</p>
<h2>The two sides of the Queen</h2>
<p>Michael Carter, an Australian theorist of fashion and style, has always ighlighted the “untimeliness” of the hat, which does not neatly fit into fashion trends. It is always somehow out of style, always more ornamental, even when fashion dictates the minimal. For Carter, the hat proves that clothes are more than a sign of a particular subculture or being right for an occasion. Like a peacock with its feathers or a lyrebird with its song, apparel is a way to draw people in, to fascinate them.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BHZ5VIZgGx1","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Through her collaboration with many great makers, the Queen uses the whole gamut of the hat’s aesthetic possibility. Sometimes the hat is outlandish and sculptural, sometimes it is elegant and refined. The hat often repeats something else within the ensemble: the shape and colour of a sapphire brooch; the floral pattern of a dress made three dimensional on a band; a detail picked up from a cuff repeated in beading. The aesthetic appeal of a hat is of course endless.</p>
<p>But the thing that characterises the Queen’s approach is that it is equivocal. Since the 1950s many of the Queen’s hats have played on the border between military or academic uniform and fashion: the beret, the kepi and other military styles. In 2015 the Queen laid a wreath at Bergen-Belsen, the site of a concentration camp, in an outfit that was a brilliant evocation of the contemporary mood. It was decorously grey, befitting the sombre tone of a commemoration of something so horrid. Yet her hat oscillates between fashion and high seriousness: the sting of the provocatively military style was undercut by the fast white line reminiscent of 1930s hats in the same way the polka dots on her coat undercut the seriousness of the grey felt.</p>
<p>But the Queen’s greatest invention, which seems to date from around 2001, is a large top hat, which may also be drawn in part from the mind of Angela Kelly (her main dresser). This hat sits halfway between a sun hat and the hat the Mad Hatter wears. Angela Kelly designed the version of this hat that the Queen wore to the 2011 Royal Wedding: crepe with handmade silk roses and matching apricot-coloured leaves. This type of hat allows for a huge surface of colour while the small brim allows her face to be seen for photographs. </p>
<p>I have no doubt today, on her wholly symbolic Australian birthday, she will wear a similar hat. It is the perfect balance between meeting expectations of feminine formality and a quiet insistence on her sovereign authority, beyond gender norms. </p>
<p>The television show <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Crown</a> did a very good job, through a quite convincing melodrama, to bring to popular culture the medieval idea that the Queen has two bodies, one symbolic, one natural. Indeed on the opening of Parliament, the Queen still comes in two carriages, one for her body the other for the crown. The two sides of the Queen meet on her head. </p>
<p>We are brought to the power of the law and the state as much by constitutions and elections as by royal hats and royal weddings. Queen Elizabeth II’s seduction of her subjects has been as mannered as any Renaissance Prince. Machiavelli needed to add a chapter on Princesses’ hats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79119/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Watts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The hat is an example par excellence of aristocratic excess, the equivalent of a peacock’s tail in seducing the Queen’s subjects.Oliver Watts, Honorary associate, Sydney College of Arts, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/678912016-10-28T18:02:28Z2016-10-28T18:02:28ZHow to get the most candy on Halloween (without resorting to extortion)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143690/original/image-20161028-15821-628yv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seems those sharp fangs worked.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Trick or treat via www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=7300">Halloween</a> is here, the night every year when children dress up in costumes and go “<a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ985578">trick or treating</a>.” </p>
<p>On the surface, that activity appears to be a relatively benign one. What could be more innocent than cute youngsters collecting sweets?</p>
<p>Halloween, however, is actually one of our only <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/30/whats-the-point-of-trick-or-treating/let-halloween-be-the-weird-holiday-that-it-is">holidays based on extortion</a>. When children scream “<a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trick%20or%20treat">trick or treat</a>,” they are essentially demanding candy in exchange for not doing a prank or something else that is nasty.</p>
<p>Some children on Halloween <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/the-acquisition-of-routines-in-child-language/1FEFAF13976D9B8ED7DB0819E92D9A31">are learning how to ask strangers for candy</a>. Learning to interact politely with strangers is a valuable lesson. Other costumed kids, however, are figuring out how to shake down people for sweets and that threats of mischief are sometimes effective ways to get what you want.</p>
<p>Is there a better way than extorting people with tricks to get more treats? </p>
