Complete Costumes

Varia Stunt Costume!

2010-12-29T13:32:00.000-08:00

After many years of searching for the last few pieces, and thanks to a very kind friend of mine, I now have a near complete Varia stunt costume! Very exciting! This costume, as most fans know, is a very recognizable, elaborate, detailed piece of work that consists of several pieces. A top/bra, leather thin skirt, stunt harness, gorgeous belt, deerskin wrist wraps, deerskin boot toppers, a beaded legband, headband, detailed single upper armband, and deerskin shoulder wrap. I also have the leather scabbard and Varia sword as well as her gorgeous staff shown (and broken by) Gab in POV. I have two of the tops. I have two deerskin shoulder wraps, one says "LUCY" in it. We know that Lucy did not have a special costume made for her but wore one of the other (we think 4) that were made. The one Lucy took home was recently auctioned off for Starship and in her interview she mentioned that the costume was particularly revealing for her because Varia is so much shorter than Xena. LOL!

Thanks to kindred spirit and all around awesome guy PHIL for providing me with the FINAL piece to this outfit, the beaded legband!!!! Phil won one of the Varia costumes in the Starship Charity auction, the one Lucy took home and donated for the sale. Since Lucy did not wear the legband in her brief appearance in this costume, Phil was willing to part with it, so now I have a COMPLETE Varia costume! Thank you PHIL!!

The pieces in this posting are the LATEST pieces I have acquired; please see my other earlier postings for the rest of the costume. I will combine them soon. Enjoy the pictures.

Valkyrie Rider Outfit

2008-08-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the addition of the last two pieces of the Valkyrie rider outfit, my Valkyrie costume is now complete! Well, except for the sword, that is! I am still in search of a Valkyrie sword but the wardrobe is finished. The outfit consists of a pair of boots (marked Grin Stunt), two gauntlets, the bodice/corset, skirt, and the helmet. This particular helmet has wardrobe tape inside that says "Xena," so might have been used by Lucy or a stuntie, or as a backup for Lucy. Generally a main hero piece has the actor's name, not necessarily the character name, but that is not always the case. I would guess this was for Xena's riding stuntie Bex. I also have the wardrobe hangers for the Grinhilda stunt. I have included the ring in this post since it was a significant part of the trilogy. Lovely outfit!!

Gwyn-Tier Amazon Queen Costume

2008-04-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

The craftsmanship on this costume, like all of the wardrobe department's creations, is exceptionally detailed. Most of these pieces are heavy leather, with leather ties, accented by metal and resin rivets, medallions, and other decorations. The gauntlet and bodice piece have copper and metal parts. The boots are standard issue Amazon/warrior boots, usually leather built around a more comfortable shoe inside. The necklace is made of a variety of materials, such as resin, leather, and beads.
This costume also arrived from NZ with the matching wardrobe hanger, labeled "Gwyn Tier Body Double." Each piece is subsequently labeled with the same designation. Gwyn Tier was the redheaded Amazon Queen who appeared in the Xena Season Six episodes, "To Helicon and Back" and "Path of Vengeance." In "Helicon," She and Gabrielle, as well as a handful of other Amazon Queens, are celebrating Varia's new queenhood when Varia is captured by Artemis's son. Gwyn Tier later dies on the beach, and many of her scenes are running, diving, rolling, falling, and finally, dying...so I think this costume saw considerable action in that episode as most of those scenes were probably performed by her double. The pictures above show the costume's individual pieces, as well as a photo of some of the pieces on a mannequin,(Thanks Anne!) minus the boots and necklace.

Brutus Costume: Full Display

2008-04-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

I am very happy to report that I finally got a mannequin for the full Brutus costume! This guy looks great in the costume, and I think this is the type of costume that should be on display on a mannequin rather than having all the pieces scattered in a display case or worse yet, packed away. Completing a costume is a daunting task these days with prop and wardrobe scattered to all four corners of the earth. This mannequin is six feet tall, and I have found that he is much bigger than David Franklin, so the skirt piece had to be tied in the back with a leather shoelace since the waist was too small to button. In addition, the boot on the left foot had to be rolled down halfway because of the metal rod that allows the mannequin to stand on its base, but other than that, I had no trouble putting this outfit on this dude. The helmet is not actually part of the Brutus/David Franklin wardrobe. This wardrobe is specifically from the episode, When Fates Collide, and in that ep, Brutus never wore a helmet. But the helmet is roman and all the other officers wore them in the ep, so I put it on the mannequin because it seemed appropriate. This outfit consists of Bloomers, which can't be seen on the mannequin because they are worn under the skirt, the skirt, shirt, metal breastplate/armour with leather and metal decorations on the shoulders, a gold neck sash which can be seen in the ep when Brutus is shown from behind, a long flowing red robe, boots, boot wraps, all metal gauntlets, scabbard and sword. I am very happy to have a complete costume and even more pleased to learn that David Franklin, who played Brutus, is such a great guy. Hope you enjoy the display!

