A case of misconstrued Rock Military Style: Mick Jagger and his

Evzone little girls party frock fustanella, Hyde Park, July 5, 1969

Michael A. Langkjr, Ph.D.

My focus in this essay is on the appearance and performance of Mick Jagger at Hyde Park on July 5, 1969
(Haver 2009: 87-160, 176)1 in a costume inspired by
the fustanella, a skirt-like garment worn by the Evzone
elite ceremonial unit of the Greek Royal (since 1974:
Presidential) Guard (figure 1). It is a particularly intriguing example of the enigma of the military-styled rock
artist (Langkjr 2010: 182-213). Having originated in
a type of kilt, usually white and with many folds, worn
by Greek men during the 19th century, the Evzone fustanella (also spelt foustanella) looks feminine to anyone unfamiliar with the Balkan traditional male dress
and it occasioned much confusion and speculation in the
contemporary British press about Jaggers motivations
in thus cross-dressing. In Rock/Fashion Joshua Sims
proclaims: By wearing what was essentially a white
moir mini-dress over white trousers ... Jagger, his lips
smeared with blood-red lipstick, his hair newly washed
and hanging over his shoulders, gave a performance of
unprecedented sexual ambiguity (Sims 1999: 116). Jag-

1. Singer Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones wearing his white Mr

Fish frock performs on stage at the concert in Hyde Park, July 5,
1969, given in memory of guitarist Brian Jones who died two days
earlier. Photo courtesy of Mirrorpix.

gers Mr Fish-designed little girls white party frock

became a scandal in the press.
It is established here that the motives behind the
bona fide uniform derivation represented by the Rolling
Stone lead, Mick Jagger, in his white frock-dress worn
in 1969 are complex. This frock phenomenon should
be seen in the context of Jaggers reading of Shelleys
elegy Adonais over the untimely death of fellow Stone,
Brian Jones, followed by the release of white butterflies.
Allusions between frock, Shelley and butterflies suggest
a well thought out message along the lines of a Greek
romantic theme having been what Jagger had intended.
The Stones had been beset by troubles, including much
publicized drug busts, and after June 8 announcements
of Brian Joness leaving the band and Mick Taylors hiring, Jagger felt obliged to show the fans that the Rolling
Stones were stronger than ever. A free comeback concert
in Hyde Park seemed the perfect solution, and the date
was set for July 5 (Karnbach & Bernson 1997: 130). But,
when Jones died suddenly drowned in his swimming
pool on July 2 the free concert unexpectedly became a
wake for Brian Jones.
Jagger had spent time on July 3 trying to find an
all-white outfit to wear at his friend and financial adviser, London merchant banker Prince Rupert Loewensteins white-themed ball that night. He arrived clad in a
white ruffled frock by the avant-garde designer Michael
Fish (Schofeld 1983: 168-169; Hotchner 1990: 216;
Andersen 1993: 207; Davis 2001: 275; Wyman 2002:
332; Loewenstein & Dodd 2003: 208). One of the most
distinctive designers of the day, Fish had made a great
splash by intensively promoting skirts for men in the late
1960s. He is remembered chiefly as the creator of the
wide kipper necktie. Fish opened Mr Fish, 17 Clifford
St., London, in 1966, described as a holocaust of seethrough voiles, brocades and spangles, and miniskirts
for men, blinding silks, flower-printed hats (Cohn
1971: caption figs. 27-29; pp. 142-146, 154; Lobenthal
111

2. Designer Michael Fish wearing a skirt or kilt in the In-Group

Young, photo-spread in the August 1967 issue of the youthfully
irreverent social glossy magazine Queen. It was one of a series of
four pictures: In Group Old, In Group Young, Out Group
Old, and Out Group Young, of London trendies taken by
Patrick Lichfield. Photo courtesy of All Over Press.