<p>A number of years ago when my children were young, I ran a simple, economic experiment to find out. We wanted to discover a way to <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2012/10/31/life/freakonomics-radio/maximizing-your-halloween-candy-haul">maximize the amount of candy</a> they could collect without threatening adults. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143731/original/image-20161028-15793-1am7x0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143731/original/image-20161028-15793-1am7x0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143731/original/image-20161028-15793-1am7x0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143731/original/image-20161028-15793-1am7x0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143731/original/image-20161028-15793-1am7x0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143731/original/image-20161028-15793-1am7x0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143731/original/image-20161028-15793-1am7x0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Want more candy? Consult an economist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Candy viewing via www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The experiment</h2>
<p>The experiment was important to my children because I tried to never buy them candy. Thus their primary source of candy was this one holiday. If they got a large enough haul at Halloween, they would have enough candy to last till the following one.</p>
<p>We lived in a small Ohio town that was perfect for experimenting. The town was divided into three neighborhoods separated by large and busy main roads. The north neighborhood had mansions and millionaires. The central neighborhood was middle-class. The south neighborhood, where we lived, was the poorer part of town.</p>
<p>What made the town great for experimenting was that it was possible to walk to all the different sections in a single night if you were interested in answering the question, “Where do you go to get the most candy?” By visiting all the neighborhoods in one evening, variables like weather, economic conditions and the particular day of the week were all taken into account.</p>
<p>One year, I was able to convince my children to test all three neighborhoods. At first I tried to persuade them that finding out the answer was important for understanding where in future years they could collect <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/29/trick-or-treat-how-to-maximize-halloween-haul.html">the maximum amount of candy</a>. Even as children of an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcMxc7kEkx_0HCkI_Dxo7ow">economist</a>, they were unimpressed by this argument. I ended up promising to buy them enough candy to make up any shortfall if they went along with dad’s wild idea.</p>
<h2>The results</h2>
<p>The results of the experiment were pretty clear. </p>
<p>The rich homes offered the largest and nicest pieces of candy. However, there were two problems with ringing doorbells in the wealthy part of town. Relatively few people were home, which meant few places to ask for treats. Additionally, the distance between houses giving out candy was quite large. This meant it took a long time to collect any meaningful amount of candy. Since the rich part of town was clearly a bust, we all agreed to try a different neighborhood.</p>
<p>The poorer part of town was also not great for collecting candy. My kids recognized some of their friends, but they felt the candies being given out were not the kind they really liked or wanted to eat for the rest of the year.</p>
<p>This is not surprising since Halloween candy is expensive. Americans are expected to spend US$2.7 billion on Halloween candy this year, according to the <a href="http:/www.candyusa.com/news/candy-makers-share-five-not-scary-facts-halloween/">National Confectioners Association</a>. This means the average U.S. household will be spending $22 on just candy alone. This is about twice as much as the typical <a href="http://www.bls.gov/cex/2015/combined/income.pdf">poor family spends on food per day</a>. Buying that much candy could cost a low-income household two days of meals!</p>
<p>The children loved the middle-class neighborhood. The distance between houses was not that large and many of the houses were giving out all of my children’s favorite candies. The haul was so much they had enough candy to easily last an entire year.</p>
<h2>Is there a better way?</h2>
<p>So, what lessons did I learn from our little economic experiment?</p>
<p>First, extortion isn’t necessary. Instead of letting kids shout “Trick or treat,” encourage children to say “Happy Halloween.” Removing the threat of a trick will likely make no difference to the amount of candy collected since it is an idle threat anyway for (most) children.</p>
<p>Then take the kids to the neighborhoods with the highest ratio of candy to steps between homes and have a great time. I just ask one small favor. If you or your children get a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-eating-too-much-sugar-2014-3">bellyache or toothache from eating too much candy</a>, don’t blame me.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay L. Zagorsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Trick or treating’ typically involves demanding candy under the threat of mischief. But is there a better way to maximize your candy haul on Halloween?Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425182015-06-02T05:13:38Z2015-06-02T05:13:38ZWhy academics are interested in the male body in Poldark and Outlander<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83575/original/image-20150601-6993-1gz103x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just you wait.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC/Mammoth Screen/Mike Hogan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The buzz in the press and on social media about TV costume dramas Poldark and Outlander has been formidable. Adapted from hugely popular novels, they have drawn fans of the books (and, in the case of Poldark, of the original TV series) as well as newcomers. The shows aired within months of each other. Both are set within the 18th century and both occupy peripheral, Celtic territories – Cornwall in Poldark and the Scottish highlands in Outlander. </p>
