Timocleia Gwilym
Sixth Year
Gryffindor
So they finally released the theme for this weekend’s Halloween Bash: The Night of the End of Time. What does this really mean? Well… Kind of that anything goes, perhaps? As long as it is historical or speculative about the future. So… No fictional characters? Let us say it means that. The scope of what could be covered here is utterly breathtaking. But since we have time neither to write nor read an encyclopedia of all of history, we will just try to make some general suggestions. With this breathtaking scope, please accept apologies for any omissions. There are sure to be many.
And now you have three days to get your costume together! Two by the time this article actually comes out, most likely! And I hope it is so many! What is a frantic Hogwarts student to do? Let’s talk about some ideas, and let’s talk about how to make it all work.
Historical ideas:
Pre-history
Just slap some animal skins on! Make sure they will not fall off. That would be bad. Or perhaps wear bark or something like that. Leather is your friend. And bare feet, maybe, except that there is a shoe called a ghillie that is basically just a piece of leather that is laced around your feet. Good luck…
Ancient history
Europe
Maybe do not do costumes from Crete, unless you are thinking to be a minotaur. Or a male warrior. I looked up women’s clothing from ancient Crete, and let me just say that what I found would probably give Professors and Prefects alike coronaries. On the other hand, one could do a Greek costume! Warriors, philosophers and kings were all celebrated personalities in the period. What about mythological characters? Why not? As we know, many characters that Muggles consider to be but myths were actually just very clever wixen. But be careful with ancient Macedonian men’s clothes: I looked those up too. Some of them are just fine, but some of them are even more eye-popping than the women’s clothes from Crete. Just say no.
Roman clothes look a lot like Greek clothes, so you could basically pretend to be one or the other. Roman armor is more distinctive. Remember that if you are going to be a soldier or anyone with weapons, do not bring a real weapon! Make sure it is a wooden toy sword or something like that.
Of course, the British Isles and northern Europe wore clothes (mostly) too, and many had patterns like checks or stripes or even plaid. Celtic warriors carried many of the same sorts of weapons as the Romans if you want to go that route. It was not warm in Northern Europe at that time, but be careful anyway: oftentimes Celtic warriors would go into battle wearing only something called woad. This is not clothes. Just say no. Crete and Macedonia are quaint by comparison.
Asia
The Roman Empire extended all of the way to the modern-day Middle East in Western Asia. Styles of dress there for non-Romans was pretty different, and it is actually clothes! Of course, there is a good chance that if you choose a costume from this period and place that people might think you are early for a Christmas play, so bear that in mind. Going further east, there are many great cultures one could represent, from the Parthians to the Assyrians to the Persians to the even more ancient Sumerians. Some of the ancient kings of these places include Gilgamesh, Sennacherib, Xerxes and a whole host of others. The character ideas are endless!
Heading east from there, we have the cultures of India and China, and the fabrics and clothes are beautiful! There is a lot of silk involved, and art styles that have not changed all that much in the thousands of years since. From 4000 BC through the recent past, many clothing styles have not changed that much. And there are many different mythological and historical figures to choose from, from King Shibi to Arjuna the Pandava to Princess Draupadi in India and characters such as Ling Lun, the inventor of music in China, the sage-king Yu the Engineer who learned to control the water (and might have been a wizard!) and Hua Mulan, the great woman warrior. While the Chinese are pretty much guaranteed to have dressed in a manner that will not break any Hogwarts rules, be careful about some of the Indian characters. They like showing off a lot more than their abs. But they are not as racy as Macedonia.
Africa, Australia, Oceania and the Ancient Americas
A lot of the clothing in these areas has been kind of the same through history, and often suffers from a Macedonian or Cretan problem. A lot of these places are very warm, and so clothes in many places are somewhat optional. This is not true at Hogwarts, so be careful. Fabrics are not all that known in many of these places in the ancient period, so one tends to see big leaves or animal skins or lots of feathers. Ancient Mesoamerica (cultures such as the Incans, Aztecs and the Mayans) did have fabric, and their outfits might make a great costume. Just be careful because they have Macedonian issues too sometimes. Northern Africa also had fabric in the ancient period, with styles not entirely unlike the Middle East.
Walk like an Egyptian: clothing in Egypt was very interesting, and there are many ancient styles that could be effective as an outfit; many interesting characters one could be, such as any of a number male or female Pharaohs. Egypt is also warmer than either Crete or Macedonia, though, so be careful which outfit you pick. Not only will you freeze half to death, you will also likely get serious detention. Other cultures such as Nubia and Aksum also had beautiful clothes.
The Middle Ages until the Statute of Secrecy
Europe
Knights are very popular as possible costumes. Want to wear fifty pounds of steel armor? Why not? Well, it is pretty heavy, but we can make it lighter (see below). And women’s dresses can be very pretty. There are generally no Macedonian or Cretan issues with the clothing. Styles varied across different European countries, but the armor was remarkably the same, though it changed a lot from century to century. One has one’s choice of historical figures! Apart from knights, kings and queens, there were many famous Wizards and Witches in this period, including of course Merlin himself! Maybe do not wear a bunch of mirrors if you are going to dress as Merlin. It is still too soon.
