Forms and Styles of costume in King Rama "IV"s spoken drama

Abstract

The purposes  of this research is to study the forms and styles of costume of King Rama VI’s spoken plays and their development. The time-frame of the study coveres the period when His Majesty went to study aboard until his demise, from 1893 to 1925, totally 33 years. The sample of study is selected from the spoken plays which His Majesty composed, directed and performed himself, totally 14 plays. The data is collected from mirror-film-pictures, textbooks, documents and photos from National Library.

            The results reveal that the styles of costume in King Rama VI’s spoken plays can be divided into 3 groups: western styles, Thai styles and mixes. Within each style, they can still be categorized into 6 periods: 1. the Late Victorian period, when male characters wore tuxedos and female characters’ costumes imitated the queen Victoria’s dresses. 2. the Edwardian period, which male characters still wore tuxedos or suits or western military uniforms. 3. the period when His Majesty returned Siam (Thailand) and   and ordained 4. the Teens period, when male characters usually wore royal pattern (Raja patterns) shirts with Jong-Gra-Ben trousers, while female characters wore Edwardian-style blouses with Jong-Gra-Ben trousers. 5. the Late Teens periods, when male characters normally wore Thai military uniforms such as Wild Tiger soldier      (Suer Pah), Navi soldier, and female characters wore loose blouses with Jong-Gra-Ben trousers. 6. Gatsby or Art Deco period, when male characters commonly wore Siam military uniforms and female characters started to change from Jong-Gra-Ben trousers to sarongs. The study found that the development of the costumes patterns of King Rama VI’s spoken plays also depended on social movement and political status of the country as well as the world situation, world war.