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I'd always loved musketeers - swishing cloaks, swords and hats with feathers. I enjoyed the 1993 version of The Three Musketeers (who could go past Tim Curry as Richelieu) but the costumes would have to be some of the most boring I've ever seen for an adaptation of the book. However the 1998 version of The Man in the Iron Mask, while being a fairly crap movie, has some absolutely amazing costumes. While I've never read anything to suggest that the musqueteer tunics of the 30 Years War may have originally been black who am I to argue with an excuse for making a black costume!
I used black damask to get a nice drap on the cassaque and lined it with red bemsilk. The fleur-de-lise on the cassaque were appliqués that I painted gold. I had thought finding a gold fleur-de-lise would have been relatively easy. Sadly all I could get was white (and even that had a little scroll underneath it). The hat I made myself with supervision from my friend Paris Kyne. I discovered very quickly that sewing feathers onto a hat is a good reason to use metal thimbles rather than leather ones! For the three long ostritch feathers that sweep out the back of the hat I ended up using a small modelling drill to put holes in the feathers' spine before I sewed them to the hat. The boots were normal riding boots I'd had made and I set a false "bucket" flap to the top of them giving the appearance of a turned down top. Even the facial hair came in for the treatment. I grew out my moustache and shaved off the side parts of my beard. I even found a place that sell moustache wax to aid in its styling! As with most of my costumes this was finished the morning before I had to wear it. One day I'll have a costume completed at least a week before I need it. It will probably be my shroud!
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I really had no idea what I was doing when I started to make the pattern for this (I've never been good with making patterns). I had to cut out little paper maquettes to work out how I wanted the fabric to sit and how that should then be made into a pattern.