As You Like It Costume Design, THEA Collab. Project

1. AS YOU LIKE IT
By Shakespeare

2. characters
• Rosalind
• Lord Amiens
• Orlando
• Charles
• Jaques
• Adam
• Duke Senior
• Sir Roland de Bois
• Celia
• Corin
• Duke Frederick
• Audrey
• Touchstone
• William
• Oliver
• Silvius
• Phoebe

3. Rosalind
“bold and imaginative”
“every other character
seems dull in her
presence”
“charming”
“lives life fully”

4. Orlando
“handsome, strong, and
an affectionate; poet”
“noble character,
unschooled yet somehow
learned, full of noble
purposes, and loved by
people of all ranks as if he
had enchanted them”
“gentleman without the
formality of an education
of one”

5. Jaques
“likes being sad”
“melancholic”
“appeal to become a
jester”
“bitter and pessimistic”
“cynical”

6. contrast
COUNTRY
COURT/CITY/URBAN
• Brighter colors such as yellows, reds,
greens
• Darker, duller colors such as blacks,
grays, and whites
• Shows healing
• Shows oppressiveness; structured
clothing
• Makes characters into better people;
costumes should mirror a character’s
inner thoughts/ turmoil and/or healing
• Simple, softer colors; shows relaxed
mood
• Free
• Formal and sophisticated in style
• Ruled; governed

7. contrast
COUNTRY
COURT/ CITY/ URBAN

8. As You Like It
• Generally “Shakespearian”, Elizabethan period
• Balance of country and urban life; too much of one thing would throw off the other
• Helps set the mood: such as generally happier in exile (country) and unhappy in the
city (French Court)
• Should show differences of status, behavior; “uptight” in a French court and “free” in
the country