Lunaman
Sr Member
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!
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!
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