Elizabethan Cosplay

What do you want for your birthday?

Anne: This may seem a little odd…

Elizabeth I Rainbow Portrait
attributed to Isaac Oliver c 1600

Henry: Fire away.

Anne: Could I do a cosplay of Elizabeth the First?

Henry: A cosplay? I thought that was only young people dressing up as animation characters.

Anne: Thought I’d start a trend. Baby boomers dressing up in historical costumes. Cosplay.

Henry: Where do you get an Elizabethan costume?

Anne: There’s a website selling costumes.

(from Elizabethan Cosplay, 2013)

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Voice-over

Splendid choice. Ruffs, frills, embroidery. And the symbolism. Flowers meaning Astraea, the virginal heroine. The serpent swallows the ruby, meaning the queen’s wisdom controls her heart. Elizabeth was in her sixties when the Rainbow Portrait was painted… a baby-boomer doing cosplay.

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