Making Mischief:
An Oral History of
British Folk Costume

In 2023 and 2024 a group of volunteers recorded oral history interviews with the makers and wearers of the costumes as part of the Making Mischief project.

'Making More Mischief’ is a project by London College of Fashion, UAL in partnership with the Museum of British Folklore. Volunteers are trained in audio recording, interviewing techniques, audio selection and presentation to gather the stories of people who make or wear folk costumes in London. Interviewees including carnival costume makers, clowns, a Swan Upper and a Pearly Queen feature in the Making More Mischief exhibition, 9 April – 22 June 2024. It forms part of the exciting cultural programme at the LCF East Bank for 2024.

Read more about the Making Mischief project.

Find out about the Making More Mischief exhibition at LCF East Bank, 9 April - 22 June 2024.

Made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Grant, thanks to National Lottery players.

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

Michael Fowell has been dancing in the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance since he was 7 years old. He’s now 29 and proud to be involved in a tradition which goes back hundreds of years. In fact, the reindeer horns worn by the performers (which hang on the wall of St Nicholas’ church in Abbots Bromley for the rest of the year) are more than 1000 years old. The dancers consist of six deer men, a Fool, hobby horse, bowman and Maid Marian. They perform all around the neighbourhood covering about 10 miles during the day. Michael's family has been involved for generations. He carries the No 4 horn which is the lightest one.

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Banbury Hobby Horse

Simon Pipe is the creator of the Banbury Hobby Horse. In 2000 councillors in the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire wanted to capitalise on the famous nursery rhyme 'Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross'. Simon, who was a Morris dancer and had attended one-day events like Jack in the Green in Hastings, suggested a hobby horse festival for Banbury. The councillors agreed to it and the event started to take place annually. People created their own hobby horses and brought them to Banbury to parade through the streets. Simon's hobby horse is a white creature with ping pong eyes, four legs and a blue horse rug covering the wearer.

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Edinburgh Beltane Fire Festival

Tereza Mazak was born and grew up in Slovakia. She has always been interested in folk  traditions and costumes, and her grandmother and great grandmother were both dressmakers. Tereza studied costume design at college and specialised in historical and theatre outfits. After moving to Edinburgh, she attended the Edinburgh Fire Festival, an annual event celebrating the return of summer, and then joined the Beltane Fire Society which organises it. Tereza was asked to design costumes for the May Monarch and the Green Man. Her costumes were inspired by nature and Celtic motifs. They were made as sustainably as possible, using upcycled materials and things from charity shops.

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Boss Morris

Boss Morris is a group of female Morris dancers from Stroud in Gloucestershire. They formed in 2015 and perform at all sorts of events, such as local seasonal events, fetes, festivals and music awards (including Glastonbury and the Brits). Their style of dancing is Cotswold Morris but Boss pride themselves on adding 'twists and tweaks' and wearing 'radical' costumes. This has enabled them to engage with new and different audiences. They often perform with 'beasts' such as a lamb, a bull and an owl. All the costumes including the 'beasts' are hand-made, and designed and created by the whole group. Josie Wilkes and Lily Cheetham have been involved with the group for several years and absolutely love what they do.

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Gingernut the Clown

Ian was a puppeteer before becoming a clown. He created his clown persona Gingernut (because of his red hair) on a cruise in 1976. His first costume came from a London store and was a Royal Stewart tartan suit. He used plastic gingernut biscuits for the buttons. Over the years Ian has learnt skills and tricks associated with clowning such as tightrope walking and magic. He has worked abroad and in many different environments. Later in his career his costumes were made for him by a lady called Heidi who designed things like false arms for some of his characters. In Ian's view, clowns are part of folk tradition and have much in common with fools, jesters and comic Morris characters.

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Doggett's Coat and the Badge Race

Bob Crouch won the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race in 1958, the year he completed his apprenticeship as a waterman on the River Thames. It’s the oldest rowing race in the world and has been continuously run for more than 200 years. Bob competed against 4 other apprentices and won against the odds. The prize is the right to wear the red coat and badge. Bob explains how he felt when  he won the race, what the coat is like to wear and the pride he feels in upholding the Doggett's tradition. He has written a book on the subject called 'The Coat of Mr Doggett'.

