Lady MacBeth: Halloween

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Lady Macbeth

Macbeth is on the lips of everyone at the moment thanks to the latest cinematic incarnation of it. I saw it two weekends ago in London. It was incredibly beautiful and of course very blood thirsty. The costumes were astoundingly brilliant, and the windswept, bleak scenery had me lusting after wet and wild wintery walks. I thought that, given the title of my blog, it's a little odd that I've never explored my Scottish heritage on here. It is, after all, something I hold very dear to my heart (with a name like MacBeth it's hard not to).

Lady Macbeth is an intriguing character. She is so often painted as a crazed woman, driven mad through her actions. The newest film paints her in a wholly new and rather more interesting light that I won't spoil for those of you who are yet to see it.

Lady Macbeth has had many incarnations over the years. From mad eyes to long flowing locks and slightly questionable Celtic dress, these images all provided ample inspiration for my own foray into her psyche.

Leopolda Dostalova as Lady Macbeth, 1916
Source: 2

Sarah Bernhardt as Lady MacBeth, 1884
Source: 3

Ellen Terry's Lady Macbeth is perhaps the most famous - and perhaps the least accurate Celtic costume! I do love her amazing plaits - I wish my hair was long and thick enough to make such magnificent plaits but sadly not quite yet! Singer Sargent's painting of her is wonderful, and I was so excited to read that the costume she wears in it has recently been restored by the National Trust. You can now see it in person at Terry's house, Smallhythe in Kent.

Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, 1888
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Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, John Singer Sargent, 1889
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The first thing that leaps to mind when Scottish heritage is mentioned is usually tartan. The MacBeth's do have a tartan all of their own:

Source: 1

I don't actually own any MacBeth tartan but I do have this rather fetching tartan cape that I bought in a Bath charity shop a few years ago. It's a bit like wearing a blanket so it's perfect for misty, windy walks. I perfected a deep intense stare because Lady Macbeth has to have one of those: dark, brooding and slightly terrifying.

Whisky drinking is generally the second thing that comes to mind. Sadly I'm not a Scotch drinker, I prefer a gin cocktail. However, I couldn't turn down the chance to road test this beautiful hip flask from SWIG. I've always wanted a hip flask to call my own; I like the idea of having a little something to sip whilst tromping across the heathery moors. This SWIG one does the job very nicely, it's incased in a lovely orange leather case and it feels like it'll stand the test of time extremely well. What have I got in my flask you may wonder? A snifter of Coole Swan; a delicious Irish whiskey (notice the different spelling of whisky!) cream that I discovered recently when a friend from Galway gifted my mum a bottle - I throughly recommend it!

I'm off on a few long journeys over the next few weeks so I'm quite excited to have the opportunity to road test it further. I rarely ever accept freebees as I hate to have things badly matched with the themes of my blog posts (I'm such a control freak when it comes to aesthetics!) so I accepted this with a little trepidation but I was genuinely delighted with the parcel that popped through my letterbox. I think the orange case looks so lovely against my bejewelled hand...

I hope you are all well and looking forward to Halloween. I know it's still a week away but I'm so excited! I love planning my costume. This year I'll be donning an ensemble inspired by the three witches from Macbeth. It'll be very spooky and not at all like the witches with pointed hats and warts (think more real witches). Don't worry I'll be sure to document it! What will you be dressing up as?

Outfit Details

Smock made to a traditional English pattern, made by my mum from smocks in Worcester & Hereford museums

Wool tartan cape, charity shop in Bath

Hip flask, SWIG hip flasks *this item was kindly gifted to me

1930s red velvet cape, Oxfam

Bavarian hat, charity shop in Berlin

Red Hungarian folk dancing boots, car boot sale

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

The Green Man

There has been a longer hiatus than I would have liked from this blog. Life has been busy and complicated of late and it's left little time for the shoots I have had in mind. Things are now starting to feel a little calmer and I am hoping to have lots of delights to show you all over the coming weeks.

Autumn has firmly set in. October is my one of my favourite months of the year. I love the oranges, reds and greens and the colder air. I also love that it is the beginning of many of the colder season's folk customs; the most famous all being Halloween of course! I do love any opportunity to dress up,

so Halloween is a big hit in my house (it's really the only time of the year I can legitimately go out in my more bonkers of costumes). To celebrate it's arrival I always plan an elaborate costume. This year I am feeling rather enthralled by Green Men and Morris Men, so I set about creating an outfit which merged these. I really wanted to look like I had just danced out of a woodland. I also recently went to a study day at The Museum of Witchcraft on folklore which left me with a taste for all things spooky! What I created, with a little help from my mum, is far more terrifying than I could have ever imagined, I really didn't set out to scare (although I am of the opinion that Halloween costumes should at least be a little bit scary!)

I managed to purchase rolls and rolls of amazing coloured ribbon from a car boot at the weekend so I spent several hours sewing lines of them to a waistcoat I nicked from my brother. The mask was painted by mum on a blank she bought in Venice. We have lots more, so Mrs MacBeth's Department Store will have a few very soon. All the other components were found from charity shops and The Range's Christmas decoration department.

I was of course inspired by folk dance costumes, in particular those of Morris Dancers. I love these pictures (I didn't actually look at these until after I made the costume

but I think I'd fit in quite well!)

Sources: 1, 2

Sources: 3, 4

I'm planning on wearing my costume out, although I will paint my face underneath so that I don't have to wear my mask all night (it gets a little hot!) I'm going to make some friends a warming feast before we dance into the night. What are your plans for Halloween? I'd love to hear what you are all dressing up as (that's if you are- I do hope you are!) I hope you all have a throughly spooky one.

Linking to Share-in-Style Halloween special.