If you were to think of your costumed alter-ego as a creature, it’s unlikely you’d immediately conjure an image of a bat, and yet as this super niche episode demonstrates, bats have long been – and continue to be – popular subjects for dressing up, and not simply as Batman or Batwoman. Proving that no topic is too small for them to ponder, Lucy and Ben investigate the origins, symbolism and frightening beauty of the bat costume. Prepare to be stupefied! 

 

Show Links

• La Specola: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60YtZikOcjQ.
• 1st dibs: ‘Original Art Nouveau Watercolor Painting of a Bat Woman by Alfredo Edel Colorno’-  https://www.1stdibs.co.uk/furniture/wall-decorations/paintings/original-art-nouveau-watercolor-painting-bat-woman-alfredo-edel-colorno/id-f_14634382/.
• Eva Dress Pattern (from the Victorian Bat Woman) https://www.evadress.com/collections/1910s/products/1887-bat-crinoline-cos80-1887.
• Nicoletta Carlone: https://nicolettacarlone.com.
• Lalique bat rings: https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-bat-ring-images.
• Mary Shelly, Frankenstein(1818)
• Bram Stoker, Dracula(1897)
• Barbara Brownie and Danny Graydon, The Superhero Costume: Identity and Disguise in Fact and Fiction (2016).