When did Scottish royalty wear in the early 1600s?

Question

Helping my friend design costumes for Macbeth. I'd like to draw something, you know . . . poofy and flowy (for lack of better adjectives), but I don't actually know what people wore, so I need that for a starting place.

Pictures, links, etcetera, would be helpful.

Answer 1

When did they wear what?

Answer 2

http://costumes.lovetoknow.com/Macbeth_C...

http://www.wbopera.org/0607/Macbeth/stor...

I've seen pictures of productions a century ago with Macbeth dressed in very primitive clothes, obviously thinking back to the time when the play was set. I would favour a kilt of some kind, but without the elaborate touches of modern Scottish national dress.

If you are going to go for the costumes of the early Seventeenth Century, there are plenty of pictures.  There was no such thing as Scottish royalty any more, as the thrones of England and Scotland were united under James I of England/VI of Scotland.

Answer 3

James I and VI was king at the turn of the 17th century.

Portraits of him would give an idea of appropriate costume for that period.

Macbeth was 11th century.  Portraits of him are likely to be based on the artist's imagination

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl...

A stage production can have costumes of any period, including the present day.

Answer 4

I've come up with two links for costumes for "the Scottish play"!

http://www.shakespeareincostume.com/macb...

http://www.wbopera.org/0607/Macbeth/stor...

Oh, as actors would say, break a leg!

Answer 5

Shakespear wrote Macbeth in the early 1600s but Macbeth himself was King of Scotland from 1040-1057.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1600-1650_i...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_medie...

Macbeth would have worn a chainmail coat of armour, covered by a thick leather jacket. Helmets and breastplates hadn't been invented way back in 1050!