Costuming Themistocles from 300: Rise of an Empire

Several years ago I joined a fitness/costume group (see my first Artemisia costume build here) that gathers once a year at DragonCon in Atlanta. My husband, being the supportive gentleman that he is, joined the group about a year after I did. I had made a Senator from 300 costume for him to wear so he could join us, and then last year I upgraded his costume to Themistocles from 300: Rise of an Empire.

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I chose a Themistocles outfit for him from a short scene before the men go to battle in their blue capes. You know me, I lean towards the obscure. I purchased the art book (300: Rise of an Empire: The Art of the Film) , which was a very helpful reference for several of the costumes from the film, including my second Artemisia costume (coming soon to the blog).

I was able to find several pieces (sword belt, skirt, sword) of the costume on Museum Replicas, though they had a clearance about a year ago and are no longer available (I did find the sword belt under the Vikings category recently, while supplies last of course). Otherwise, I hit the fabric store for linen to duplicate his shirt and cape, and Amazon for sheep skin leather for his boots.

For the shirt I purchased 2 yards dark grey/beige linen (but not darker than skirt). I pre-washed and cut into two one-yard sections. The wide sides would be the top and bottom of the shirt (to accommodate pleats), and the narrow would be sides.

I pleated his right shoulder (top far left) exactly as pictured in the art book and stitched in place. This will be covered with 4″ leather strip. His left shoulder will be covered by cream cape/sash, so I pleated messily (second picture top left). His left waist under his arm will be shown so sewed these “pleates” cleanly as pictured in the art book (third from left, above). His right waist under his arm will be covered by cream cape/sash so I pleated this messily as well. The back of his shirt will mostly will be covered by cream cape/sash, so I didn’t need to pleat or stitch anything but the neckline back there. With the blue capes, this skirt is worn with the opening in the front, but in this version, I’ve put the opening in the back, which will be covered by the cream cape/sash. I made a privacy panel to close the skirt completely (below after cape).

The sheep, sacrificed for the gods of leather boots, was an Amazon find (Leather Hide, Dark Brown). I subdivided the hide for two boot covers and scraps for shoulder closures, and I used every available scrap! In the four sections in the right image above, the upper left section was used for two boot covers around the back, the upper right section for two spats/shin guards, and the small lower sections for the shirt and cape closures. The scrap pieces cut from the upper right section for the shin guards were used to cover existing sandals rather crudely (below, after cape).

I cut two rounded rectangles about 4″ long and about 1.5″ wide and sewed them onto the shoulders to cover pleat stitching.

I purchased about 5 yards cream linen, then sight measured the length we needed for cream cape/sash…which ended up being 9.5′ (or 3ish yards). Note: the back needs to fall to the upper calves as seen in small side picture of Themistocles in the art book.

I pleated both sides of the 3ish yard rectangle and stitched heavily to hold those pleats in place. I then used scrap linen for somewhat of a bridge that would connect the two sides at his should (but not be shown). At this point the linen was too thick to pull through the sewing machine with leather added so I HOT GLUED (fist in the air) the leather onto the ends and dded screw bolts (30 Sets 4x6mm Chicago Screws Assorted Kit Nail Rivet Chicago Button For DIY Leather Decoration Document Book Album Bookbinding Slotted Round Head Stud Screw ( Gold + Bronze + Black )) and leather cording (Leather Sewing Tools, 20pcs Hand Leather Stitching Kit) as false closures.

From the full rectangle, I pulled the top up in the back and stitched a corner to the back of the sash so the top drape would be at his waist and the bottom drape at his shins. Instead of removing fabric, I just tucked it under all the folds in the back and added a hidden corner stitch to the fabric “bridge” at the shoulder that I mentioned above. This shows the wee corner pulled up and stitched in the back which shortens the side that goes around his right waist.

The pictures above show the linen bridge and then the false closures. After this picture was taken and before he wore the costume, I “dirtied” the shirt around the neck and arm holes with olive oil, then washed and dried it to set. I wanted the shirt to look sweat stained but not actually stink, so the olive oil worked great.

I converted his sandals from his Senator costume the prior year into boots. I attached sheep leather to the sandals around back with high temp hot glue. After he wore the costume I only needed to reglue a tiny section. For those with more patience, Shoe Goo (Shoe Goo Repair Adhesive) is probably a smarter option. But I’m super stubborn and I love my hot glue gun so…

Since the edges that come around from the back will be covered with shin guards, I used elastic. I fitted the elastic strips to his legs and he was able to slip these on and off.

For the sandal lacing at the toes, I made two lace tubes from a ball point pen, and covered with leather. This is a small detail that won’t be noticed, but I wanted a good firm structure for the lacing, and I just liked the look of it.

After cutting shin guards (below), I used every available leather scrap to cover the visible parts of the sandals. Luckily none of the leather is load bearing, it’s just visual. These were sandals, and he needs to access his heel, so I left the side Velcro strap in place so he could get in and out of them. We would’ve shopped for actual boots and cut the toe off but he said these were really comfortable during last year’s parade so we just ran with it. If they ever need replacing, we will go the boot route.

Back to the shin guards I was referring to above… I made a foam mold for each shin guard and stitched the leather around the foam because the leather is too thin to stand up on its own.

I stitched two vertical lines down each side and then between those lines I punctured the leather with a groover from the leather kit (Leather Sewing Tools, 20pcs Hand Leather Stitching Kit) to mimic a crisscross pattern.

I added more foam backing and screw bolts up each side. Eyelets or boot rivets would be more functionally ideal, but I liked the look of these and had plenty in the craft supplies from prior projects.

I tested the bolts with twine while we waited for more leather lacing to be delivered to make sure the spats/shin guards would hold up. They did, but I added more bolts in the sandals after these pictures were taken.

After the lacing arrived and he tried the boots on once more, I stiffened up the bottom of the shin guards with even more foam. That did the trick.

At this point, no one will be able to find this skirt pre-made, unless it’s second hand. I bought one of the last available skirts and it was size small. I found brown denim that is reeeeeally close and bought 1/2 yard to make a privacy panel. For anyone making the skirt from scratch, you may need around 3 yards and a “school girl” skirt pattern (McCall’s Pattern M7141). So, needing to close up the 6″ gap in the back with an 8″ panel (allowing room for grommets and overlap of course), I cut the denim from a 1/2 yard to a 36″x19″ rectangle. Measuring the store bought skirt, the kilted area (not including waistband) is 18″ from waistband to frayed hem. I measured the pleats on the skirt and they’re 3″ knife pleats, so I marked the new fabric every 3″ to make pleating easier.

These 2-3 pleats were more than enough, so I folded the sides in and stitched the top to hold the pleats in place.

I also added a double row of basting stitches at the hem line to protect fraying (the Greeks in the film have frayed skirt edges) from getting out of control. I duplicated the stitching on the privacy panel to mimic stitching on skirt like a modern kilt.

I also made a waistband to match the rest of the skirt, like a pillowcase turned inside out, and stitched in place. So far so good (enough)!

For the fraying, I frayed the edges beneath basting stitches with a seam ripper.

Threading in the store bought skirt is gold, while the denim I purchased was white, so I used a combination of white, gold, and yellow to get the frays to SORT OF match. Again, this panel won’t even be seen unless it’s windy or my husband gives us a jolly jig. I added eyelets/grommets at the top and leather for closing it up. The panel took about an hour and a half start to finish.