<p>Much of the talk around these programmes has focused on their display of the naked male body. Poldark in 1975 was much more intent on the corseted female form, but most of the media around the 2015 adaptation has been generated by the swimming and scything scenes. These shows have been original and refreshing in their foregrounding of the female gaze. But there’s something else going on here: the male body and desire becoming central to questions of regionality and nationhood.</p>
<p>In scholarship on literature, films and television programmes, the female body is frequently understood as the recipient of a desiring gaze in which landscape, sexual desire and ownership converge. Whether caught at the window between inside and outside, gazing longingly at a landscape which offers a freedom not available to her, or the object of a desiring colonial gaze which maps territory onto her body, it has always been the woman’s body which has been at stake. </p>
<p>In Poldark and Outlander, the central female characters retain this association with the landscape. The design of costume, hair and make-up, as well as performance, tie both Claire and Demelza visually, through colour, texture and gesture, to their context. However, they also experience certain freedoms within their respective landscapes; Demelza is frequently seen at work within the fields or picnicking on the cliff edge next to the mine owned by her husband Ross. </p>
<p>Similarly, Claire Beauchamp, later Fraser, is also active within the highland geography of Outlander. She travels on horseback or on foot, fights off danger with a dirk she has just been taught to wield, and has sex with her new husband <em>en plein air</em>. While connected to it, Claire is always also a Sassenach, an outlander, within the highland landscape. While these programmes retain such conventional constructions of femininity in relation to nature and place, they also break new ground.</p>
<h2>Male Bodies</h2>
<p>Atypically, though, it is the male bodies, and not the female, that bear the symbolic weight of representation in relation to landscape, region and nation.</p>
<p>In Outlander, the marking of Scotsman Jamie Fraser’s body through physical and sexual abuse by English Redcoat “Black” Jack Randall is a powerful and symbolic expression of the rape and conquer of Scotland by England. Randall’s sadistic desiring gaze upon, flogging, subjugation and branding of Jamie Fraser’s body is a literalisation of the English violence towards and colonisation of Scotland as a territory. The bloody trenches that Randall mercilessly tears into Jamie’s back, the lines of scar tissue which he lecherously licks and his repeated rape signify not just violence and desire but a remapping of flesh which is made symbolic of Scottish territory. </p>
<p>That Jamie is emphasised as a “Highlander” points to the importance of the regional in this marking of territory. The Highlands are the site through which the most enduring imagery of Scotland has been constructed – the space of “Tartanry”, mountains and mystical wilderness (to be conquered). Like Ross Poldark, Jamie is “landed gentry”, and their bodies do more than “represent” the regional (and national) landscape, because they own it. Jamie, Laird of Lallybroch, embodies the regional landscape, in the colour of his hair, his costuming, his physicality: they are part of each other. </p>
<p>And so Jamie’s “consent” to submission to Randall carries a different kind of weight here. The filming of the most disturbing abuse scenes on the eve of the (failed) referendum on Scottish independence resonates powerfully. It’s no wonder that the potential political importance of Outlander to stir resistance to England at the time of the indyref was <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/leaked-sony-email-speaks-of-political-importance-of-outlander-to-indyref.123650961">recognised and feared</a> by David Cameron and government unionists.</p>
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<h2>Body as territory</h2>
<p>While the display of the male body as symbolic territory to be conquered is an available reading of the source novels in Outlander, the same is not true of the Poldark series. The shirtless display of Aidan Turner’s body is more about the success of Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112130/">Pride and Prejudice</a> and an apparent desire to recreate the popularity of the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075560/?ref_=nv_sr_2">first adaptation</a>, where Robin Ellis became a national object of desire (without removing his clothes). </p>
<p>But Ross is also shown to be intimately connected with regional landscape, in a way which is also politically resonant in relation to Cornwall’s relationship with Britain. The 2015 Poldark opens with Captain Ross, dressed like Captain Randall, in his redcoat uniform of the British army. He is ostensibly a facilitator in British colonial aggression, having just returned from fighting in the American War of Independence. Yet it is immediately made clear in the first episode that he’s an anti-establishment figure, questioning the cause he must fight for. He fights not through choice or desire, but to escape the gallows for brawling, free-trading and assaulting a customs officer. </p>
<p>His return to Cornwall, although still in his redcoat uniform (in the adaptation but not in the book) is a homecoming, not an invasion. He quickly divests himself of the uniform, replaced by garments in blues and browns which visually embed the character within the seascape and rural landscape on screen. It is a landscape which he owns, scythes, rides across, and mines beneath. </p>
<p>While the much-hyped naked sea swimming scene may have come about as a Darcy-esque piece of titillation for the viewers, it too contributes to the connection of the male body to this particular landscape, at one with it, claiming it in a number of ways. This physical connection solidifies Ross’s position as defender of the Cornish from the encroaching law of the state and his fight against plunder of Cornish mineral wealth by outsiders.</p>