1990: 146, 148-149; Rous 1998: lx, 51; Fogg 2003: 70;
Gorman 2006: 59). The following year, Fish memorably
wore a male dress, gold paisley jacket and scarf with
knee socks and buckled shoes for the In Group spread
by social photographer Patrick Lichfield in the August
1967 issue of Queen magazine (Lichfield 1986: 107108, 118, 120, 121; Orton & Lair 1986: 244-245; Stevens 1987: 17-18; Coleridge & Quinn 1987: 181-187;
Huxley-Parlour 2008: 11, 40, no. 23) (figure 2).
There was really nothing new in the idea. American
clothing designer and champion of dress reform Elizabeth
Hawes remarked in 1967: The Moroccans, the Arabs,
and the Greeks have been at it for years, not to mention
the Scots. The only time men blanche is when you call
it a skirt. If you say kilt, its all right (Lobenthal 1990:
157; Berch 1988: 186). Marshall McLuhan remarked in
1968: Men may adopt it; the tribal kilt, which survived
as page-boy skirt, was once the comfortable dress of
warriors (Lobenthal 1990: 139; McLuhan 1968i: 155,
159, 164, 166; McLuhan 1968ii: 29; McLuhan 1968iii:
131-134, 245). The French couturier Jacques Esterel was
in 1966 one of the first to make a skirt for men, later to
inspire Jean Paul Gaultier (Chenoune 1996: 10, 12, 74;
112

McDowell 2001: 66 [caption], 87, 95 [caption]; Worsley 2002: 79; Bolton 2003: 18, 21). Fish pronounced: I
have tried to break down the frontiers of man, but as
Gaultier has noted: The line between masculinity and
femininity can be a very troubled frontier (Cohn 1971:
145; McDowell 2001: 47).
Fish says that he had designed the frock slightly too
long, so that it did not look like a military tunic, but more
like a dress (Schofeld 1983: 168; Sims 1999: 114). It has
been suggested that the theme of sexual ambiguity and
the dangerous notion of wearing dresses was why Mick
Jagger chose a Michael Fish dress to appear at the Stones
Hyde Park gig in 1969 (and David Bowies overtly ambisexual Ziggy Stardust doppelganger 1972-73 refers
back to Jagger as a master of persona-skipping disguises,
including the Greek Evzone presidential guard-inspired
Michael Fish frock mistaken for a girls dress which Jagger had worn at the Hyde Park memorial show) (Altham
1966: 74; Dalton 1981: 122; Palmer 1983: 82, 89 [caption]; Hotchner 1990: 124, 354; Lobenthal 1990: 155;
Barnard 1993: 106, 109; Faithfull 1994: 140; Whiteley
1997: 67-78, 95; Sims 1999: 112-116; Paytress 2000: 3435, 69-79). Although Jaggers well-deserved reputation as
a girlie performer would also have influenced the interpretation of his fustanella as a girlie dress (and was
possibly pushing a from about 1966 pre-existing fashion
trend of unisex or reciprocal dressing to the edge in a provocative assertion of independent life-style), when seen in
the context of a wake which is, after all, a serious occasion such cross-dressing transgression cannot have been
Jaggers primary motive.
Saturday 5 July, a very hot day, was the day of the
biggest pop concert that the world had yet seen. It has
been claimed that Mick intended to wear a snakeskin
suit designed by Ossie Clark, but decided to wear the
white dress, as it was so hot (Wyman 1990: 536; Wyman
2002: 333; Loewenstein & Dodd 2003: 132), and that
he switched at the last minute (Havers 2009: 115). But
heat is too simple an explanation for Jaggers outfit. At
5.25 p.m. the crowd burst into a frenzy of applause at the
announcement: The Stones want to play tonight for Brian. They went on stage led by Jagger in what one eyewitness termed the goddamnedest costume I ever saw
(Hotchner 1990: 329). As another commentator put it: It
says volumes for Jaggers self-confidence that, in front of
300,000 fans and a TV audience of millions, he chose to
come on like a 13-year-old at a school dance (Sandford
2003: 167). Along with his lipstick, rouge, eye-shadow
and chin-length wings of hair, a gold- or brass-studded
leather collar termed a choker or dog collar, studded
antique leather belt and wooden crucifix, Jagger wore

