Phrygian


I found a source a while back for phrygian caps. [etsy]

I haven’t put much effort into finding the rest of a sans-culottes outfit, but I probably will. Maybe next halloween I’ll wear it and splash myself with stage blood and smile a lot. Or, maybe by then, I’ll be building guillotines…

To make the roundel look more like a French tricolor cockade, I cut the circular pieces out of felt.

I like the Guy Fawkes masks, but they look to me a bit too much like an ironic, smug, smirking white guy. And I think that if we’re going to talk about revolutions, we should be scary. The French revolution’s terror was fairly small beer, really – a few thousand aristocrats – you can see they came roaring right back into power. To get the rich to take us seriously, we’re going to have to try harder than the French and the Russians did.

My parents got a pair for the holidays, I’m looking forward to seeing how they decorate them.

And, now that it’s all over and done, I have two mint, beautiful red linen phrygian caps, size L. I have been trying to think of how to do a giveaway of them, but I don’t want to force anyone to play. If one of you really wants one, and has a good idea for how to decorate it, you can post below in the comments and two of you can be the happy adopter of your very own phyrgian cap. I have some red and black felt, too – let me know if you want any of that.

Vive la révolution!

Comments

  1. John Morales says

    This post has acquainted me with the concept of a Phrygian cap and (after due Googling) somewhat of its semiotic significance.

    (The decoration aspect seems to be yours, though)

  2. says

    I already have one! And as you know, I enjoy wearing it. I do have to wear it tilted quite a ways back, else it comes down to my nose. I’m a 6 3/4 hat size, and with hat sizers, I can go up to 7 1/4.