<p>Ross Poldark and Jamie Fraser are, then, the literal embodiment of contested Celtic territory. Across their bodies, we can read the playing out of the politics of region and nation in a period of regional and national instability. So: there’s more to the naked male body in these shows than just the desiring female gaze.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42518/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s much more to the naked male bodies of these programmes than the simple titillation that meets the eye.Rachel Moseley, Director, Centre for Television History, Heritage and Memory Research, University of Warwick, University of WarwickGemma Goodman, Teaching Fellow in English, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/347072014-12-14T19:11:31Z2014-12-14T19:11:31ZSeams, dreams: the hands behind classic Hollywood costumes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66712/original/image-20141209-32136-ypdtzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Designer Travis Banton was responsible for the tuxedo and top hat Marlene Dietrich donned for her nightclub act in Morocco (1930).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Agrupación Lésbica RS</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few, if any, contemporary costume designers are household names. Some occasionally capture the zeitgeist and break through from big (or small) screen to mainstream fashion – think Catherine Martin and her recent “Gatsby” moment – but these are exceptions. Contemporary costume designers mostly fly below the radar of today’s audiences, but it wasn’t always so. </p>
<p>Hollywood in the 1930s to the 1960s – often referred to as The Golden Age – was a boom-time for costume designers. Currently at the Museum of Brisbane, <a href="http://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/costumes-from-the-golden-age-of-hollywood/">Costumes From the Golden Age of Hollywood</a> draws on material from a private collection, owned by Brisbane resident Nicholas Inglis, in an exhibition that runs until May 2015.</p>
<p>This period was the peak of control and output for the major studios, such as Columbia, RKO Radio Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount, and Warner Bros. These four decades saw the majors employ thousands, generally under exclusive contract. Huge teams of talented artisans were brought together to make films, and little expense was spared.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66714/original/image-20141209-32143-16b7nb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Costumes From the Golden Age of Hollywood exhibition installation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museum of Brisbane</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Costume design departments were at the core of the studio system, and the head designers signed to a specific studio became synonymous with its identity. Designers worked with art directors, producers and directors to mold each film’s aesthetic, and were integral in shaping the image of the studio’s stars. </p>
<p>Costume designers’ public profiles could even rival those of the stars they dressed. Names such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0012424/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm">Adrian</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052555/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm">Travis Banton</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372128/">Edith Head</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0650673/">Orry-Kelly</a> appeared in newspaper columns, fashion magazines, department store catalogues, and reached a cross-section of women far beyond what most fashion designers could ever hope to. </p>
<p>As British fashion historian Cally Blackman <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/577025.100_Years_of_Fashion_Illustration">points out</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>many more women would have followed their favourite stars’ wardrobes than were aware of the Paris collections. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>And while celebrity style remains a pop-culture obsession, the difference is that the women of the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s also knew the name of the costume designer responsible for their favourite stars’ on-screen wardrobes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66716/original/image-20141209-32146-1xbt05t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dolores Del Rio wears an Orry-Kelly gown, I Live for Love (1935).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was a different story at cinema’s inception. In the first decades of film-making – the 1890s until the early 1910s – actors would often supply their own wardrobe. If designers were involved, they would often go uncredited. </p>
<p>One early pioneer was American costume designer Clare West, who worked closely with Kentucky-born director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000428/">D.W. Griffith</a>. As Griffith pioneered the function and persona of the film director in Hollywood, West was doing the same for the figure of the costume designer. Griffith’s 1916 epic, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0006864/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages</a>, holds the honour of being the first film to feature costumes designed for every cast member, including extras. </p>
<p>But the famous costume designer is very much a product of the Golden Age; the expansive costume department helmed by a well-known chief designer barely existed before the mid-1920s. By the time sound entered the cinema in 1927, costume designers were recognised as essential to narrative film-making. </p>
<p>As the Golden Age dawned, a handful of designers reigned at the major studios. They were trained as artists or fashion designers and often came to Hollywood from the East Coast, or Europe, as California became the centre of the movie-making business. Their work solidified the association between Hollywood and glamour. Here are a few of their stories:</p>
