Anyone who has read the wonderful Narnia tales of C.S. Lewis is well aware that it was through a clothes closet (called a wardrobe in the British world) that our heroes entered Narnia. This particular post, however, is about what could be found IN a wardrobe. The costumers who produced the magical attire were a group in Wellington located close by Peter Jackson’s Weta Cave headquarters and called the Stansborough (see http://www.stansborough.co.nz/sb/gallery.cfm). If you have at least three other LOTR fans with you, you can do the tour, see the looms, and watch them make amazing costumes of gossamer thin wool thread.
Now let’s admit from the start that some characters in Narnia and LOTR have no fashion sense at all. I mean, what can you do with a fighting Uruk-Hai after all?
The Stansborough folks are mighty good at what they do.
Here are some of the pendants, rings and weapons created by other artisans around the world:
Some people are easier to dress than others. Here is the basic attire of a New Zealand sheep farmer.
Here, on the other hand, are the Hobbits.
Now the Hobbits need clothes that last a long time, because they have considerable longevity. Surely you know that old Hobbits die hard. And it’s mostly informal attire that is required, though occasionally Bilbo was known to be a bit of a fashion plate. The Stansborough folks in any case provided them and the Narnians with a plethora of choices in wardrobe and accessories.
Finally, there are some fellows you just can’t dress up any further and you really shouldn’t. Here is what the Stansborough folks won for their work on LOTR.
The only problem raised for LOTR fans is this: if one dons the famous ring, how can anyone see, much less appreciate, the wardrobe?
In our next episode we will check out some of the forests, streams and mountains of Middle Earth. But for now I leave you with a Middle Earth sunset.
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