Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry (The Dread Pirate Roberts)

Hello all!

I'm primarily a sword collector, but I've spent bits of my spare time over the years working on a Dread Pirate Roberts costume, since The Princess Bride is my favorite film. Let's take a look at it, shall we?


"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."


The costume is obviously inspired by the version of the Dread Pirate Roberts that we see in the film (Westley) and though I am proud of it, it is not quite screen accurate. But neither is it meant to be. I wanted to create an 'idealized' form of the Man in Black uniform that was similar enough to the film to be recognizable, but adjusted to my particular tastes. I like to think of this outfit as the original Dread Pirate Roberts, the one that came before Inigo, Westley, Ryan, and Cummerbund and retired like a king in Patagonia after passing on the nom de guerre. (That bloke may or may not have been Bartholomew Roberts, aka "Black Bart," who shared a penchant for adopting aliases and was forced into piracy before befriending and taking the place of the pirate captain who attacked his ship. But that's beside the point.)


"You seem a decent fellow; I hate to kill you.""And you seem a decent fellow. I'd hate to die."

The photo above shows the most recent state of the costume, except that I'm carrying a plastic sword instead of one of my coveted steel blades, but it shows the outfit in full length well enough. (It was taken at the 25th anniversary screening of The Princess Bride at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, where I got to see an original 35mm print of the film in a packed theater. :eek It was tremendous fun, so I didn't mind that I could only bring a plastic blade into the cinema with me. :lol)

The costume has been an interesting project because all of its elements are quite simple at a glance, but that simplicity will easily betray the cohesion of the suit if any of the components are careless or low-quality or ill-fitting. It is very easy to look goofy in this type of outfit. Believe me, it's gone through many versions and I've appeared goofy far more often than not. :cool :lol But that's part of the fun. I know the Dread Pirate Roberts is awesome, so I've been chasing and replacing until I find pieces that he would approve of. The costume (like the one in the film) also functions as an homage to Douglas Fairbanks in his iconic turn as Zorro when his outfit looked decidedly goofy, but he carried off the look because he had the swagger of a fighter pilot and the agility of a jungle cat. Attempting to embody even a tiny fraction of his character often provided motivation to keep going when things weren't quite working.

Unlike other pirate outfits, there are very few knicknacks or doodads necessary for this look, and indeed the costume from the film has only seven main elements. (So each of those pieces had better look nice!)
They are as follows:
-A black shirt with laced closure at the throat
-A pair of black drawstring pants or hose
-A black sash at the midsection
-A black mask and headscarf that can only be described as 'terribly comfortable'
-A pair of black boots
-A pair of black gloves
-A sword suitable for fencing and slaying large rodents, with a sword belt and flexible black leather scabbard.

I'll discuss each of these elements below and how I found, made, and/or modified them for the final costume, but first I'm going to grab some dinner. Thanks for reading!

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

This word you keep using... I do not think it means what you think it means.

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

Love your proof pic! thumbsup

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

FedEx123 said:

This word you keep using... I do not think it means what you think it means.

Click to expand...

That would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable!

Orange_Blend said:

Love your proof pic! thumbsup

Click to expand...

Hahaha, thanks very much! I was setting up the camera and had one hand for the sword and one hand setting the timer, so I grabbed the paper in my teeth for a second. Then the proverbial lightbulb went off. :lol I hope it doesn't look too...provocative. :confused

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

Lunaman said:

I hope it doesn't look too...provocative. :confused

Click to expand...

Nah, just perfect. You'll snag the women's vote! :lol

Looking forward to the details on all your costume components!

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

Orange_Blend said:

Nah, just perfect. You'll snag the women's vote!

Looking forward to the details on all your costume components!

Click to expand...

Bahahaha, $:lol thanks! Here's the first batch (Took longer to type than I thought).

