When it comes to throwing a party as big as the Olympic opening ceremony, the Chinese take it very seriously.

It’s a chance to showcase their culture and history to the world so the show must be spectacular.

Based on some of the pictures I’ve seen, they succeeded. The 3 ½ hour show highlighted 5000 years of history, featured 20,000 performers and 33,000 fireworks.

And apparently, the creators of the show spared no expense on costumes.

I was not able to include some of the most impressive costumes here, but you can view them on the NBC Olympic web site.

Originally, jousting tournaments were held as military exercises between the various nobles. Such tournaments started peacefully but often turned into bloody battles between jealous champions.

At the end of the thirteenth century, jousting tournaments started evolving into organized spectacles, subject to chivalry and fair play and often fought with blunted weapons. The knight’s object became one of knocking opponents off their horses.

Modern day Renaissance Fairs, The Society for Creative Anachronism and the National Jousting Association have kept the sport of jousting alive.

But a new style of jousting is emerging, quickly gaining widespread popularity.

Nowhere is there another sport that encourages more pageantry, chivalry, and excitement than what you’re about to witness…

Now here’s a look you don’t see everyday…probably because we don’t live in Tokyo.

These fascinating young ladies are followers of a fashion called Yamanba, a derivative of Ganguru fashion which rose to popularity in the 1990’s, mostly among teenage girls and women in their early 20’s, generally confined to Tokyo’s trendy shopping districts.

Ganguro fashion is characterized by tanned skin combined with hair dyed in shades of orange to blonde, or a silver gray known as high bleached. Black ink is used as eyeliner and white concealer is used as lipstick and eye shadow. Features are often further embellished by false eyelashes, plastic facial gems, and pearl powder.

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This weekend I got the opportunity to go to the Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. It was awesome! I got to see some rocking celtic bands, participate in celtic rituals like waulking, eat haggis for the first time (seriously, yum), and of course I was dazzled by the eye candy! Tartan was draped everywhere, there were hundreds upon hundreds of kilts, not to mention a variety of period costumes and other fun things to wear!

This family sang an a capella rendition of the national anthem for the opening of the Highland Games.

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The 7th Annual Himalayan Performing Arts Festival will be held Saturday June 7th, 2008 at the Krishna Temple one mile south of Spanish Fork, Utah. The festival offers a mix of folk dance, classical Indian dance, drama, music and beautiful world costumes.

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My brother-in-law recently contacted me in regards to making a kilt for him. I’ve always been of the opinion that kilts are a garment for only the manliest of men, so naturally I was delighted to be a part of bringing another kilt into the world. Sadly, I’ve never made a kilt before, which lead me to do some research on this wonderful item of clothing.

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Remember how Evel Knievel used to jump over greyhound busses in his star-spangled jumpsuits?

Apparently, there’s a new trend in jumping stuff…and all you need is a devil costume and some babies.

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You might catch yourself in a public place wearing a costume that may not be deemed as “normal”. So what, right?

…well… you may want to go in numbers. As cool as it is to be socially offbeat, costume fans need to be supplied with reinforcements whenever possible.

A lot of costume fans find that they would have fun getting dressed up, but don’t know where or when to do it. Unless you’re holding a sign on a street corner to advertise business, you’re going to get funny looks.

So, as a generous task, we’re providing you with a solid list of people and places to find other costume fans to fraternize with.

The Search For Fellow Costumers Begins Online

The first place to look for a community is online. This will help you find out who is where, and what they participate in.

Forums - Forums exists all over the net, and for about every niche group possible. Cosplay, steampunk, general costumes, collectors, you name it and you’ll find it. Forums are a great place to ask questions that only a true fan would know.

DIY Web Sites - The great thing about DIY sites is that there are so many types of people there. You can be into any type of costume, and DIYers are all over it. Also, they’re extremely involved in the creation process, putting them in the know for all good resources on a particular subject or idea.

