Pandemics and the Costume Connection: How past crises impacted the industry

By Kathleen Furore

Are you at the point that you just can’t take any more negative coronavirus news? Are you trying to find that proverbial light at the end of this Covid-19 tunnel? To lighten the mood, we bring you a quick trip back in time for a look at costumes inspired by past global health crises.

*The 14th Century Bubonic Plague. During this pandemic, doctors wore bird-like masks filled with vinegar “to counteract the smell of death,” according to a story from KPBS News (kpbs.org/). Flash forward three centuries and the Plague Doctor mask had become a must for Venetians at their annual carnival. The masks remain popular today, especially for Steampunk fans. (Above: Copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e., Dr. Beak], a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, circa 1656)

*The 1830s Cholera Epidemic. Cholera hit England in 1831. With no cure in sight, word started circulating that the disease was cause by “foul smelling air” called ‘miasmas’…hence this satirical print of a man in the ‘Cholera Preventive costume’ that includes an acacia tree, a juniper bush, a branch of acorns, a pitcher of water, and herbs and perfumed tea. According to the Science Museum Group (sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/), the caption ends with a warning: “By exactly following these instructions you may be certain that the cholera…will attack you first.” (Print. Lithograph, hand coloured, `Cholera preventive costume'. London, Published by T. McLean, 26, Haymarket, March 1832.)

*The 1918 Spanish Influenza. Did you know one of today’s most ubiquitous costumes—the zombie—may have its roots in the1918 Spanish flu? According to an October 2019 story at The Conversation.com, zombie-like creatures were featured in works by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. “Surrounded by the pandemic’s ghastly atmosphere,” Lovecraft “channeled this climate into his stories of the period—producing corpse-filled tales with infectious atmospheres from which sprang lurching, flesh-eating invaders who left bloody corpses in their wake,” the article notes.

*The 2009 Swine Flu/H1N1. After this modern-day pandemic hit, myriad renditions of costumes featuring pig noses and surgical masks popped up for Halloween.

Will Halloween 2020 see COVID-19 costumes abound? Will face masks be a required part of Halloween costumes? It’s too soon to tell…but it’s practically a given that coronavirus 2020 someday will be on the list of global health crises that inspired creative costumers.