Alright, let's start the breakdown with the shirt and pants, since they cover most of the figure but are easily the least expensive and the simplest elements to acquire. :lol

The Shirt:
Earlier versions of this costume used a generic black pirate shirt that I picked up at one of those year-round Halloween costume shops and it was just awful. It only came in one size (enormous), it was scratchy and plastic-y-looking synthetic material and I had to take it in at the shoulders and add a giant vertical dart in the back to make it manageable for my frame. The wrists were useless and I had to resort to wearing inaccurately tight gloves to keep my sleeves from rolling up on their own accord. After all that it still looked puffy balloon-like and I added unneccesary belts and baldrics to lash it down. Blah:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m7/Lunaman1/Roberts Sword/oldshirt.jpg

A smarter option if I were looking for accuracy would have been to buy some nice fabric and go to a talented seamstress (even a Jack Sparrow shirt pattern would work pretty well done in black) but I spent far too long trying to salvage the original shirt and material out of misplaced loyalty. Eesh. An expensive route would be to get a custom made Roberts shirt from someone like Cloak and Dagger Creations, but I'd rather spend money on the swords. :cool Maybe someday I'll go that route.

What actually happened was that eventually I stumbled upon something much better than my fumbling efforts with store-bought shenanigans. Get Dressed For Battle is a maker that I had known for their chainmail and armor and for their decent historical accuracy at entry-level pricepoints. I didn't know that they made soft kit elements, but they do, and I came across them unexpectedly while browsing their wares. They provide multiple sizes and an easy sizing chart.
I picked up a shirt with laced neck from them and set about adjusting it.


This shirt is 100% cotton and 1000% more comfortable. I removed the toggle/bead things from the laced closure, folded over and ironed down the collar to widen the opening at the throat and extended the laces. I rolled around and beat it up for a while and soaked it and wore it while it dried so it would remember my shape and replicate some sea-worthy wear (in my mind, at least). Then I added a small vertical dart in the back to narrow it slightly towards the waist and make it easier to wrap a belt and sash around it.

(Ignore the fuzzies and lint, those don't count as anything important.)

The wrist closure uses a simple wooden button and is good and snug, and would be simple to move if people have wider or thinner wrists.

I tried to align the rear dart with where folds and creases were naturally occurring.



The Trousers:
The leg covers were also a little tricky. I tried duplicating my GDFB success with a pair of black pants with ankle lacing, but I couldn't get them to fit my waist and the material just didn't drape the way I wanted them to. :unsure


In the film, Westley's trousers are very close-fitting, like medieval hose, but since I'm a bit slimmer than Carey Elwes was, I didn't want to look so much like Errol Flynn in tights. I was aiming for more pirate than peter pan , but the cotton Pants were too stiff for my liking and I couldn't match them with my waist well.
I eventually settled on a pair of drawstring Merona sleep pants in a cotton/poly blend for three important reasons:
-They have pockets
-They're comfy
-They have a fly.
I'm sure the reasons for their importance are obvious: Always know how you're gonna sit, eat, and relieve yourself. :lol



The sleep pants can hold a money clip in the pockets with good retention and they drape and bend like...pirate pants. The material is somewhat similar to a soft poly-spandex T-shirt or jersey-knit sheets.

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

The Gloves:
I'd tried several different generic gloves over the years, from winter gloves to driving gloves and garden gloves, and settled at first on some extended sheepskin merona gloves (which if you haven't yet noticed is a fancier way to say "found at target")


These were fine and comfortable, and the narrow cuff helped contain the old crappy shirt, but they weren't very durable and the thin interior lining would shift and slide underneath the surface and occasionally compromise one's grip.

My super serious hand-containment upgrade came in the form of a pair of 5-inch cuff guantlets from Ravenswood Leather. These are serious sword-fighting gloves, with accurate-to-measurement sizing options and thick but supple deerskin, a "seamless hand" construction with no seam on the palm of the hand or the base of the thumb for comfort and mobility, cuff uppers made from durable cowhide for added wrist protection, and custom color and decoration options. They are comfortable and beautiful and my favorite part of the costume to don.







I really love these gloves. I even wore them while I typed this section.
I first found Ravenswood Leather through the sword forums I frequent, where people rightly praise the baldrics and belts they make. I had gotten a hold of a Ravenswood baldric and loved it, so when one friend mentioned that their new gauntlets had been improved I felt confident taking the plunge. I couldn't have been more pleased with the result.