Digg, and other Social News Sites - Why Digg? Well, Digg is a haven for all the crazy stuff you will find on the web. How many ideas or articles have we found via social news? Well, lets pretend they’re all original things I see in person, mmkay?

Costume Events Come More Frequently Than You Know

The good news is that there is nearly always something going on for a costume fan to take part in, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get involved and make some friends, right?

Conventions - Cons are big in a very big way these days. They come in all shapes and sizes and attract everyone you could imagine. If you’re a fan of something like comics or anime, there are cons all the time for you. Find a costume, make a reason, and go dress up. People love to see their peers show their pride. Some cons are getting more well known for their costumes alone… sound like fun?

Release Events - Harry Potter movie, new Halo game, Star Trek release, on and on and on… if your costume is specific, and you’re in good company, you have all the reason to get decked out.

Fan Festivals - Fan festivals are akin to Conventions, but are usually surrounding a certain product or IP. The gaming industry is big on these. Fans of Blizzard Games, Sony Games, or Square Enix games can all find Fan Fests happening almost annually. It’s worth it to get in some garb and go to at least one.

Get Cultured and Celebrate Costumes Regionally

The Right City - Tokyo is great for Cosplayers. New York has all kinds of dress up events, cultural mashups, and groups of enthusiasts. Los Angeles is home to the Hollywood hills, and the entertainment capital of the world. It doesn’t stop there, as most big cities have something unique to boast. Celebrate the city you love.

Cultural Celebrations - We’ve already covered Carnival and Oktoberfest. It doesn’t end there. If you want to immerse yourself in a really cool side of costuming, find a way to travel and get into some traditional threads. It’s always more acceptable and fun to blend into another lifestyle.

Well, not sure you got enough? We can think of many more. Check out our post on 79 Days, Reasons and Events made for Costumes. Search around for the ideas we’ve found and add some of your own.

Just on the brink of doing another world costumes article, I noticed that the Rose Parade this year was about that very subject.

Foreign visitors may not know much about the Tournament of Roses. This is the 119th parade in the history of it’s existence. Each year on New Years the City of Pasadena, California hosts this epic procession of floats. What makes it remarkable is that the floats are sculpted, decorated, and colored with flowers. It’s decadence has led to some serious quality in float building.

The theme this year is Passport to the World’s Celebrations. So far, costumes of countries ranging from Mexico to Russia have made appearances. They represent multiple eras of costuming and classic traditional wear. The parade opened with dance and singing, typical of an opening ceremony. I tried counting on at least 10 fingers and 10 toes the different countries and culutures represented with flags and costumes… I lost count.

Although we love the costumes, and would normally give our attention there, today we’re giving it up for the floats. They’re unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Each boasts thousands of flowers and likely hours of work. We leave you with a few photos we’ve found highlighting the event as it has progressed thus far.

If you’re up a bit early and are just waiting for the Rose Bowl, it’s well worth a look for an hour or two.

Few forms of classic attire have lasted as long as the toga. It’s history is long and varied. Unfortunately, what a toga is today is far from it’s original purpose, despite it’s always maintained legendary status.

Togas in their earliest form were worn as garments by Romans. In fact, the only time the Romans were caught not porting their noble attire was in activity or in the home. However, if ever encountered in public the typical Roman respected his fellow statesmen by dressing in the classic robes.

Over time, Roman attire evolved to more comfortable and practical forms of clothing.  Tunics, cloaks, and more practical shirts took their place in the Roman wardrobe, but the toga remained at the center of Roman nobility dress. In fact, non-romans, poor citizens, and exiled citizens were forbidden from wearing Togas.

So here are some things you may not know.

via Wikipedia:

There were many kinds of togae, each used differently.