Michael Fishs dress white, bow-buttoned down the

front with bishop sleeves over a mauve vest and white
trousers (Neville 1970: 113; Scaduto 1974: 26; Hotchner
1990: 329; Wyman 1990: 536; 159; Andersen 1993: 213;
Norman 2001: 351-352; Salewicz 2002: 163).
Fishs creation has been variously described as: an
extraordinary white dress (Sanchez 1979: 161), white
mini-dress (Cohn 1971: fig. 18, caption), buttonthrough mini-dress (Wyman 1990: 536), mini-shirt
(Bolton 2003: 122), white skirted, party costume
(Draper 2007: 77) or little girls party dress (Davis
2001: 296; Norman 2001: 352), frilly white kneelength dress over trousers (Jackson 1992: 221), Greekinspired, voile dress (Wyman 2002: 332), smock
(Palmer 1983: 164), white frock (Paytress 1999:
97), sort of Greek frockcoat (Aldridge 1984: 93),
flounced-out trouser suit, white, with a frock jacket
(Cannon 1969: 62), a white, bow-buttoned billowing
frock over tight white pants (Neville 1970: 113), dolly
dress (Hotchner 1990: 329), dolly tunic (Hotchner
1990: 330), filmy white thigh-length tunic (Salewicz
2002: 163), and white, frilly garment (Norman 2001:
351). It has even been claimed that Jagger had put on
his girlfriend Marianne Faithfulls white mini dress!
(Cawthorne 1989: 167, fig. 5, caption). The entire outfit
comprising frock, trousers, and gilet (waistcoat or vest)
as originally conceived by Fish could be seen at a preview of his summer fashions in a show held in Londons
Clifford Street on 24 March 1969 (figure 3). In an interview after the concert on the topic of Where Did He
Get That Frock?, Michael Fishs business partner Barry
Sainsbury pointed out that Its very masculine. They
cost 85 guineas each, adding that Sammy Davis, Jnr.
liked the outfit very much and hes just ordered three in
black, brown and champagne (Paytress 2003: 170).2
Rupert Loewenstein remarked that at the time we
were giving a dance in our London house where everyone was asked to wear white. I remember Mick wearing a
somewhat bucolic white smock, which he also wore at the
memorial concert tribute which the Stones paid to Brian
Jones in Hyde Park a day or two afterwards (Loewenstein
& Dodd 2003: 208). Calling the costume a smock or a
frock goes back to the similarity it bore to the traditional
English landworkers white or off-white smock-frock (figure 4). Jaggers frock does bear superficial resemblance to
some features of the archetypal smock, notably the length,
the character of the pleats, the collar with tucks on the outer
edge which appeared flat when worn open at the neck and
the fullness of the sleeves and the quality of fabric suggesting cotton (drill) or linen and the white or off-white colour
(Marshall 1980: 8, 10-13, 16-17, 33, 34, 38).

3. Michael Fish held an outdoor preview of his summer fashions in

March 1969 on Clifford Street in London. Among items in this showing was the frock costume later worn by Mick Jagger. Photo courtesy of Mirrorpix.

4. Photograph of an English carter wearing a traditional landworkers

smock. Date unknown. Courtesy of Museum of English Rural Life,
University of Reading.