<h2>Adrian</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66710/original/image-20141209-6735-15x68gj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joan Crawford, ‘Letty Lynton dress’, 1932.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Loveday</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Born in Nagatuck, Connecticut, Adrian Greenberg, known simply as Adrian, was the chief costume designer at MGM from 1928 to 1941. He worked on iconic films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030418/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Marie Antoinette</a> (1938), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Wizard of Oz</a> (1939), and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032143/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">The Women</a> (1939), marking MGM as the studio where no expense was spared to realise cinematic spectacle. </p>
<p>He had close working relationships with two of the era’s biggest stars, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001256/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Greta Garbo</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001076/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Joan Crawford</a>, and was responsible for Crawford’s signature look, both on and off screen. </p>
<p>In 1932 the pair ignited a fashion craze with the “Letty Lynton dress”. Designed for the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023132/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Letty Lynton</a> (1932), the white cotton organdy gown with enormous ruffled sleeves was copied by Macy’s department store, which claimed to have sold more than 500,000 replicas nationwide.</p>
<h2>Travis Banton</h2>
<p>Texan Travis Banton was chief designer at Paramount studios from 1929 to 1938, establishing himself as an influential and visionary costumier. Favourite flourishes were contrasting colours, sumptuous fabrics, and an appreciation for heavy decoration and exoticism, generally molded onto a bias cut gown. </p>
<p>Banton is associated with the style of many major Golden Age stars, including <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001479/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Carole Lombard</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001055/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Claudette Colbert</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0922213/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Mae West</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000017/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Marlene Dietrich</a>. </p>
<p>The relationship between Banton and Dietrich produced many iconic Golden Age looks, including the flamboyantly androgynous tuxedo and top hat Dietrich donned for her nightclub act in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021156/?ref_=nv_sr_2">Morocco</a> (1930). </p>
<h2>Edith Head</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66709/original/image-20141209-6720-xkxevg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Edith Head, 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A young and ambitious Edith Head got her start in Hollywood as a costume sketch artist at Paramount in 1924. By 1938, when Banton left, Head asserted herself as chief designer. She worked for Paramount until 1967, then moved to Universal Pictures, where she remained until her death in 1981. </p>
<p>Head designed costumes for more than 400 films, won eight Academy Awards, and dressed almost every female star of the Golden Age. She is particularly remembered for her collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock, on films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Rear Window</a> (1954), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048728/?ref_=nv_sr_1">To Catch a Thief</a> (1955), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Vertigo</a> (1958), and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Birds</a> (1963). </p>
<p>Head was loved by actresses for creating clothes they wanted to wear – simultaneously glamorous and practical – but she was also known for her distinctive personal style: a blunt short fringe and round glasses. Her glasses were fitted with blue lenses, which is said to have helped her understand how clothes would look on black and white film. </p>
<h2>Orry-Kelly</h2>
<p>Born in Kiama, New South Wales, this young Australian made his way to the West Coast of America and rose rapidly to the position of head costume designer at Warner Bros. Orry George Kelly was not only a prolific designer, but a tastemaker: his internationally syndicated column, <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2509540">Hollywood Fashion Parade</a>, offered fashion advice to the masses. </p>
<p>His versatile talent spanned from fashionable, avant-garde attire to elaborate period costumes. His credits include <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033870/">The Maltese Falcon</a> (1941) and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Casablanca</a> (1942). In the 50s he won three Academy Awards for his work on <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043278/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">An American in Paris</a> (1951), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050631/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3">Les Girls</a> (1957), and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Some Like it Hot</a> (1959). </p>
<p>When he died in 1964, the pallbearers at his funeral were actors <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000026/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Cary Grant</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000348/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Tony Curtis</a>, and directors <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000697/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Billy Wilder</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002030/?ref_=nv_sr_1">George Cukor</a>. </p>