• Toga virilis (or toga alba or toga pura): A plain white toga worn on formal occasions by most Roman men of legal age, generally about 14 to 18 years.^[8]

• Toga candida: “Bright toga”; a toga bleached by chalk to a dazzling white (Isidorus Orig. xix. 24, 6), worn by candidates for public office.^[9] Thus Persius speaks of a cretata ambitio, “chalked ambition”. Oddly, this custom appears to have been banned by plebiscite in 432 BC, but the restriction was never enforced.^[10] The term is the ethymologic source of the word candidate.

• Toga praetexta: An ordinary white toga with a broad purple stripe on its border. It was worn by:
  • Freeborn boys who had not yet come of age.^[11]
  • All curule magistrates.^[12][13]
  • Ex-curule magistrates and -dictators, upon burial^[14] and apparently at festivals and other celebrations as well.^[15]
  • Some priests (e.g., the Flamen Dialis, Pontifices, Tresviri Epulones, the augurs, and the Arval brothers).^[16]
  • During the Empire, the right to wear it was sometimes bestowed as an honor independent of formal rank.
  • According to tradition, the Kings of Rome.

Those with the right to wear a toga praetexta were sometimes termed laticlavius, “having a broad crimson stripe”. It also gave its name to a literary form known as praetexta.

• Toga pulla: Literally just “dark toga”. It was worn mainly by mourners, but could also be worn in times of private danger or public anxiety. It was sometimes used as a protest of sorts—when Cicero was exiled, the Senate resolved to wear togae pullae as a demonstration against the decision.^[17] Magistrates with the right to wear a toga praetexta wore a simple toga pura instead of pulla.

• Toga picta: This toga, unlike all others, was not just dyed but embroidered and decorated. It was solid purple, embroidered with gold. Under the Republic, it was worn by generals in their triumphs, and by the Praetor Urbanus when he rode in the chariot of the Gods into the circus at the Ludi Apollinares.^[18] During the Empire, the toga picta was worn by magistrates giving public gladiatorial games, and by the consuls, as well as by the emperor on special occasions.

• Toga trabea: According to Servius, there were three different kinds of trabea: one of purple only, for the gods; another of purple and a little white, for kings; and a third, with scarlet stripes and a purple hem,^[19] for augurs and Salii.^[20] Dionysius of Halicarnassus says that those of equestrian class wore it as well, but this is not borne out by other evidence.

Toga’s today have taken an obvious turn towards pop culture with toga parties. In many cases modern adaptations are far less intricate and modest as the typical toga. It’s in fact highly ironic that they’ve come to be worn most frequently by college students at toga parties, where their history is directly associated with nobility.

Other facts about Togas:

• Although togas were the dress of nobility in Rome, women who wore togas were often considered prostitutes.
• Togas are not sewn or fastened in any way, but were cleverly folded to stay up.
•  Togas were often desired to be more white to look clean, so they were died with fuller’s chalk to get the white look.
• High ranking political figures wore a toga with a broad maroon stripe. Eventually emperor’s ended up wearing all maroon togas, in favor over the plain white “manly” toga, in order to stand out.

If we had some good photos from the period, we’d put them up. Unfortunately ancient technologies didn’t permit us to get our paws on them. Modern interpretations are seen to be highly accurate by historians, however. Now, you’re in the know. Toga party anyone?

It’s been awhile since we’ve said much about film costumes or Harry Potter, but we decided to get this one out there.

As you may or may not know, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is in production already and it looks like they’re hitting the ground running. Or wait, maybe they’re flying. On brooms. With dementors.

Anyway, a few days ago, this video hit the Internet showing some of the changes and highlights of the production process so far. Most notably, a specific change to the Quidditch outfits. According to costume designer Jany Temime, the dangerous nature and more prominent roles of Ron and Harry in the Quidditch matches calls for something “a little bit stronger”. By taking nods from more classic American Football padding, she hopes to create a costume that mimics the step up in intensity. The padding will be worn outside of totally new robes created for the match.