113

Fish had been to Greece for a holiday, and the silhouette that stuck in his mind was on the soldiers where
this extraordinary thing stuck up at the sides and had
pom poms... My God! If anyone in England wore that
imagine (Sims 1999: 114). Tourists can still see versions
of this outfit in Athens on the Evzones who guard the
tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Old Palace
building at Syntagma Square (Mylonas 1998: passim;
Zidianakis 2009: 95). The modern fustanella appears
in Greece worn by the Albanians, and especially the
Arvanites, as Greeks of Albanian ancestry were called,
most of whom fought alongside the Greeks against the
Turks in the long war of independence (Skafidas 2009:
148).3 It consisted of a wide-sleeved shirt and a multigored knee-length skirt made from many yards of linen
or cotton (Welters 1995: 61). The very short fustanella,
or fustanellitsa, as worn today by the picturesque presidential guard, for some appears to be a misinterpretation of the original (Welters 1995: 54; Skafidas 2009:
147-148). It is ironical to note how Fish complained at
Jaggers frock having been made too long (as compared
to the Greek palace guard original), when, in fact, the
greater length would have been the historically more
authentic; adding to the confusion is that the numerous
pleats or lagiolia of the fustanella are lacking in Jaggers
costume.
Stones member Charlie Watts remarked that Mick
looked fabulous with his Byron-style dress on (Loewenstein & Dodd 2003: 132). It is claimed that The
most famous English philhellene of his time, Lord Byron, fancied wearing the fustanella himself when he
went to Greece to fight alongside the Greeks (Skafidas 2009: 148). This is a myth. Following the outbreak
of the Greek revolution in 1821 against the Ottomans,
the British along with other European countries began
to organize assistance (St Clair 1983: 163; Eisner 1991:
115). George Gordon Noel, 6th Lord Byron (1788-1824)
volunteered for the cause, and at his landing at Missolonghi on 5 January 1824 he wore a splendid scarlet
coat with gold epaulettes (Minta 1998: 247; MacCarthy
2002: 490). The Greeks circulated a print of him wearing
a fustanella the unlikeliest garment in which it would
be possible to picture him, since he was lame (Langley
Moore 1971: 13) (figure 5).4 If Byron had never actively worn the fustanella, how can the myth that he
had done so have cropped up?
During earlier travels to Greece, Byron greatly admired what he recalled in the semi-autobiographical epic
poem Childe Harolds Pilgrimage (1812-18), Canto II:
58: 514, as The wild Albanian kirtled to his knee (Minta 1998: 48; Byron/McGann 1980: 62). Childe Harold,
114

5. Lord Byron depicted in Arvanite costume with the Acropolis in the

background. The painting is more symbolical than historical (Compare the costume and setting with that in Thomas Phillips painting
of Lord Byron, Portrait of a Nobleman in the dress of an Albanian,
1814). Painting in oil on canvas 96,0 x 74,0 cm. Artist unknown.
Athens, Benaki Museum.

upon which Byrons fame was based, is, among much

else, a political poem about the contemporary condition
of the Greeks (St Clair 1983: 159). In the perhaps best
known of all Byrons portraits he is wearing a colourful Albanian (Arnaout) fustanella (Welters 1995: 61;
Peach 2000: 63; Clubbe 2005: 37).5 This costume was
acquired on his tour of the Epirus in 1809, when he wrote
to his mother of the Albanians in their dresses [which
are] the most magnificent in the world, consisting of a
long white kilt, gold worked cloak, crimson velvet gold
laced jacket & waistcoat, silver mounted pistols & daggers (Peach 2000: 60, 62). Byron had worn the costume
very little, and never in England except for half-an-hour
to have his portrait done (Peach 2000: 62-64, note 20).
On display on a wax model of Byron at Bowood House,
Wiltshire, Aileen Ribiero has it beautifully reproduced
side by side with the Byron portrait painted by Thomas
Philips in 1814 (Ribiero 2010, 47-48). Byrons Albanian portrait, utilizing the fustanella as heroic relic, was

6. Singer Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones wearing the white Mr

Fish frock reads the poem Adonais by Shelley on stage in Hyde
Park, July 5, 1969, as a tribute to Brian Jones. Photo courtesy of
Mirrorpix.

superb branding propaganda, reflecting on the ability of

costume to fulfil a poetical as well as political purpose.
I would suggest that Jaggers frock may, in the context
of the mise en scne at Hyde Park, be seen as having had
a similar function in recalling the Byronic hero and
persecuted artist.
Returning to the Hyde Park concert: Mick then addressed the crowd: Aawrite... OK, now listen... Will
you just cool it for a minute... Cause I really would like
to say something for Brian. [...] What we feel about him
just going when we didnt expect him to... OK? (Sandford 2003: 167). Jagger then took a well-thumbed and
marked book in both hands, and proceeded to read from
Percy Bysshe Shelleys Adonais (figure 6). It was originally penned in 1821 as an elegy, a poem on the death
of the poet Keats (Shelley/Knerr 1984: 24-51; Curran
1983: 166-168). Jagger read stanza 39 (Peace, peace!
He is not dead, he doth not sleep He hath awakened
from the dream of life), turned to a new page, and went