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Mari Lwyds

Sue and John Exton are both artists. They started making Mari Lwyds after retiring from teaching jobs. A Mari Lwyd is horse costume made from a horse’s skull mounted on a pole. The skull is attached to a cloak which hides the 'rider' (the person holding and operating the skull) and the Mari Lwyd is led by an 'ostler' who, during processions and performances, guides the horse through a community knocking at people's doors and demanding entry to their houses. The tradition, which is predominant in South Wales, dates back to 1800, although there's evidence of people going around as hooded animals as early as the 4th century. John and Sue are passionate about their hobby and spend many hours creating their Mari lwyds which all have names.

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Minehead Sailor's Horse

John Land has been involved with the Minehead Sailor’s Horse all his life. His earliest memories of the hobby horse coming up the street are from before he could walk. He first took part in the procession as a teenager and is now involved in keeping the tradition going and organising the annual event in Minehead, on the Somerset coast. His wife Jackie and Paul Wilson are both folk musicians who also take part. The 'horse' comes out on ‘Warning Night’ (April 30th). It dances, chases the crowd and gets up to mischief in Minehead on May 1st to 3rd. The Minehead Sailor's Horse consists of a circular frame (possibly originally an upturned coracle) which is decorated with multicoloured rags.

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Pearly Queen

Doreen was born within the sound of Bow Bells which makes her a true Cockney. She became a Pearly Queen in the mid 1990s, firstly as a Pearly Pride (an apprentice) and eventually earning her title. Unusually Doreen has two titles, one in her own right (Pearly Queen of Bow Bells), and one with her late husband (Pearly King and Queen of Old Kent Road). The main business of Pearlies, according to Doreen, is collecting funds for charities. An average day involves putting on your outfit and standing outside supermarkets rattling a bucket. Doreen's outfit has motifs of flowers, bells and horseshoes and her jacket is covered in badges given to her by different charities.

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Para Carnival

Bettina and her husband Richard set up Para Carnival in 2010. She describes it as an all-inclusive carnival group working with vulnerable people. Many of the members are disabled, use wheelchairs or live with conditions such as autism. About 400 people take part each season in dance classes, festivals and local parties, and many take part in both the Notting Hill and Hackney Carnivals as well. Richard is the main costume-maker. He once made a Bayana costume for a wheelchair in one night. For each carnival, they come up with a theme such as Egyptian or Windrush. They either create costumes from scratch or modify previous costumes.

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English Folk Dance and Song Society

Tiffany Hoar and Malcolm Barr Hamilton are archivists at the English Folk Dance and Song Society. EFDSS  was formed in 1932 when the Folk Song Society (1898) and the English Folk Dance Sociey (1911) merged. The Society is based at Cecil Sharp House in London and has a vast archive of recordings, images and other folk items. These include costumes such as Morris and Mumming outfits and reindeer antlers from the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. In 2023/24 Tiffany and Malcolm were involved in lending some of the collection's folk costumes to the Making More Mischief exhibitions.

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Jack in the Green

British fashion and set designer Simon Costin has had a life long passion for folklore set in motion by a childhood experience. He set up and is the Director of the Museum of British Folklore and has been going to the Jack in the Green Festival in Hastings for about 30 years. He describes the ‘Jack’ as an ambulant hedge which is attended by the ‘Bogies’. For several years Simon has been part of a flamboyant group known as the ‘Gay Bogies’. He used to make his own costumes for the festival but recently collaborated with the costume designer Christopher Kelly to create a Gay Bogies costume based on a frock coat, which was in fashion during the 1730s, the approximate date of the first written accounts of the Jack in the Green Festival.

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Download a detailed summary of this interview.

Yaram Arts and the Lion of Senegal

Malik was born in the Gambia but moved to the UK as a child. He set up Yaram Arts to showcase African music, culture and dance. Moulaye is a 'zimbalia' artist (a medieval art form) and performs with Yaram regularly. He is Senegalese and moved to the UK in 2010 where he met Malik. They promote African Carnival (pre-dating Caribbean carnival but there are many links between the two practices). Moulaye performs the Zimba Lion Masquerade which originates in Senegal. He wears a lion costume, made of hairy material with a headdress and neck piece made of cowrie shells.

