Shakespeare A to Z | Costumes
The Elizabethan word for costumes was apparel, and it occurs often in theatrical documents. Apparel—the clothes actors wore on stage—was rich, showy, and expensive, a vital feature of staging when the set contained little but bare boards. People paid to see display; actors were the fashion models of the 1500s.
An Elizabethan ACTING COMPANY invested substantial funds in its apparel. An inventory in actor Edward Alleyn’s handwriting lists the costumes belonging to the Admiral’s Men—83 items in all, including “Clokes,” “Gownes,” “Jerkings and doublets” (two types of...
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