William Wallace – Scottish Hero in a Kilt?

The movie Braveheart was directed by Mel Gibson, who was also staring as William Wallace. The movie itself is good however there are couple of things historically incorrect.

First of them is a kilt. There is not evidence of wearing belted plaid in 13th century. The first notice was in the late 16th century. And it was not fully developed until the late 17th century. Using the kilt in the movie about William Wallace is not historically accurate.

My other notice about the William`s costume is sleeveless shirt (or tunic). According to the evidence, there were long sleeves garments, shirts and tunics. And in some cases there were short sleeves – no sleeveless shirts. Probably, the intention was to show Mel`s arms ;-)).

The second thing I am concerned about is the relationship between William Wallace and Princess Isabelle. William Wallace was born in 1270 and died in 1305. Princess Isabelle lived between 1295 and 1358. There is difference of 15 years (not so big deal). However, William died in his 35 and Isabelle was not 10. I do not think the relationship would be possible. The movie shows them as two people of the same age.

Let`s have a closer look at Princess Isabelle dress.

A heraldry was mostly used on armor however it was used also on ladies dress or surcotes. In common, it was done as mi-parti – a dress divided into left and right parts of different colors.

Another type of clothing in 13th century are cotte and surcote.

A cotte, a kirtle or a cotehardie is a quite long dress with smooth sleeves, shaped arm hole, the bodice is tight, the skirt is wide and extended.

… and … headdress is beautiful…

Do you know any movie with historically incorrect costume design?

A myth or one man created from various thieves?

Ridley Scott directed in 2010 another version of medieval hero Robin Hood, staring Cate Blanchett as Marion and Russell Crowe as Robin.

As the story of Robin Hood is mystified and romanticized, I will not focus on storytelling, but the costume design.

In my opinion to make costume for any of Robin Hood movies is not easy. Nowadays we see Robin Hood in the era of Richard I. The Lion King who lived in 12th century. There are various mentions about “Robin Hood” from 13th until 17th century. So we really do not know where the story came from. For now we will let Robin Hood be a man from Medieval age in general :-).

All the credits for costume design go to Janty Yates. She has 33 credits for movies and TV-series so far … not bad 🙂 …

First of all I would like to point out using beautiful brocades and stunning embroidery for royalty costumes.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is wearing surcote with animal embroidery. The surcote is typical piece of women`s wardrobe in Medieval age, it is sleeveless dress with deep arm holes. The hair and the neck are fully covered with a veil made of delicate linen or cotton.

Marion (most of the time seen as peasant) wears linen long sleeve cotehardie tied up with twine in front and white linen chemise underneath.

… and how to comment this … Marion wears something what looks like a corset… :-0 So far we know that the wearing of corset starts in Renaissance era. Whatever the intention was, the corset is not historically accurate for Medieval age.

And finally … Robin … a hero with a hood…

Overall, for me, it is pleasure to watch the movie and admire the costumes.

How it would be not to finish the story with Marion and Robin romance scenes …