<p>While you might not have heard the name before, you’ll shortly be hearing much more about Orry-Kelly, with Australian director Gillian Armstrong working on a <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/article/2013/06/07/retrospective-orry-kelly">highly anticipated documentary</a> about his colourful professional and private life in Hollywood. </p>
<p>Efforts like Armstrong’s film on Orry-Kelly and the costume exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane will hopefully go some way towards bringing the names of Golden Age costume designers back in to common knowledge and usage. </p>
<p>Perhaps, once we re-associate their artistry with the achievement of Golden Age Hollywood, we will start to pay more attention to the names responsible for the designs that dazzle us in contemporary cinema too.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/costumes-from-the-golden-age-of-hollywood/">Costumes From the Golden Age of Hollywood</a> runs at the Museum of Brisbane until May 24, 2015. Exhibition co-curator Dr Nadia Buick will be presenting <a href="http://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/designing-hollywood/">a talk</a> exploring the influence of the leading designers of the Golden Age on February 22, 2pm-3pm.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34707/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nadia Buick is co-curator of Costumes from the Golden Age of Hollywood at the Museum of Brisbane.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Huw Walmsley-Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Few, if any, contemporary costume designers are household names. Some occasionally capture the zeitgeist and break through from big (or small) screen to mainstream fashion – think Catherine Martin and…Huw Walmsley-Evans, Post Completion Fellow in the School of English, Media Studies and Art History, The University of QueenslandNadia Buick, Research fellow, State Library of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207592013-12-30T21:23:55Z2013-12-30T21:23:55ZExplainer: what is cosplay?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37184/original/456p8yjs-1386541204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cosplayers come in all shapes and sizes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">zigazou</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’m standing in a line at <a href="http://www.supanova.com.au/">Brisbane Supanova 2013</a>, a pop culture convention, when I’m approached by a young family with a tiny girl in a sparkly Snow White gown, complete with bright red hair bow.</p>
<p>“We were wondering if you would pose for a photo with our daughter,” says the mother. “You’re the first Disney Princess she’s wanted a photo with all day.”</p>
<p>I smile my very best Snow White smile, adjust my own bright red hair bow, and kneel down so that I’m at the same eye-line as mini-Snow White.</p>
<p>“Why, that would be perfectly wonderful,” I trill, clapping my hands and channelling <a href="http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Adriana_Caselotti">Adriana Caselotti</a> – the voice actress in Walt Disney’s animated classic.</p>
<p>My name is Emerald, and I’m a Cosplayer.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_BHvriOGvsY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Colchester Media - The author’s Snow White cosplay can be found at 2:23.“</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Background</h2>
<p>Since the late 1990s interest in Japanese anime (cartoons) and manga (comics) in Australia has increased to the point where there were more than 20 anime and popular culture conventions held throughout the country in 2013. </p>
<p>One of the draw cards at these conventions, in addition to traders, big-name stars and anime screenings are fans dressed as their favourite characters. Known as "cosplay”, the popularity of wearing these kinds of costumes has grown alongside popular culture conventions.</p>
<p>Cosplayers pay special attention not only to the costume they wear – including detailed makeup and elaborate wigs or hair styles – but to a character’s signature pose or way of speaking. </p>
<p>In Japanese language usage, the term cosplay is often used to refer to any act of dressing in costume. This includes something as simple as donning a wig, any sort of Halloween fancy dress, live action role play and costumes of an adult or fetishist nature. </p>
<p>However it is principally used to describe the fan activity of dressing as manga and anime characters.</p>
<h2>From Japan to the West and back again</h2>
<p>In English, the word cosplay used to refer only to costumes based on Japanese products, but the definition has broadened to include western comics. </p>
<p>The term “cosplay” can be used as a noun to refer to the costumes worn while cosplaying (“a Sailor Moon cosplay”) or as a verb (“I cosplayed as Superman”).</p>
<p>There is some dispute as to whether cosplay actually originated in Japan or America. We know that the term “cosplay” was coined by <a href="http://yeinjee.com/tag/nobuyuki-nov-takahashi/">Nobuyuki “Nov” Takahashi</a>, the founder of the anime publishing company Studio Hard, in 1983/4 to describe the costumes he saw when he travelled from Japan to attend <a href="http://www.worldcon.org/">WorldCon</a> in Los Angeles. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/36995/original/46sqc7wj-1386216768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">mikemol</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Takahashi wanted a short, catchy word that would describe the magnificence of what he had seen the American fans doing. “Masquerade”, “costume play” and “costume acting” were passed over as being too much of a mouthful when given a Japanese pronunciation.</p>
