Jack Sparrow costuming

[Rumba Rue]

This information was printed on Crossing Blades by Capt. Lulu and I thought the rest of you might be interested in reading it.

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Details I have noticed...

Bandana is a sort of paisley print, and reminds me of an Indian type print on many pashmina scarves or an old west/Native American style print. It's very long, not typical bandana length so it leads me to believe it is a scarf. It's tied about his head and the excess hangs down the back or to the side depending on which way it flutters about his hair.Bandana 1Bandana 2

Hair is a wig, there's a pony tail that sticks out on the side where the bone sticks in his hair. And the back of it looks messily pony tailed. There's tons of dreads and snaggy braids.

- The big silver thing in Jack's hair is a kuchi pendant

- The bone in Jack's hair is a Burmese bonestick bead

- The scalloped coin on Jack's bandana is likely a Guinea or Muslim coin, though it could be a King George scalloped gold piece.

Coat is NOT a normal "frock coat", it is not even a normal Captain's coat. Do not listen to anyone who tries selling you a colonial coat either, it is not like Jack's.

Jack's coat is similar, but not identical. In fact, it is almost a cartoon of a captain's coat. Very stylized lines, very nice flare to it.

The flair comes from the back. There are 3 pleats with about 9 folds of fabric total(you'd guess 3 folds each pleat eh?). Each pleat has its own button embellishment at the top.

The buttons are extensive. There are five on each cuff, totaling ten. There are eight or ten on the front. There are a few on each pocket. In total there are about 28 buttons. Then the button holes are oversewn, typical look of the Captain's coat, you just sew with contrasting thread so it's easy to see, looks as if the buttonholes are way too big but they're not. Disney's version looks to have a cream colored contrast thread against the dark blue coat. Looks real good that way. Really reminiscent of Edward England(Long John Silver)'s coat from portraits and such.

The coat is lined with some sort of lighter colored fabric, looks sort of shiny, might be a type of silk.

The coat looks to be made of a rayon/wool blend, which makes sense to me because it would have been straight wool or linen back in the day. But rayon/wool is close to 100% wool, and a great deal lighter and more flexible.

There are not big lapels on the coat, they are very very slight at the collar. The cuffs are huge and thus need the four or five buttons to hold them back. The buttons are quite big and silvery, round. They have a neat design to them and can be found through google somehow, though I don't remember at the moment.

OH the coat is knee length, the pleats fall right to Johnny's knee. It is NOT navy blue, it is indigo, and well worn indigo.

Vest and breeches are made of a soft, light linen material. Breeches are a dusky blue with green grey undertones. Vest is navy blue, maybe a bit heavier than the breeches. The breeches have four buttons at the knee. The vest is hip length and buttons all the way down, though Jack has it open and buttoned at different parts of the movie. It has pockets on the bottom, wide pockets.

Shirt is an atypical poet's shirt. Atypical because I can not find the shirt in exactlica through any swashbuckling/pirate/costume sites. It is a v-necked shirt with bunched sleeves, and ruffled cuffs. The closest shirt I've seen to it is a swashbuckling/Musketeer shirt. The pirate shirts I've seen are a little too lacy/ruffly for Jack's.

Sash is a very long piece of material, off white with odd red striping. Very tattered along the edges. Looks to be a linen/cotton type piece.

Boots are the typical swashbuckler boots, round or square toed, suede, with boot foldover flaps. Those go about half down the calf. These are right expensive to purchase.

Hat is of course a leather tricorn hat. It is not, however, black or reddish brown or brown. It is a well worn tan, with a lot of "wet spots", so you have about 1/3 black and 1/3 brown and 1/3 tan and like, a few spots of greyish blue. There are a lot of cheap imitations going around ebay... alot! I found about two that come close. One is almost exact. You'll dish out a lot of money on this hat at the moment though. I suggest taking pictures to a leathersmith locally if possible. They might give you a cut in price.

Belt is worn brown leather, looks burnt along the edges to look "ragged", the buckle is large and square. It's metal, looks like bronze or something. Has a daisy or sunflower or sun embossed paisleyish pattern. THEN there's the sash or scabbard which goes across Jack's body, it's a black piece of leather with a big buckle on it. It holds the scabbard of his sword I believe.

Effects like the pistol and the compass. The compass hangs from Jack's waist belt, the pistol is tucked in various places during the movie, such as the waist sash and under Jack's arm.

