Tips for putting together a historic character costume

If you are putting together a historic character costume, but just want or need the hint of an historic character to be used as a support or prop for a speech, for a joke, or for a simple Halloween costume, you can get by with a lot of slack.

But if you want to really look and feel the part, here are some basics to keep in mind.

Watch the Eyes

• Eyeglasses have the potential to make or break an otherwise authentic looking costume. Do you really think someone could do a convincing John Lennon without granny glasses? Or try to seriously play Pocahontas while wearing spectacles?
• Use contact lenses. This is also a way to change the color of your eyes.
• Use eyeglasses that are period-correct. Spectacles in some form have been around for hundreds of years.

Check your hair

• Hair – facial or head hair – can define a character. Do you really think you could do a convincing Mark Twain without wearing a big moustache and thick wavy hair?
• Use dyes, permanents, curlers, or well-fitting wigs.
• Can you be a convincing Daddy Warbucks without a bald pate? If you need to lose hair, consider how important the playing the part is. It takes a long time to grow back hair, but you could wear a latex skull cap.

Watch your feet

• Footwear, like eyeglasses, can make or break an attempt at authenticity. Anything character before 1900 would not be wearing tennis shoes.

Hide the plastic

• Plastic can be used as a form underneath period-correct materials, but keep it out of site.

Look for wool, leather, and linen

• These materials have been used for thousands of years.

Save the tin toil for potato salad

• Tin foil is shiny and may sometimes look like flashing steel from a distance – but only from a very long distance.

Look in the closet

• Your parents or grandparents might have in a closet or in the attic just the outfit you are looking for.
• Sometimes an old outfit just needs a minor sewing modification to fit your character.
• Look in thrift stores.