on into Stanza 52 (The One remains, the many change

and pass; Heavens light forever shines, Earths shadows
fly) in memory of Jones (figure 6).6
Possibly it was Marianne Faithfull, who, as it has
been claimed, had been solicited for something good
to read (Sandford 2003: 165). This is plausible insofar
as Faithfulls two autobiographies show her as having
been phenomenally literate: The others on these tours
used to laugh at me because I would lug piles of books
around: The Merchant of Venice, Jane Austen, Paradise
Lost, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley (Faithfull 1994: 2829, 31, 33, 60, 74, 96)... [Mick] taught me about black
music and the blues, he opened me up to dimensions of
music, nature, and emotional range I had known nothing about. And I did the same for him with books and
art and ideas (Faithfull 1994: 179). Doomed romantics were among Faithfulls secret heroes with Keith
Richards as the epitome of [her] ideal of the tortured
Byronic soul or hero (Faithfull: 1994: 60, 69, 78),
and it is also evident from her later conversations with
beat poet Gregory Corso that Shelley was important to
her (Faithfull 2007: 183, 185, 190). If indeed Faithfull
had been the inspiration behind Jaggers choice of Shelley, it is strange that she makes no mention of it. Jagger,
too, could be a voracious reader, as well as being widely
read (Faithfull 1994: 74; Barnard: 118). So it may be that
the circumstances were as Christopher Gibbs, part of the
London art milieu which the Stones became involved
in the mid to late 1960s and at the time a participant
in many aspects of their lives, recalls: Mick called...
to talk about what he might read at Hyde Park. We discussed using Wordsworths Intimations of Immortality
as well as Shelleys Adonais (Loewenstein & Dodd
2003: 137).
The final choice was apt: Shelley laments that Keats
died young and did not live to develop as a poet. Brian
Jones gave the Stones what has been called the full
force of authentically damned youth (Davis 2001: 295).
[Brians] childlike sweetness going to death reminds us
of Keats and Shelley and Byron... The beautiful avantgarde always risking its skin by its very deeds and who
end up dying young (Kreidl 1970: 309). The Romantics, like Byron while fighting for Greek liberty, died in
noble excess. Romanticism and rock share protocols for
a heroism of excess. Within the community of rock, the
deaths of Morrison, Hendrix, Jones and Joplin nurtured
the myth of the eternally young (Pattison 1987: 122125). Which brings us back to the girlie-frock: Woman as nature symbolizing rebirth, refocusing androgyny
within an overall context of death, sensuality and dance,
the eternally youthful androgyne along with the glamour
115

of boyhood that qualifies for the Hellenic and hedonistic ideal of art (Whiteley 1997: 91, 92). Other writers
have noted the compatibility in values centering on personal freedom, non-conformism and spirit of rebellion
(and drug use), promoted by both rock and romanticism:
The heroic figure common to both musical worlds of
Rock and Romanticism is the star performer-composer...
the dashing figure with a sensational if not scandalous
life style (Greckel 1979: 177-178, 192, 199-200). Jagger painted Jones as a heroic figure by framing him in
this context, and he did so broadly. He may even have
perceived himself as striking a glamorous figure, viz.
that of the glamorous, defiant Byronic hero (Thorslev
1962: 3-13; 185-199; Stein 2004: 8-34).
At another level Adonais accuses the forces of cultural reaction of murderous insensitivity, of actually killing John Keats who, unlike Shelley, could not sustain
the abuse with which his creations were met (Scrivener
1982: 273). As Jagger ended his reading of Shelleys
words, the stage crew picked up brown cardboard boxes that had been placed onstage earlier and shook them
outward, releasing several hundred white butterflies as a
symbolic gesture, intended to flutter en masse towards
the heavens to emulate Brians soul. The butterflies may
also have alluded to the drug sentences of Keith Richard,
Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, having given occasion for
the Times editorial on 1st July 1967: Who Breaks A Butterfly On A Wheel? (Fryer 1967: 10; Dalton 1972: 70-73;
Carr 1976: 46). The butterfly gesture thus provided Jagger with an opportunity for, like Shelley, publicly attacking his established detractors Jaggers own as well
as of the contemporary London Underground which
he represented: We will wear what we want, do what we
want (Scrivener 1982: 273; Fryer 1967: 7-20).
Jagger then unbuttoned his dress and peeled it off.
It has been claimed that he made fashion history and
surely established another first by being the first man
to take off a dress in public (Wyman 1990: 536). The
Stones played for just under an hour and the concert ended at around 6.15 p.m. Keith Richards aptly sums it up:
Hyde Park was important, not because of the musical
content but because it was one of the largest gatherings
ever held in London. There was a powerful feeling that
there were a lot of us, that things were changing, that we
had something to give. By then we were being leant on
aggressively by the authorities, so to us it was a great
show of solidarity. It must have made them tremble a
bit down the road at Whitehall (Loewenstein & Dodd
2003: 135). The feeling of the Stones lethargic and not
up to par performance as well as some misadventures
(such as most of the butterflies having died while wait116

