The Masque of the Red Death Personal Project
This is part of a costume design project for ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, Edgar Allan Poe’s short story about an unnamed plague adapted to the Spanish Influenza of 1916-18.
This is a costume interpretation for a mysterious masked figure that interrupts a masquerade ball and is soon revealed to be the personification of the plague, killing all the attendants.
I learned the specialist skill of leaf smocking, a form of fabric manipulation.
Constructing the corseted arms I drafted a standard sleeve pattern and then decided to reverse it to show off the lacing more prominently.
I made eight belts out of fabric and I took time pinning them inside the garment until they sat right.
I made textile pieces using the dye room and then taking the dye
“The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grace.”
‘Splatter’ mask worn by British tank crews during WWI to keep splinter and debris from explosions away from the face. Leather and chain mail face covering and slitted metal eye shields.
As I adapted my production to the Spanish Influenza (1916-1918) which immediately followed WWI, I looked at gas masks of the war as well as medical masks of the time period for inspiration.
The hypo helmet is a primitive respirator made out of fabric which would be treated with chemicals to withstand the toxic gas.
A German soldier with a gas mask out of spicer goggles and face pad in 1915.
I constructed my mask out of strips of the same red fabric sewn together, cans I cut with a Dremel and mesh wire.
“And Darkness, and Decay and the Red Death held inimitable dominion over all.”
