This is a design for one of the annonymous British Colonist background characters during the ball scene in the play Death and the King's Horseman, set in 1944 Nigeria on the eve of the King's Horseman's sacrafice and the visit of H.R.H. the Prince.
The dancer is imagined to be one of the wives of the British officers who has mended her decaying fancy dress costume with local fabrics. The old fashioned mosquito net hat is adorned by all the British dancers, a sign of their collective distance from their African surroundings.
I then constructed the costume to resemble my design as close as possible with a budget of £100.
The costume conisted of a corset, panniers, a bodice, three skirts, tights, gloves, shoes, and a headpiece.
A variety of conventional and unconventional materials and techniques were used, including patchworking silk, dyeing, screen printing, creating a pattern from tin foil, and solder decalling.
Photos above taken during Wimbledon College of Arts's Costume Parade 2015.
Photos below taken at Windsor Castle on 11 May, 2015 during the a special Wimbledon Costume Department event.
Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015. Photographer: Todd Whites
Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015. Photographer: Todd Whites
