Post-draft edit: I was going to wait a while to post this, but yesterday I scored tickets for the LA tour of
Hamilton! (
!!!) So it seemed a good time to put it up.
This is the last thing I need to be doing, but I couldn't resist, so for
a few months now I've been picking away at the beginnings of a King
George III from
Hamilton: An American Musical.
To go with I'll be making my friend an interchangeable Hamilton and
Washington (the basic uniform costume is the same, just adding a
hat/sash/epaulettes for Washington). There are a few events I'd love to
wear this for (next year's
Costume College Gala and
Labyrinth of Jareth, namely), but for now I'm just working casually at an easy pace with no
deadline. So much is going to go into these, I think that's the only
way I'll be able to afford the time and money anyway. For the same reason, I’ll be doing it in stages: first the accessories (crown, livery collar, chest star, garter), then the suit, then the cape (or maybe cape then suit, as the cape is easier overall).
The costume details vary a little between which year and show they’re from (different suit buttons, shirt lace, shoe buckles, crown details, etc.), but I mainly worked from these photos so those were the styles I went with, and when details conflicted I chose my favorite version.
I started with research strictly on the Broadway costume, but moving into historical research it didn’t take long to find some of what must have been the inspiration for the show’s pieces.
The whole costume is very spot-on to full-regalia King George.
The crown is clearly based on St. Edward’s Crown.
The livery collar, chest star, and garter are reminiscent of the insignia of the Order of the Garter and various other orders of chivalry.
The cape is a close match to King George III’s coronation robe and robes of state.
And the suit bears strong similarities to a few specific men’s suits of the period.
I’ve already started on the crown, livery collar, chest star, and garter, so I’ll recap those first and get caught up to in-progress work.
I started with research strictly on the Broadway costume, but moving into historical research it didn’t take long to find some of what must have been the inspiration for the show’s pieces.
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