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Orkney Festival of the Horse

Moira Budge first got involved in the Orkney Festival of the Horse in the late 1970s when her son was about 7. The event is held annually on the island of South Ronaldsay. Traditionally boys would take part in a ploughing match, copying their fathers and grandfathers and using miniature ploughs made from horn or bone. In the mid 1950s, girls started joining in, dressed as plough horses. The costumes were basic at first but have become more and more elaborate. Moira describes an outfit she made for her daughter Amy out of an old school blazer decorated with buttons, ribbons, pom poms and lace. The 'horses' also wear decorated yokes round their necks.

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Mattie the Clown

Mattie has been clowning for 52 years, and in this interview he talks about becoming a clown, creating his ‘look’, making his first costume and designing the one he wears now. He describes the many things he’s done in his career including working abroad, performing in theatres, being a laughter therapist in a children's hospital, meeting the Queen and appearing on TV shows. He is now the archivist for Clowns International, and the curator of the Clown Museum. The museum collection also contains the clown egg register, approx. 300 eggs with clown faces on them. Every year Mattie organises the annual Clown service celebrating clowns since Grimaldi and commemorating those that have passed.

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The Old Fool, Forest of Dean Morris

Chris Barber has been involved in folk music and folk clubs as long as he can remember, and joined Forest of Dean Morris in the 1980s after getting married and moving to Gloucestershire. Shortly after joining the team, he was asked if he would like to be the Old Fool. The Fool  is 'the Lord of Misrule' - his role is to attract an audience, keep them entertained between the dances and add an element of danger to the dances by interacting with the dancers. Forest of Dean Morris wear rag coats. These are homemade garments made by stitching multi coloured rags on to old jackets or waistcoats. Chris and his wife made his Fool’s costume from an old tailcoat. They created his top hat out of a cornflake packet.

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Stratford Tourney Horse

Tim Watkin got involved in folk traditions through music and Mummers’ plays. He joined Stratford Morris and took on the Tourney Horse after finding it in a rather tatty state. He revamped the horse (using an old archive photo of it from 1910) and  performs in it alongside the Stratford Morris team. The role of the horse is to clear the way for the dancers or interact with the crowd and collect money. The horse hangs from the wearer's shoulders and has a wooden head, basket neck and a skirt covering the wearer's legs. It's supposed to resemble a medieval tournament horse.

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May Monarchs

Whitelands College (now part of University of Roehampton) has an archive of May Monarch robes that date back to the 1870s. The first ceremonies were sponsored by John Ruskin, the writer and polymath, who commissioned the children’s book illustrator Kate Greenaway to design the first robe. Each year Whitelands elects a May Queen (or since 1986 King) who wears a specially designed robe. The monarch leads a May Day ceremony and is invested by a bishop. These days there's a procession led by Morris dancers and a service, and previous May Monarchs are invited back and wear their costumes. Gilly and Gemma are the College archivists and have both been involved in organising the ceremony.

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Swan Upper

Jerry has been a swan upper since 1996. He’s a sixth generation Thames Waterman, and has also taken part in the Dogget’s Coat and Badge race. He talks about his involvement in the Dyers Company which is one of three livery companies which undertakes the monitoring of the King’s swans on the River Thames each year. The Dyers dress in blue, Breton-style striped tops, white trousers, and navy jackets. Jerry feels very strongly that the tradition of Swan Upping needs to be more widely known about.

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Setting up Exhibitions

Kinsi Abdullah is an artist interested in championing and preserving the textiles, fashions, art and crafts of the Somali community in Britain. Three decades ago she set up Numbi Arts in Stratford and works collaboratively with other organisations to 'take over' venues and put on Somali events. She hopes one day to create a Somali museum and has a clear vision of what this would look like. Mellany Robinson is the project manager of the Museum of British Folklore. This also has no physical base, and in this interview, Mellany and Kinsi swap experiences of setting up a museum.

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Whitley Bay Carnival

Carol Alevroyianni and Richard Broderick are the key people behind the Whitley Bay Carnival which was revived in 2013. It’s thought the carnival first ran a hundred years ago but petered out over the years, was revived in the 1980s but again disappeared. It's now flourishing again, and many local groups and schools get involved, with around a thousand people taking part in the parade, and more than 10,000 watching it. Carol and Richard explain that the carnival is artist-led, and all the costumes are informed by artists. The 10th anniversary parade was led by a giant animated puppet called Billy, which was made by Richard.

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