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

The Boots:

Here we go. This was one of the biggest decisions concerning the costume because in my opinion boots can make or break a pirate outfit. There were times that involved experimenting with boot toppers and cowboy boots, but let's be honest, most boot toppers suck. And cowboy boots are much too 'Zorro' (Banderas, not Fairbanks).

The first decent pair of boots for the outfit were MRL Swashbuckler boots. They were ok for the price--They were very easy to take on and off because of the zipper and they looked pretty good. But they were just a bit too elaborate looking with all the brassy detailing, a bit too clunky, and the synthetic material seemed obvious.


Adding to that was the fact that they didn't have individual shoe sizes, just small, medium, and large, each covering ranges of 2-3 full sizes and guaranteeing that you wouldn't get a close fit. Neither were they terribly durable. They did look good, especially from a distance. They just didn't seem quite right.


So in one of the most anticipated upgrades (because I had to save a little here and there for several months before I felt comfortable pulling the trigger) I swapped them out for a pair of boots by ChampionAttitude Boots, who built and provided the boots for the Pirates of the Caribbean Films.

Now in the Princess Bride film, the Dread Pirate Roberts wears boots that have a few important features:
-A low heel for fencing and stability
-Medium overturned cuffs with a flat edge
-A tall and thin main shaft that reaches to under the knee

Without going full custom, Caboots had two stock models that were close: the Swashbuckler, which had the thin shaft and medium pointed cuffs, but had a very tall heel...
And the Black A9 Sparrow, which had the proper low fencing heel and was just as tall, but had much larger flat edge cuffs that mostly obscured a wider main shaft.

Either would have looked beautiful, but since I was aiming to go "more Pirate than Pan" I ended up going with the Larger-cuffed A9's, which would be easier to fence in, matched the cuffs on my gloves well, and looked more pirate-y than the zorro-like swashbucklers. Though I might get the other pair eventually to swap back and forth. :lol



As it turns out, these are the same model boots worn by Johnny Depp in the POTC films, just reproduced in solid black, so they come with an extra boost of piratical associations.



The boots are made of sturdy premium leather with a neoprene rubber outsole, a leather insole, full welt, and maple cowhide leather lining.
They are comfortable and damn impressive.

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

Mask, Sash, and sword details to come!

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

Amazing work! Everything looks awesome. It's obvious that you put a ton of hard work into creating this costume. And I love those gloves, they look great, and for such an awesome price!

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

aeonpulse said:

Amazing work! Everything looks awesome. It's obvious that you put a ton of hard work into creating this costume. And I love those gloves, they look great, and for such an awesome price!

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! :$ Yea, I adore's me gloves. :lol

And sorry the updates have been taking so long--really long and really odd hours at work the last couple days. Onward.

First, a few more detail shots of the boots, showing the inner lining and some of the details:

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

Next up, probably the most distinctive part of the costume:

The Mask


"You be careful. People in masks cannot be trusted."

Oh, the mask. The fun thing. The thing that makes this group of black clothes into something iconic. Not surprisingly, it was one of the harder things to get right. :facepalm

As would be expected, my earliest attempts at a mask were simple affairs: cut holes in some black material, stretch across eyes, secure with headscarf. And again as expected, this looked more than a little silly. Any material flexible enough to tie tightly around your head won't conform to your nose and face of its own accord, and will squash down your features or sit uselessly above them, stretching the distance between the eyeholes like a mask for a wall-eyed sloth. This makes you look a bit like a child with sheets or a t-shirt on his head, playing dress-up.
A more elaborate approach was needed. This thing needed to look good AND be terribly comfortable, or there's no way everyone would be wearing them in the future. :cool

Clearly, a good Roberts mask required two or more materials: A fairly rigid base that is molded to the shape of the face and doesn't stretch, and a flexible material to tie it back (as well as a bandana to cover your hair). This appears to be two sections in the film: a fitted "undermask", probably leather, and a black bandana over the top.

The first not-terrible option I found was a Rubie's Costume Co Zorro Bandana with Eyemask. This attempted to combine all the elements into one object: a semi-rigid foam mask section with a molded face shape, that is then sewn into a stretchy black bandana.