Brutus Costume: Wardrobe Hanger/Bag

2008-04-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

I love it when a plan comes together! ...errr...at least when you find a wardrobe bag on a hanger! Main character costumes (and possibly others) had smaller pieces and parts that were needed with a costume and so these hangers had a small wardrobe bag on them with pockets in which to place these various pieces. This one is labeled with David's name, and Xena X18, which is "Fates," the 18th episode in Season Six, and has some various pieces, including a long rust colored sash and some smaller rust colored pieces in the pockets. The plastic bag is attached and has a pair of small beige running pants in it and the label says "Small, then "Gab," then "Karen."...whatever that means. I think this was attached by mistake, because it would not fit David, even though he is small. Oh yeah and his name isn't Gab. :-)

Brutus Costume: Metal Armor

2008-04-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

This is truly the crowning piece of this beautiful costume, the metal armour! The chest piece is made of solid metal and is heavy. It has beautiful designs molded into it as though it was cast from a mold, which would be my guess. The shoulder pieces are attached, and they are heavy leather with metal pieces. The waist belt is also attached, and has leather pieces with metal that hang down, in the same fashion as Xena's leathers (individual heavy "petals" sewn on one at a time). Wonderfully detailed!

Brutus Costume: Armbands

2008-04-14T21:57:00.002-07:00

These are great armbands, or perhaps they would be better labeled as wrist guards or gauntlets. They were worn just above David's wrists. These are very cool because they are all metal, with a recessed metal piece on the bottom and a diecut metal piece over the top. Nice!

Brutus Costume: Shirt

2008-04-14T21:57:00.001-07:00

This shirt was worn under the heavy metal armour; the design here is on the sleeves too where it can be easily seen when the outfit is together.

Brutus Costume: Skirt

2008-04-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the skirt, worn over the bloomers/pants. Heavy material, I bet David really got a workout wearing all pieces of this outfit together!

Brutus Costume: Cape

2008-04-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the cape. It's heavy! As noted below, David wore a blue cape in "Ides of March" and only wore this red one in "Fates." The cape is made of a shiny red material, with a lining, and a silvery colored design on the edge. The fabric seems similar to that of Gabrielle's red sixth season outfit, so they may have reused fabric type across different costumes. The cape seems to be missing the shoulder medallion seen in the screencap, which is why I labeled this as complete or "nearly complete." Anyone know where it is? (grin).

Brutus Costume: Undershorts

2008-04-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some undershorts, still with the same design. They look similar to the Bloomers, so I'm not sure which piece was worn in which order. Again, all the pieces to this costume are very well made. The wardrobe dept. did amazing, quality work on this series!

Brutus Costume: Bootwraps

2008-04-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

These bootwraps tie over the top of the boot. I am really impressed with the quality of these; very heavy leather and very heavy metal pieces and rivets attached. Beautiful design!

Brutus Costume: Bloomers

2008-04-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here are the bloomers from the Brutus costume from Fates. Scroll down to the first post below (with the boots) to read the introduction to the costume. These were worn under the skirt but have the same design on the cuffs as are on the bottom of the skirt. These are heavy, too! The costume also came with a large folded piece of fabric that matches these bloomers, probably just extra fabric that wasn't needed.

Brutus Hero Costume-When Fates Collide: Boots

2008-04-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is either complete or very nearly complete, and is the costume worn by David Franklin, the actor who played Brutus in the Xena series. Thank you to Barbie Arms, who met David in person and has told me he is a wonderful person as well as a great actor! It's always nice to hear that the actors are friendly and approachable with their fans!
I wish you could all see this beautiful costume in person; the photos really do not do it justice. I knew it would be well made, but I wasn't fully prepared for just how well crafted it was! I am planning on displaying it on a mannequin, because it would be a shame not to, but in the meantime, I've taken pictures of each individual piece for posting here and will post a photo of the costume when it is displayed on the mannequin later on.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that each of these individual pieces was labeled by the wardrobe department (as is customary with most of their wardrobe pieces for main or prominent characters.) Except for one piece which does not appear to go with the main costume, each gauntlet, armband, boot, etc. says either "Brutus-David Franklin" or "Brutus-David F." The boots say "Brutus" and something else that is faded. All the pieces are gorgeous!

I'll post a screencap of Brutus wearing the costume from Fates with each piece. It should be noted that David wore a slightly different version of the Brutus costume in all the episodes he appeared in, so it was easier to match up this costume with the episode. For example, in Fates, he has the heavy red cape, in "Ides of March," his cape is blue.

This first piece...a pair of leather boots with ties.