ing to be released), have been allowed to colour the interpretation of this event as having been poorly organised
and in poor taste. Much did go wrong that day (although
there is some disagreement as to how much did in fact go
wrong) due to the heat, the jarring juxtaposition of two
settings (an original African tropical one and an improvised Greek classical romanticist one), the still relatively
unsophisticated audio technology of the time, the Stones
not having been adequately rehearsed along with their
being distraught and disoriented by the untimely demise
of the bands original founder, Brian Jones. Contrary to
the intentions of Jagger expressed through his romanticist Greek-inspired symbolism, of reinforcing the ideals
of the countercultural Underground, events surrounding the concert itself as well as subsequently notably
Altamont suggested a change, a beginning decline, that
retrospectively has been allowed to taint perceptions of
the Stones frock n roll show at Hyde Park.
To conclude: However improvised Hyde Park may
have been, this was a coordinated mise en scne, which
Jaggers frock must be considered a part of. Jagger
had placed himself in a quasi-Shelleyan pose in treating
Joness death in a manner analogous with that of Keats
having been the Adonais of Shelleys poem, as well as
by wearing a Byronic costume and thus retaining his
branding as a heroic hedonist. His little girls white
party frock must be seen in this context. The fact that
Michael Fish, who had designed the frock, was known
to be into ethnic design suggests that Jagger was aware
of the frock having had a Greek inspiration, and that its
Greek character had set in motion a train of associations that ended up thematising the memorial over Jones
at Hyde Park. The publics reaction to Jaggers costume
was a mixture of confusion and misunderstanding, shock
and scandal. Although this undoubtedly was part of
what Jagger had intended, his wearing it on the occasion
of a memorial concert for Jones was also meant to be
symbolic, drawing on English romanticism in a special
pleading on behalf of the rock star as a persecuted artist.
The frock episode can thus be seen as a contextualized
artefact as well as an artefact of context.
1. Apart from Richard Havers recently published lavishly illustrated
account in his The Stones in the Park, descriptions of the Hyde Park
concert are in: Cannon 1969: 62; Logan 1969: 2-3/134-35; Welch
1969: 14/133; Neville 1970: 108-22; Neville/Dalton 1972: 136-44;
Scaduto 1974: 22-27; Sanchez 1979 (1996): 159-63; Miles 1982:
34; Palmer 1983: 164; Schofield 1983: 168-69; Aldridge 1984: 93;
Hotchner 1990: 329; Wyman 1990: 532-38; Jackson 1992: 219-22;
Andersen 1993: 209, 213-14; Barnard 1993: 98; Miles 1994: 55; Bonanno 1997: 91; Karnbach & Bernson 1997: 23, 130; Holland & Loewenstein 1998: 89; Paytress 1999: 97; Davis 2001: 296-97; Norman

2001: 348, 351-54; Salewicz 2002: 161-64; Wyman 2002: 332-33;

