My Heart Upon My Sleeve: Costume and Identity in Shakespeare

When a Shakespearean character walks on stage, their clothes enable us to "immediately begin to see who they are," says Gallatin associate professor Bella Mirabella. Not surprisingly, dress that was foreign to English audiences during the Renaissance made for quick assumptions about dignity, strength, and trustworthiness. In the book Shakespeare and Costume, coedited by Mirabella and Patricia Lennox, scholars examine the historical context of clothing in the plays, with an eye toward how conceptions of race and gender were reflected in costuming in different eras.