The Rubie's masked looked alright, as far as Halloween specific products go, and it was simple to don and inexpensive, but it had some user-unfriendly issues. The fact that the mask and bandana had the same tie-off point (the unit is triangular when not tied on the head) meant that you could prioritize the fit of the face or the fit of the scarf, but not both. The bandana knot sits best right below the crown of the head, but the mask fit closely when the ends were pulled straight back and up. If the single knot for the apparatus worked its way down to its natural bandana resting place, further down, it would drag the mask element with it and lift up the lower edge of the mask a bit and obscure vision, making one look like and feel like a goober. If your eyes and nose didn't match the generic placement and shape, you were out of luck even when it was in place. Also, the molded foam material breathed poorly, would leave you with a hot and sweaty forehead and nose, and had a series of distracting Banderas ridges strewn across the surface.
Still, most other bandit masks looked much worse. It was a good starting point, but not a place to stop.

I knew I really wanted a leather mask and spent time debating the materials and tools and practice necessary to construct such a thing before I lucked into a great base for my project at a local Renaissance Festival.
My current mask began life as a piece from custom leather Mask Maker, Arts Myths in Colorado. The model I picked up was the Venetian Hero in Black.

The masks are assembled from thick, top quality vegetable-tanned leather that is wet-formed around a facial form, dried, cut, and dyed, and given soft leather tie straps fused to the main body with a strong binding agent. This results in a sleek and sturdy mask that conforms more and more to the shape of your own face the more often you wear it.
The only drawback of the off-the shelf model was the shaping of the eyeholes, which were quite large for theatrical applications. As anyone who's been around a batman knows, you don't want a whole lot of uncovered skin around the eyes! :lol
I resolved to build an insert that would narrow the eyes and add another texture to the build.

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

Mask (continued)

The Arts Myths mask had some subtle difference from the film version that I liked. Instead of sitting horizontally across the face, it sweeps a bit lower on the cheekbones in a curve and then comes to a very slight point at the nose. Though I might at some point make or commission a new mask with the more direct shapes of Westley's eyecovering, these slight changes felt nice and personalized, as if each Dread Pirate makes his own version of the Mask when he takes up the mantle. I scuffed up the finish with some fine scotchbrite pads and gave it some small wear to look lived-in, but I still needed to address the too-large eye holes.

I first found a little success with adding an insert with smaller eyes and a darker color made from closed cell craft foam. I liked the two-step look, almost like the makeup below the Batman cowl, but the foam offered some of the same problems as the Rubie's mask. It couldn't breathe at all, like a plastic bag, and the added thickness lifted the mask edges off my face. I needed something thinner. I mocked up various patterns in dark paper to find an eye shape I liked (getting the shape of the holes was a trial and error nightmare :rolleyes) while searching for material to transfer the template onto.

This is what I made:

A thin, soft, and flexible lining made from sheepskin that I found by slicing apart one of the older merona gloves I used to use. (The seam is unneccesary, It was just the only way to have a long enough piece with the material I was salvaging)

The lining is attatched with Tandy Leather Glue to the underside of the mask base, but only along the top edge, so the lower edge could flex and form to the bridge of my nose more easily than the stiff nose section. The lining was then treated with Nikwax Suede Waterproofing after the first few test fittings left me with black residue on my face. :lol

Above you can see how the lower edge of the lining is free to flex and move, and also a peek at the ArtsMyths logo that states the base is the real McCoy. Perhaps the last tenth of a percent is glue.

When worn, the mask base finally looks properly piratical:


The mask base ties snugly at the back of the head (over the ears), allowing the bandana covering to be tied separately with a knot below the crown, so everything stays put and well fit. The bandana (seen draped in the background here) is a wide square of spandexy stretch material that a friend modified out of a headscarf thing I found at a thrift shop. It will probably be the next thing I swap out, but it's far less hot than some materials and the stretch is nice, so I haven't yet bothered.

Re: Lunaman's 2012 Halloween Costume Contest Entry

A word or two on

The Sash

In the film, the Dread Pirate Roberts has a simple black sash. It's hard to even see most of the time, but it goes round his waist, is tied by one hip and the ends hang down to about his knee.