The hundred and fifty years before the Statute of Secrecy had very elaborate clothes in Europe, including something called ‘slash and puff’ which can be spectacular. After about 1500, knights and kings and queens started to give way to generals and politicians. By the time of the Statute of Secrecy, clothing had gotten a lot less interesting.
Asia
Much of the clothing in this period in Asia was pretty similar to ancient forms, though quite a bit of it was more elaborate as one gets more recent. For costume ideas, we should add the Mongolian Hordes who got all the way to Europe. It would be fun to see Mongolian warriors at the party! There are also some unique cultures that flourished in the Middle Ages in Asia that are not around anymore, such as the Khazars or the Uyghur Khaganate. There were a number of cultures on the Silk Road that could be interesting, or one could just dress up as Marco Polo or other explorers in this region.
On the eastern edge of Asia one finds Japan, where the samurai culture flourished in the medieval period. This was culturally distinct from China and other peoples in the area. One could dress as a Samurai, courtier, or as a Japanese witch or wizard of the period. The silks made in Japan in this period were breathtaking. Men and women both wore silks in astonishing patterns. Starting about 150 years before the Statute of Secrecy, Europeans started appearing in Japan.
Africa, Australia, Oceania and the Americas
In the Americas, one still has the ancient cultures such as the Aztecs, the Incas and the Mayas. This period also includes post-Columbian America, when Spanish Conquistadors destroyed all of these cultures. The cultures of North America were pretty much unchanged until the post-Columbian era, when European contact changed not just their clothes, but their entire lives. Fabrics became common in the Americas in the post-Columbian era, and many native American cultures adopted European clothing, at least as parts of their outfits.
Did you know that there were mounted knights in Africa during the medieval period? It is true! And great witches and wizards too. The Ashanti used beautiful fabrics called kente that are still made today pretty much the same way. Saharan Africa was dominated by more Arabic cultures (think lots of flowing robes), where sub-Saharan Africa was home to the Ashanti and a host of other cultures.
After the Statute of Secrecy: the Modern Era and the Future
Wizarding clothing has been strongly influenced by Muggle clothing since the Statute of Secrecy. After all, we tend not to want to bring attention to ourselves while amongst Muggles. Choosing a person to represent might be more of a challenge, however: though there are quite a number of famous Witches and Wizards, we do not necessarily have anything distinctive to show who we are portraying. If you are going to portray a famous witch or wizard, then you might want to have as part of your costume something that relates to the incident(s) that made that person famous. For instance, if you wanted to portray a Peverell Brother, you might choose to carry one of the Deathly Hallows. If you want to portray Uric the Oddball, you will of course want to wear a jellyfish. If you want to portray Bowman Wright, make sure that a Golden Snitch is a prominent part of your costume.
If you want to portray a Muggle, then sure, you can do that, and there are many to choose from. I suppose. Good luck with that. They have had a lot of history since the Statute of Secrecy. There have been a lot of countries that have arisen and disappeared, and a bunch of wars. And a bunch of scientists and other people. Most of them are probably not that well-known here at Hogwarts because face it, Muggle Studies may be a good class, but it can not cover everything.
Speculating about the future could be a lot of fun! Maybe build a space suit or something like that. Do not worry about it being heavy! Because the next section is all about ideas to make a costume work.
Magicking a Costume
Yes, we could sew and all that, but why? We have a bunch of spells that can make our lives much easier.
Need a certain color of cloth? Do not worry! Use Colovaria on your cloth either before you put it into a costume, or after! It is permanent, so do not worry. Need cloth? Again, do not worry! You can make cloth from other objects through the use of Parillis Verto! You can make it from nothing by using the appropriate conjuration, Inanimatus Conjurus, though it generally only produces small, simple things. Remember that cloth is not one of the exceptions to Gamp’s law! If you need to sew or otherwise affix things to each other, you save a lot of time with a well-positioned Taleaproprius (Permanent Sticking) or Confirmarium (Sticking Charm) spell. If you do not have enough cloth, then you can make it bigger with an Engorgio or a Crescovaria (Growth Charm) spell. Just be careful with the Engorgio, because if you go too far, your cloth could explode. It could also get strangely thick before it does explode, so use with care.
To handle weight (remember the 50 pounds of armor?), a useful spell is Gravitas Penna, the Feather-Light Charm. You probably want to cast it on each armor item separately. But then you can be a knight in full armor and not die from the weight. If you want to protect your clothing from the inevitable Scottish rain we get here, then an Impervius charm will make it water proof. If you are going to be a knight, then you really should do this or your armor could rust. Some of the outfits and character ideas discussed here might need someone to do their hair in a new and unfamiliar way, so Crinus Muto is useful for that.
Good luck putting together an outfit for the Night at the End of Time! It will be fun to see what everyone has put together!