<p>However there is little argument that in its current form, the roots of cosplay lie in Japanese fandom culture that has been adopted by fans around the world. For many practitioners, part of the attraction of cosplay lies in its “<a href="http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue20/hjorth.htm">Japanese-ness</a>”.</p>
<h2>Who cosplays?</h2>
<p>Cosplayers come in all shapes and sizes, genders, ages and talent levels. There is no golden rule as to what makes a successful cosplayer. </p>
<p>Trying to define good or bad cosplays can actually be rather unhelpful. To my mind it is better to look at “competition cosplay” and “convention cosplay”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oPd_0sZJroc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Deerstalker Pictures</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In “competition cosplay” the costume must be constructed by the competitor to a high standard of accuracy. Competitors will often perform a short skit that can include everything from magic effects, backing videos and vocal tracks to epic sword fights and acrobatics.</p>
<p>In contrast, “convention cosplay” may be bought or made by the wearer and are often as intricate as costumes worn on stage by competitors. </p>
<p>While “competition cosplays” are worn to test their maker’s skills and win prizes, “convention cosplays” are worn solely for the pleasure of dressing as a beloved superhero, princess, magical girl or television character.</p>
<p>If you are interested in trying your hand at cosplay, you can find your local popular cultural convention by searching online. You just might make your own, or someone else’s, dream come true.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/20759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emerald L King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>I’m standing in a line at Brisbane Supanova 2013, a pop culture convention, when I’m approached by a young family with a tiny girl in a sparkly Snow White gown, complete with bright red hair bow. “We were…Emerald L King, Japanese Lecturer, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191582013-10-30T19:41:05Z2013-10-30T19:41:05ZBoo! What’s so scary about Halloween costumes?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34006/original/79qgc63v-1383026322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Customes allow their wearers to subvert ordinary social expectations.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NoPro2009</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As October inevitably prompts grizzling about the premature appearance of mince pies and plum puddings on supermarket shelves, so too does it draw laments about American cultural imperialism and consumerism.</p>
<p>Halloween is now a fixture in the Australian calendar. Spooky decorations and themed confectionery are a familiar sight in shopping centres and around <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/aussie-halloween-is-on-for-young-and--young-20121021-27zhg.html#ixzz2iSRElJDc">100,000 Halloween pumpkins</a> are grown out of season for carving into Jack-o-Lanterns. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34010/original/hmkvz4sy-1383027249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">the past tends to disappear</span></span>
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<p>Halloween originates in the Gaelic festival of <a href="http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/Samhain.htm">Samhain</a>, which coincided with the end of the harvest season and heralded the beginning of winter. While there are many Celtic and European traditions that precede Halloween’s commercialisation in the United States — try carving a face into turnip instead of a pumpkin, as is believed to have been the practice in Ireland — its adoption in Australia has largely followed American customs absorbed from film and television.</p>
<p>Groups of Australian children now circulate suburban streets in costume on daylight-savings Halloween evenings “trick-or-treating”. Their quest for sweets prompted a <a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/19476256/halloween-scare-over-lolly-intake/">30% increase in confectionery sales in 2012</a>, according <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2013/199/8/dark-side-halloween-marketing-unhealthy-products-our-children">to a study</a> of Halloween’s contribution to child obesity published in the Medical Journal of Australia.</p>
<p>Adults <a href="http://www.mccrindle.com.au/the-mccrindle-blog/halloween_is_growing_in_australia">from Generation Y, and to a lesser extent X</a>, are embracing Halloween more warmly than their parents ever did. Halloween parties and nightclub events are common. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34007/original/jw4c7cmb-1383026476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">zane.hollingsworth</span></span>
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<p>Halloween is celebrated by more and more children and younger adults – and many of them are wearing costumes too. If you hear knocking at your door on Halloween, you’re most likely to encounter pint-sized witches, vampires and ghosts (the last-minute sheet with eye holes cut out). </p>
<p>But in North America, and also among the growing number of Australian adults who participate in Halloween, costumes are not necessarily tied to supernatural or “scary” characters. Costumes are just as likely to mimic iconic film and television characters, celebrities and politicians. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://gma.yahoo.com/photos/halloween-10-most-searched-costumes-for-2013-1382458696-slideshow/9-musicians-who-rock-costumes-year-round-daft-punk-photo-1381976100222.html">most searched-for costumes</a> this year include Miley Cyrus, Minion from Despicable Me 2, Walter White of Breaking Bad and musicians Daft Punk.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34009/original/7yxx5kpq-1383026814.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daft Punk are … not really scary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">michellerlee</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>For young women, “sexy” costumes comprise a sizeable proportion of the commercially-made designs available in a way that is <a href="http://fucknosexisthalloweencostumes.tumblr.com/page/2">not replicated in similarly themed costumes marketed to men</a>.</p>