The first version of the sash for my costume was a simple affair I made from a rectangular length of satin-y fabric picked up for pennies at a fabric store, sewn into a long tube, inverted and flattened. It was unobtrusive, but it would slide around a lot and just seemed a little lifeless. While the rest of my costume was becoming more fitted or more stylish and bold, the sash just didn't cut the mustard.

The sash was the last upgrade I made this year, and also the only element of the costume with some mystery as to its origin. I was visiting the Colorado Renaissance Festival's Artisan Marketplace with some friends when a vendor at one of the clothing booths proclaimed that I needed a big sash as we walked by. When I investigated I could hardly disagree with her, and I left with this costume piece and 25 fewer dollars in my pocket and none of us can remember the name of the booth or the maker. :eek She specialized in surcoats and elaborate pirate frock coats (captain hook style), but for some reason had this simple black sash to pass on to me. This was in July. I'll continue to investigate because she deserves credit, but part of me wants to believe she was a benevolent spirit that vanished once her good deed was done. :lol


The sash would be a simple object to make, but it is executed boldly. It's BIG and impressive, a double walled Satin (I think?) number that is seven inches across and more than nine feet long. It has a wonderful shimmer on the surface that stands out from all the leather and fiber and it flows in the wind like a superhero's cape.

Except for a short section that's visible above on the left edge, the seams are all interior, and the sash terminations are sharp triangular points. When worn, the sash wraps around my waist twice and then hangs down to brush past the tops of my boots.



This is O.G. Dread Pirate style right here. The only thing flashier than the sash is the sword chosen to go with the outfit (not pictured). Which will require a lot of words soon, because it was a long road to get it.

Awesome! Love all the work you put into what many would consider to be a "simple" costume (but as you point out, that makes it harder to get right!)

This entry is complete. :thumbsup

Morrigoon said:

Awesome! Love all the work you put into what many would consider to be a "simple" costume (but as you point out, that makes it harder to get right!)

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! Yea, it was definitely a long process to end up with something that looks at a glance like it would be very easy to put together. If only I'd known when I started. :lol

Orange_Blend said:

This entry is complete. :thumbsup

Click to expand...

Indeed. Except for the sword!

As I mentioned, I'm primarily a sword collector and only collect functional weapons, so I've been stressing myself out about how much information to include about the long quest for the right sword, which started ages before the costume. It involves at least 5 swords. It suffices to say that there IS an official replica of Westley's film sword that I DID own for a while, but I didn't connect with it because of its mass distribution and hilt construction, and I wanted something nicer. Something that captured the uber-spirit of the Dread Pirate which would have to have some influence from the swords of Inigo, Ryan, Cummerbund, and Bartholomew, not just Westley.
After seeing and approving of the rapiers used on stage at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, I settled upon a sword by the same makers--The German Rapier from Arms&Armor in Minnesota.

This is actually the exact same model sword used by Clive Owen in the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age when he portrays Sir Walter Raleigh. The blade is hand forged, heat treated, sharpened, and finished to historically accurate parameters and the hilt is cast from an original 16th century rapier from Solingen, Germany, housed at the Deutsches Klingenmuseum Solingen. It's gorgeous. love





The sword has a simple flexible leather scabbard that was also made by Arms&Armor, and the weapon is worn with the aid of a Windlass Steelcrafts 3-prong Rapier Belt.



Sadly, I can't always carry the beautiful live steel blade, which is why in the main full length photo I have swapped out the sharp for a plastic Zorro sword that I blacked out the handle and "Z" logo on with electrical tape. It fits decently in the scabbard rig (though it's a bit short) and it's safe for non-festival events where knives and swords are not allowed. And any costume parties where there is drinking involved. :lol

Thanks for reading, it's been really great making my first posts on this forum at such an exciting time of the year for costumes and props! I've been blown away by all the magnificent Halloween entries and projects.
Cheers,
--Luna

Just a fantastic build, and thread. You embody the character very well, especially in the proof pic! :lol The whole costume is great, but the blades are too cool for school bro! :cool

Bigdaddy said:

Just a fantastic build, and thread. You embody the character very well, especially in the proof pic! :lol The whole costume is great, but the blades are too cool for school bro! :cool

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, brother. And your daughter's Hit Girl costume is AMAZING. :eek

This is an incredible build man. Good luck in the contest.