Oberon – Dressing the King of the Fairies

Having reconstructed a complete outfit of clothing for a woman from song lyrics in the first stage of the Greensleeves Project, it seemed appropriate to do the same for a man. A 1620s song by Sir Simeon Steward appears in various literary sources, as “A Description of the King of Fayries Clothes, brought to him on New-yeares day in the morning, 1626, by his Queenes Chamber-maids.” or as “The clothing of Oberon King of the Fairies.”

The clothing described in the song includes a shirt, two waistcoats, doublet, breeches, mantle, hat, belt, and buskins, made from a range of fantastical materials – botanical, zoological and mythological. Ladybirds, snails, cobwebs, cowslips, violets, poppies, drops of dew, and the Golden Fleece are just a few of the components named in the song.

The Greensleeves Project team are working together to construct Oberon’s clothes and accessories, scaling them up from early modern fairy size to fit a normal human. They are examining paintings, masque designs, extant garments and fabrics, as well as looking at records, accounts and at other literary sources.

Passamezzo have recorded the song with all its verses, and we are looking forward to collaborating with Bernadette Banner again in 2027 to create a video and documentary, filming in the magical gardens of Kentwell Hall.

Though Amarillis dance in green,like Fayrie Queene
(William Byrd:, Psalmes, sonets, & songs, 1588)

Fairies, and particularly the Queen of the Fairies, are often described as wearing green in early modern literature and song. As an opportunity to show off the Greensleeves clothes in a different context, and to link the two projects together, we have decided that Lady Greensleeves, having rejected her would-be lover, and appropriately dressed in green, has run off with the King of the Fairies.

Oberon – Dressing the King of the Fairies is supported by the Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries.

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