<p>There are “sexy” women’s versions of common costumes, including animals, pirates, devils, fairy tale characters, and military personnel. But there are also extremely objectifying women’s costumes, such as the “<a href="http://www.yandy.com/Exclusive-Sexy-Pizza-Costume.php">sexy slice of pizza</a>”, “<a href="http://www.yandy.com/Exclusive-Sexy-French-Fries-Costume.php">sexy bucket of hot fries</a>” and dozens of other combinations of “sexy” with types of food. </p>
<p>By way of comparison, a male <a href="http://www.yandy.com/Pizza-Slice.php">slice of pizza costume</a> is decidedly unsexy.</p>
<p>There is an entire branch of <a href="http://gawker.com/5672914/is-your-halloween-costume-racist/">racially problematic sexy costuming</a>, notably of “geishas”, Native American, Inuit and Middle Eastern women. The racist stereotyping across costumes for both men and women has been cleverly countered by the <a href="http://www.ohio.edu/orgs/stars/Poster_Campaign.html">“We’re a Culture Not a Costume” campaign</a> originating from students at Ohio University. </p>
<p>Costumes have the potential to permit the wearer to subvert ordinary social expectations. Nancy Deihl, a scholar of costume studies, <a href="http://jezebel.com/5854947/slutty-halloween-costumes-a-cultural-history">points out</a>: “Any time you’re allowed to wear a costume, you’re also allowed to engage in activities outside your normal behaviour.”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33796/original/zyqdz3bk-1382681083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33796/original/zyqdz3bk-1382681083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33796/original/zyqdz3bk-1382681083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33796/original/zyqdz3bk-1382681083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33796/original/zyqdz3bk-1382681083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33796/original/zyqdz3bk-1382681083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33796/original/zyqdz3bk-1382681083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">makoworks</span></span>
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<p>Historically, <a href="http://jezebel.com/5854947/slutty-halloween-costumes-a-cultural-history">as Valerie Steele has observed</a>, women’s sexy costuming at masquerade balls from the 18th century onward transgressed conventional expectations of feminine propriety. </p>
<p>Today, in the West, where girl and women are encouraged to prioritise sex appeal, sexy costumes do not readily permit the wearer to step outside the norm, but instead to remain firmly within it.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with the existence of sexy Halloween costumes for women, or with women wanting to be found attractive. (Even despite the fact that popular demands for men’s costumes rarely call for “sexiness”.)</p>
<p>What <em>is</em> problematic is when the options available for women become so narrow that there is little choice to be anything else. The <a href="http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2012/10/11/halloween-isnt-supposed-to-be-scary-like-this/">changing nature of girls’ Halloween costumes</a> shows the requirement to be sexy is now transforming how girls dress up too.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33797/original/gqttc4ks-1382681396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33797/original/gqttc4ks-1382681396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33797/original/gqttc4ks-1382681396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33797/original/gqttc4ks-1382681396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33797/original/gqttc4ks-1382681396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33797/original/gqttc4ks-1382681396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33797/original/gqttc4ks-1382681396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">libertygrace0</span></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/sexy-halloween-costumes-for-girls_n_2011943.html">In past decades, girls’ costumes were designed to recreate a particular thing or being</a>, such as a pumpkin, cat, clown or devil. The emphasis in these same themes in modern girls’ costumes is on short dresses, stockings and even thigh-high boots that are then accessorised to faintly resemble a pumpkin, cat, clown or devil. </p>
<p>The word “naughty” recently slipped across from the plethora of “naughty” women’s costumes to a Walmart <a href="http://consumerist.com/2013/09/26/walmart-pulls-naughty-leopard-costume-from-shelves-will-research-what-leopards-look-like/">Naughty Leopard costume intended for toddlers</a>. </p>
<p>As Halloween gradually weaves itself into Australian traditions, commercially-made costumes are also finding their way on to our shop shelves. While cultural differences mean we’re not likely to see the racism of “sexy squaw” costumes or a local equivalent gain acceptance, it is hard to imagine that the overwhelming trend of sexy women’s costumes won’t also be imported, along with the inedible pumpkins. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Smith receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>As October inevitably prompts grizzling about the premature appearance of mince pies and plum puddings on supermarket shelves, so too does it draw laments about American cultural imperialism and consumerism…Michelle Smith, ARC Postdoctoral Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.