Last year I visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time. While there, we rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and shopped at Diagon Alley. Being somewhat of a quidditch costume enthusiast, I was pretty excited to see the full Gryffindor Quidditch costume featured in the ride on display at Quality Quidditch Supplies. I snapped the best photos I could manage on my iPhone from behind the glass for further study. I doubt I’ll make it myself, as I have made several quidditch costumes already, but I would love to see this recreated by someone in the cosplay community!
[Related: Wizardbounding 1950’s McGonagall]
The full costume on display is featured in a moving portrait of a quidditch player in Gryffindor Tower in the beginning of the Forbidden Journey ride. Not having recorded his small performance, the best information I’ve found online on the character, a Gryffindor quidditch player who scored a winning goal in the 1862 League Championship, is on a wiki fan page. What a neat easter egg to find! So let’s have a look at the costume, shall we?
Modern quidditch robes typically have player numbers on the back, but this robe’s focal point is a stunning embroidered Gryffindor crest. Instead of a lion, the animal featured appears to be a griffin with blue plumage atop a golden snitch and crossing brooms. The background is a black and white checkered shield with what looks like 3 spearheads (with maybe 3 goal rings on each?). The robe is hooded and the bottom of the bodice back comes to a point like my Slytherin quidditch robes.
[Related: Costuming Quidditch from Harry Potter: The Uniform]
The charcoal grey fabric is peculiar, but appears to be a low pile terrycloth, which makes no sense if you’re flying at high speeds in Scotland, but that’s the texture that jumps out at me. It’s likely a wool flannel somehow textured to make the striped pattern. The sleeves have a triangle cutout and about a half inch from the hem is a gold rope trim with a single braid of black and red thread. This could probably be made with embroidery thread. At the trim’s point on the sleeve is a golden snitch. The pads look like suede leather with a similar construction to modern pads.
[Related: Costuming Quidditch from Harry Potter: The Pads]
The smoke grey liner appears to be a hard wool crepe that resembles the veins in a leaf. I’ve never seen anything exactly like it, but I’m also not a textiles expert. While the gold rope trim is on the charcoal outside of the robes on most hems and seams, the trim is sewn on the inside edge of the hood on the grey liner side. That’s a really lovely contrast. There’s also a seam on the back shoulders where the stripes are adjacent to each other. So the front bodice pieces likely attach to the back at these seams, as opposed to center top shoulders.
While making my Slytherin quidditch robes, I made the choice to not include an additional triangular piece in the back tail, which would give room to an actual broom while flying, it appears these robes have that piece. You can just barely see the piece by looking at the stripes. The stripes on the two sides angle outward at about 45 degrees, while the middle piece’s stripes are vertical.
The front bottom of the robes are shorter in the center, which is another slight difference from my Slytherin quiddich robes. The sides appear to hit the ankle, but the front center appears to hit around mid-shin. Here you can see the shin guard pads and oxford shoes.
Remembering that this costume is around mid-1800’s, the shirt is a proper men’s button down shirt with wing tip (maybe Aberdeen?) collar. The black tie is an ascot/cravat style and I couldn’t quite figure out the pin…or whatever it is at the tie. The robe closures are 8 golden snitches on 4 golden chains with a single cross lacing in black leather beneath them. At the bottom row of snitches, there’s a trim on either side that arcs down towards the sides. There’s probably a seam here and maybe the trim is piping made from the liner. It’s definitely not the gold rope trim. Pants are not shown but I’d assume mid 19th century trousers would be appropriate. I can’t see that there is a waistcoat, but suspenders might be present.
If you have better pictures or more information on this quidditch costume, do let me know in the comments below! And check out some of my other Harry Potter costumes on the blog, including downloadable quidditch patterns.
More Harry Potter costumes on Red Shoes. Red Wine.
Costuming McGonagall from Harry Potter
Wizardbounding 1950’s McGonagall
Costuming Quidditch from Harry Potter: Training Robes
Costuming Quidditch from Harry Potter: The Pads
Costuming McGonagall from Harry Potter
Costuming a Hufflepuff from Harry Potter
Costuming Molly Weasley from Harry Potter