Loewenstein & Dodd 2003: 130-35; Sandford 2003: 164-68; Egan
2006: 79, 80-82; Draper 2007: 77. Photo-documentation of Jagger
at Hyde Park is in Dalton 1972: 81, 107, 136-145; Hoffman/Jopling
1984: no pagination; Norman 1989: 94-95; Miles 1994: 55; Goodall
1995: 62; Holland/Loewenstein 1998: 90-91; Paytress 1999: 96-98;
Wyman 2002: 332-37; Draper 2007: 77, 79. A film of the concert was
released entitled The Stones in the Park, DVD, Granada Television
International, distribution: Front Row, 2002, produced and directed
by J. Durden-Smith & L. Woodhead; DVD, Digitally remastered audio. Granada International, Atlantic Film, 2006. Merchandize figures
of Jagger in his Evzone - inspired frock and a souvenir booklet Stones
in the Park. The full story behind the TV show (Wyman 2002: 332).
2. Bill Wyman relates how: Many years later, Sammy Davis Jr. told
me that he had ordered the outfit and was due to collect it before it
was lent to Mick. Sammy ordered three more at 89 each, in black,
brown and champagne (Wyman 2002: 332). But how many and for
whom they were made is uncertain. Fish himself recalls that Mick
went into (my shop) Mr Fish to get a white outfit for the ball. Id
made two outfits, one in purple and one in white, for a fashion show
at the London Planetarium. One was made for Calvin Lockhart, this
most beautiful black actor, and one for Lord Lichfield. The trousers
and gillet (sic) were moir, without sleeves. When it was done, Barry
Sainsbury put Patrick (Lichfield) off, saying Youll look like a big
girls blouse wearing that. Calvin Lockhart also went wobbly. The
boy who wore it [at the March showing (Ill. 3)] was a very sweet
Scottish shepherd called Stuart. So there was this one white outfit and
the purple one (Id love to know where the purple one is) and in came
Mick when I was away and picked it up and probably said, Can I
have it cheap, because its been worn? and Put it on my account
probably, because hes always rather careful (Sims 1999: 114).
3. See also Desss, J. (1962), Greek dress through the ages. Tribute
to Anthony Benaki, The Connoisseur, vol. 150, May 1962: 56, who
sees the origin in the chiton and esp. the short chitonnion with a
belt holding it in at the waist.
4. For examples of such prints, see , A. I. (2006),
, . .,
- (Papastauros, A. I. (2006), Lord Byron from
Joannina to Immortality, vol. I, Dodoni-Odysseas): figs. 25, 68, 71,
and pp. 91, 92, 229.
5. Following my presentation at the ENDYESTHAI (To Dress)
conference, a question was raised of whether Byron had in fact worn
a fustanella in the Phillips portrait. I am not preoccupied with the
origins and taxonomy of the garment in Greece, but recognize that,
in order to address the matter of what Byron had worn one must
properly begin by defining precisely what beyond an Albanian
costume is meant by fustanella. I have based my assumptions
concerning Byrons costume on authoritative studies of the fustanella
(Welters 1995) and those which cite specialists on Greek costume
(Skafidas 2009, who cites I. Papantoniou and E. Petropoulos), as well
as on focused studies of the Phillips Byron portrait (Peach 2000),
most of which do describe it as a fustanella. I have not come across
a single published claim that it was anything other than a fustanella.
However that may be, the fact remains that the designer Michael Fish
claimed the Evzone uniform (termed by Welters and Skafidas a fustanella) as his inspiration, the tradition of Byron whether spurious
or not having worn the fustanella was long established, and those
surrounding Jagger termed it his Byronic dress; all the premises
for setting in motion the train of Greek and Byronic Romanticist
associations described in my essay were in place.
6. For references to this episode, see note 1, infra.

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Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Penny Breia of Lichfield Studios Limited,
Rosa Florou, President of the Messolonghi Byron Society, Sophia
Handaka and the staff of the Benaki Museum, Athens, and Caroline
J. Benson of the Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading for their invaluable assistance rendered in connection with the
illustrations for this article. Special thanks to Thanassis Yapijakis for
calling my attention to A.I. Papastauros with its
images of Byron in Greece. Thanks to Cherine Munkholt, The Danish National Research Foundations Centre for Textile Research, and
to Dr. phil. Mogens Pelt, Saxo Institute, Dept. of History, University
of Copenhagen for their comments to a draft version of my paper. Finally I would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Danish
National Research Foundations Centre for Textile Research.

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