Costumes
Dressing up is half the fun.
disguise yourself – express yourself
experiment with … and explore …
who you are or might be
Photo: Ian Mayou
We’ll be announcing workshops to help you
in December
Mock Posh
Go formal in mock posh in the grandest vintage you can find.
Exaggerate, turn the dial up to 11, mocking the upper classes …
Montol is definitely not Helston Flora.
Tatters
Or flip that into tatters and ribbons and disguise your finer status.
Ragged or bright and shiny …
or blend the two.
Cross Dressing
And don’t forget that Penzance has always had a passion for cross-dressing.
Beards and bodices but who’s is who’s?
From marianismo to machismo
but always swaggering!
“During the early part of the last century the costume of the guise dancers often consisted of such antique finery as would now raise envy in the heart of a collector. The chief glory of the men lay in their cocked hats which were surmounted with plumes and decked with streamers and ribbons. The girls were no less magnificently attired with steeple crowned hats, stiff bodied gowns, bag skirts or trains and ruffles hanging from their elbows.”
William Bottrell
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (1870–80)
Gods and Monsters
In one night I saw all the gods and goddesses of Egypt, a real live bear, pirates and demons, The Holly King himself and Death, the Herald of Winter.
The Usual Suspects
Every year the charity shops, particularly The One and All, are raided and denuded, Ebay comes in to its own and Buttons and Bows comes to the rescue.
“Every year I do a bit more –
it’s become a bit of an obsession – but I suppose you get out
what you put in.”
Linda
Gulval