We seem to have had a bit of a musical fancy dress theme running through our blogs this week, so today we thought we would go a bit more high-brow (well we did say a bit) and celebrate the fact that 170 years ago today the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan was born. The musical half of the Gilbert & Sullivan partnership which enjoyed great success with the various light operettas produced by the D’Oyly Carte Company, he was also a noted musician in his own right: In his later years he created a ballet ‘Victoria and Merrie England’ for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, amongst other works – perhaps someone will ‘revisit’ it for the Queen’s jubilee this year.

Gilbert & Sullivan costuming tends to be a bit of a niche market, especially as there are specialist firms who offer integrated packages of costumes for G&S and other musical-based productions ‘off-the-peg’. That said, the themes covered by the G & S works cover a number of bases from countries such as Japan (‘The Mikado’) and Italy (‘The Gondoliers’) to Nautical choices such as ‘Pirates of Penzance’ and ‘HMS Pinafore’, the characters offer opportunities for some colourful costuming.

Some Gilbert & Sullivan Costume Ideas:

• Victorian Gentleman, one blond, one dark, both moustached
• The Mikado – Japanese Costume
• Pirates of Penzance – Pirate Costumes
• HMS Pinafore – Victorian Costumes & Sailor outfits
• Iolanthe – Fairy costumes
• The Gondoliers
• The Yeoman of The Guard – why not dress up as a beefeater?
• The sorcerer
• Princess Ida
•  Trial by Jury