Jack wears a silver ring on his hand, it has a green gem in the middle and the setting is very piratey, kinda skull things.

There are a lot of beads and stuff in his hair, if you get a really good pic somewhere you could probably match them at a crafty shop.

He has a cloth wrapped about one hand up through the fingers. And some other scarves about his person, up by his hair, in his sash, etc.

If you want the stuff to look as worn as his, my suggestion is beating the **** out of the material before you make the clothes if you're sewing. Boil the lighter materials in a tea bath. Black tea, for about an hour! But remember this may shrink some fabrics. After you've boiled, rinse and then proceed to beat and pull the tar out of the fabric. If you want you can run the stuff through the washing machine with a load of sea salt. Or you can fill a wooden tub with a bunch of gravel and beat the living daylights out of the fabric. Don't put gravel in your washing machines though. That would suck and I'd feel really awful.

My suggestion is find really great resolution pics of Jack in various poses, with both coat on and off, hat on and off. It really helps. You might want to print them out if you're working with someone on the costume.

My other suggestion is get your trinkets and such off ebay or at local craft stores but don't go buy a prepackaged expensive thing off ebay because every single one I've seen looks off, and for the money they're asking I wouldn't want to see people disappointed.

Um, of course, if any girls want to adapt the costume to be feminine, you could always dart in the coat(though I think its lines are pretty feminine already) in the bodice area, or wear tighter fitting shirts, or lower cut vests or instead of breeches a ragtag skirt(think scarves, as as skirt)... kuchi pendant jewelry... coins... etc etc. Something obvious to me is that they kind of took some bellydancing/Indian influence and mixed it up with some pirate constants and Old West style. If that helps you out I don't know.

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This gal has done some very extensive looking and I hope it helps others who might be wondering about certian things on the costume.

Rumba Rue

**Cecile B. DeMille wanna be**

[TabithaAnne]

Ack! Where was this info a year ago when I was fumbling to find all the little details in making the coat?!?!!

Although on the up side I've realized that the coat I made isn't that far off of the real thing. Of course the 6 times I went and saw the movie in the theater might have helped......

Thanks for posting this RumbaRue it's GREAT info!

[Rumba Rue]

I'm with you!

Geesh, I was just stunned that someone would be able to go into such detail!

Rumba Rue

**Totally dumfounded!**

[Bloody_Mary_Bonney]

ah something to test the acuracy of all the sparrows walking around in my next fair thanks a bunch

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Wow!

I wish folks would put that amount of detail and time into trying to look like a historical pirate from the Golden Age of Piracy.

Hate to think how much time, effort and money are going into looking like a Hollywood pirate when an authentic one is just as cool...

but to each his own!

[Buena]

Wow!

I wish folks would put that amount of detail and time into trying to look like a historical pirate from the Golden Age of Piracy.

Hate to think how much time, effort and money are going into looking like a Hollywood pirate when an authentic one is just as cool...

but to each his own!

I agree. people think that just because it is in a movie it MUST be what they really look like.

it really is a shame.

[Mad Woman Cheryl]

Wow! I'm impressed with the description! She must have watched all of those scenes on pause and then slowly advancing to the next frame many times over.

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Wow! I'm impressed with the description! She must have watched all of those scenes on pause and then slowly advancing to the next frame many times over.

Wow, anyone would think that person is obsessed with looking like a pirate. Can't imagine what that is like.

[Mad Woman Cheryl]

I gave it a second thought. She must be a serious costumer and has re-created the outfit for competition. The costumers I know that compete usually have that type of information to back up the workmanship done on their outfit for re-creation. I am still impressed!

[Buena]

i am impressed to... but unless this person is a costumer, they seriously need to find some sort of life.

not that i have much room to talk

[Ace of Harbor Bay]

The description has a lot of detail. Unfortunately much of it is a bit off. Close but still not accurate.

That's if you're gonna be REALLY picky.

Examples:

A little searching online and you'll find detailed close-ups of the ring and almost every other part.

The bone in the hair I've heard called a sail needle, which I beleive is not proper. It's a little too big for that probably. I thnk it's closest to a sailor's "fid".

Yes, it's a sickness.

And as far as folks who think it's silly to go after a movie character? Well, I'll just say this...it's where the money is right now.