The King’s New Clothes
By Henry Tudor

There must have been a very close relationship between King Henry VIII and his private tailors. Not just the measuring and fitting, but the design, the new ideas for this trend setting King. Put it into perspective, Henry wore three different costumes each day, only wearing each one for three days which actually means each costume was only ever worn for a day in effect. He then had the jewels, the gold thread and special fur removed and recycled leaving the rest to be burnt so that nobody could use it again or even check the old cloth for his body stains indicating any illness. How do I know this? Well it is a proven fact that he spent £2.5M in today’s money on just his clothing, he spent it on materials and ornamental jewels but the wages on his tailoring staff must have been a high part of it. Now for some pure speculation, but I would wager a fortune on this. Henry was never seen in the costume painted by Holbein! How do I come to this conclusion? Well, it would have been worn about 10 times for the sitting, Henry had some of his failing features “doctored” for propaganda purposes and would he then want to be seen in person wearing an “old” suit? I think not.
Here we are then 2008; I am Henry Tudor of Equity stage name as well as being his double and I work all over the UK and some of Europe before thousands of paying people. I must get it right, my costume must be right. I own four costumes at the moment and each one has become more accurate and better made as my career has developed, so now I consider my act to be at the top of the learning curve and I should now be having costumes made to order in Henry’s taste without strictly adhering to the Holbein, which I already have in my wardrobe. So how do I go about getting a costume made, to my design, with exact materials though of differing colour and by a tailor who can extrapolate the ideas into a working product? That is a hard question to answer.
I was looking for a one-person enterprise that works by hand and who I turn was looking for a way to increase prestige. I searched, searched then gave up. Factory made is not unique; uniqueness is my goal, so I had to wait until fate took over. Fate took over. My article in January’s Renaissance magazine right across America caused quite a stir on my emailer, it also showed me the people who make clothing to order for the fairs and one of them stood out from the rest as being ready to try something large and difficult but which could have a massive marketing potential. Go see the lady’s website for yourself.
www.midnightbreezedesigns.com/
Contact was made by myself asking about a costume she does not already make but for a guy in the UK without any previous knowledge. Boy did she reply, I could see her enthusiasm straight away and I knew that we had a future. This was a month ago, and now I have deposited some money for materials, listen, I will not allow any maker to speculate without paying the way first, the project is now on its way. I don’t care about quick deadlines, I have a year of great bookings ahead and the new costume will be readily used to be photographed by the masses, but the suit comes first, no pressure on creativity please. We will conjure up this masterpiece with ideas between us both, we will plan our marketing strategy together, and when completed she will use the story and pictures to gain more sales, I will draw up another costume specification for next year and Henry the trend setter will be back in action. Maybe, next year a visit to a few American Renaissance fairs to show them how we have progressed.
Remember the Potato. Walter Raleigh took 6 weeks in a sail ship to get them back to his Irish estate they were rotten because of the journey, he then had to plant them and grow seed potato’s which were then re-planted and re-grown before he took them to Queen Elizabeth I. Third generation then and look how many potato’s are eaten in the UK today!
I will keep you all informed, just keep an eye on this column.