We like these changes. Harry Potter has always been intriguing because it mixes our world with the fantasy, making us feel like we’re not so far off from the objects of our imagination. The juxtaposition of Quidditch protective pads on wizard’s robes is equally as charming as it is ironic. One does have to wonder though, with all that finger wiggling power behind these wizardy students, couldn’t they conjure some magic spell for protection? Wait, is that against the rules? I don’t remember.

Temime has been around since the production of Azkaban and is well familiar with the world of Harry Potter. She was nominated in 2005 for the outstanding costume design Satellite award for her work in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and looks to make a big impact in 2008 with Half Blood Prince.

Oktoberfest is one of the great cultural celebrations from around the world, and is observed in more than it’s originating country. Apparently, around 6 million people attend the festival in Munich, Germany every year. That’s a lot of beer.

If you’re really into it then you’ll get dressed up for the affair. A standard set of Lederhosen (not Liederhosen) can run hundreds of dollars. Is it worth it? Women also dress up in traditional fold dresses. Check out the pictures below.

1600 of the 12,000 people employed at Oktoberfest are Barmaids. I wonder what other work there is to do besides serve beer??

A huge mug is very much part of the costume. Rarely are people seen without.

Even the Bierwagens (Beer Wagon) get dressed up in traditional dress.

Are those denim shorts under the Lederhosen?

There’s never an excuse for not wearing the more traditional dresses at Oktoberfest.

A classic set of Lederhosen.

No matter where you go in the world most countries have traditional costumes, except America…

My pond hopping has been fruitful. I’ve been everywhere from France to Madagascar. Each place is so different from the next. When I cross boundaries somewhere, I have a mantra that I follow. After I settle down with my bags, I typically go out alone and find some local food. Hopefully it means sitting down in a small Greek Taverna or a Pub of some sort. Once I’ve filled myself with a local dish, I take to the streets and just get lost.

This is where traveling becomes more than it is to most people. In every chance I get, I spend time with the locals and get to know them. Sometimes, If I’m lucky, I make friends with someone who will tell me a story. In the process I learn about growing up internationally. I’ve heard stories of politics, love, war, and family. Some of the people I’ve met were poor beyond any first world concepts. I even made friends with a wealthy South African bunch who took me for a ride on their personal game reserve.

Of Borders and Boundaries

Every time I come back to the states, I get this feeling of claustrophobia for a few days. To most people, borders are just a line but boundaries are a distinct separation of culture. Of borders and boundaries, I don’t make distinction. They’re all the same. In a country where land mass should dictate a greater diversity, it seems that culture has homogenized into the “melting pot” of modern acceptance. So what? Why make a scene?

Europe, my first foreign exploit, taught me a valuable lesson. I noticed how the separate countries are so small, but crossing a border means entering a whole new world. People come and go freely as they do anywhere else. Conversely, when you dust your shoes off in another residence, you blend with them. It’s an unbelievable experience. Individuals revere one another for who they are.

So why does it work in places like Europe? Well, the easy explanation is “history”. America isn’t all that old. However, walking the streets of places like Paris, Dubai, Cape Town, or Stockholm echo stories that can’t be told in words. Their history is spoken through the people and their lifestyles. The land, in return, mimics the history of its people and their interaction with one another.

Dressed In Their Own Second Skin

When you walk in the streets of Florence, you see the elderly in their more traditional clothes. Malagasy people wear their national garb nearly every day and to family events. The Polynesian men go to business meetings in their traditional lava lavas. In America, what do we wear? Are we so unified in culture, that we have a traditional form of dress that we frequently don for special occasions? Or is our culture just a mix of everyone else’s.

Well, it’s not hard to see that we miss out on what the rest of the world uses to help develop identity. It’s a shame but who can we blame? We are a product of our short history. In light of this, I’m taking the readers of this blog to around with me as I explore the different traditional costumes of the world, and how they define the people that wear them.

Join me as I explore these different costumes from here on out. If nothing else, a broad view of world history through clothing is a good reason to respect the boundaries that separate us and preserve world culture in its traditions.