SEMA 2015 (October 22-24, Little Rock, Arkansas):
International Association for Robin Hood Studies, sponsored session:
Greenwood Fashion: Clothing, Textiles, Skins, and Furs in the Ongoing Robin Hood Legend
The Robin Hood ballads and other Robin Hood tellings, from the
past through the present, often emphasize clothing and accessories, as
well as related textiles, skins, and furs.
For example, in the medieval Gest of Robyn Hode, Little
John becomes the “draper” for the impoverished knight, even giving him
well over the “thre yerdes” of “scarlet and grene” which Robin suggests
(ll. 277-296)
– which also raises the question of what, exactly, the terms “scarlet”
and “green” mean in the context of the
Gest and the ballads.
Clothing continues to figure in the tale of the poor knight, and
also in the Third Fytte when Little John tricks the Sheriff into being
captured by Robin Hood (ll. 769-784).
In the Seventh Fytte, the king and his party
disguise themselves as monks in an attempt to trap Robin Hood
(ll.1465-1500), a disguise beloved later by filmmakers and other
storytellers, just as Marian’s disguising
herself as a page in the ballad of “Robin Hood and Maid Marian,” circa
1600, continues in some form in various novels, plays, and films.
Then there is the “capull-hyde,/Topp, and tayle, and mayne” in
which the bloodthirsty Guy of Gisborne is clothed in the ballad “Robin
Hood and Guy of Gisborne” (ll.29-30).
Clothing continues to be a matter of some importance in the Robin
Hood legends, sometimes even serving as psychological markers as, for
instance, the bright jeweled flowers on shining black which Olivia de
Haviland’s Lady Marian wears when we – and Robin
– first see her in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood,
when Marian is sure of herself and her place in society, and confident
in that society, as opposed to the somber dark burgundy she wears at
Robin’s trial
for treason.
For this session, we welcome 20-minute papers from any
discipline, including interdisciplinary papers, which examine some
aspect(s) of clothing, textiles, skins, and furs in the ongoing Robin
Hood legend.
Please send a 300 word abstract and brief bio / CV to Sherron Lux at
sherron.lux@sjcd.edu AND Melissa Ridley Elmes at
maelmes@uncg.edu BY June 28, 2015.
