I am making the costumes for "Taming of the Shrew" and two of the actors are quite short and quite round.  The costumes (which are already well started) are very traditional   - meaning the men are in doublets and slops.  I am about to start the costumes for these two men and would like to know if any of you have some suggestions for making them look good.  Tight fitting jackets and wide short pants are not the best look for round men but I don't want to make their clothes "different".  Surely men in the sixteenth century were stout and looked good in their clothes?  Any sources you can suggest?  Should I make the doublets longer (below the natural waistline)?  Make the slops longer and narrower?  What about sleeves?  Fitted. to minimize the bulk, or puff them out like Henry VIII and celebrate their width?  One of the characters will be Tranio so I can make him less fancy, being a servant  but the other is Hortensio who (as I read it) a bit of a dandy.

I like that line..."The bling of the sixteenth century."  I will use it when fitting these gentlemen if they seem uncomfortable with the costumes.  I think I will go ahead and accentuate their girth...this is, after all, a comedy....last night I picked out pea green velvet for Hortensio's doublet....some black fur trim....yards of black silk for a good cape with lilac lining.  The slops are going to be the palest pink..almost a flesh tone with black trimmings.....a good big hat..a walking stick....I can make this work.

Too bad for our generation that fat is equated with lower class and the rich and famous  are painfully thin.  In another century I could have really turned some heads....

 What no Buxom Wench?

Oh, yeah?  Take a look at some Botticelli's ... those babes had some junk in the trunk.

Well...I'll take some photos and let you all decide....Interestingly enough I am going to be in this production too.  I am not an actor but do like a little cameo on occasion. The director asked me if I wanted to be the Haberdasher (no lines) so I am going to do it in drag.  In order to disguise my rather ample bosom I will also be a stout gentlemen.  This is turning into the "Taming of the Shrew" for fat people....hope the director takes advantage of the comic possibilities in this.  Maybe we could careen off of each other  like tele tubbies gone mad.....