The Lady of Shalott Costume Team

The story of The Lady of Shalott  has its origins in Arthurian legend. In synopsis, the Lady of Shalott or Eliane of Astolat, dies of heartbreak as a result of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot.  Her story appears in the 13th century Mort Artu and, as a slightly different version, in the Italian novella La Donna di Scallota. It is the La Donna di Scallota which provided the source material for Tennyson’s poem.

Above: The Road to Camelot by George Boughton. Courtesy of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Throughout the 19th  century, Tennyson’s poignant poem inspired a number of paintings by the Pre-Raphaelite artists and their followers, including William Holman-Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George Boughton (above) and John William Waterhouse. Each of these artists chose to depict The Lady of Shalott in a mythical medieval world and we have drawn our inspiration for the clothing from their imagined world, but most especially from that of John William Waterhouse (below).

The costume team was brought together by Pauline Loven of the Orchard House Wardrobe and included Jo Sullivan, who shouldered a large proportion of the workload, Kate Loven, Bernadette Brennan, Joanna Read, Katy-Jayne Lintott, Sam Greene and Avril Sanderson.

Above: The Lady of Shalott in her tower.
Her gown was designed and made by Pauline Loven with the sleeve embroidery created by Avril Sanderson.

All of the clothes were designed and made especially for the film. The inspiration for the dramatisation came from the Pre-Raphaelite paintings, but was informed by knowledge of the cut and construction of both medieval and Victorian clothes. For the 1856 setting of Tennyson’s reading of the poem, our sources were the surviving contemporary clothes, paintings and photographs from the period.