The plague doctor costume is one of the most recognizable costumes. The long black over coat and hat with the long beak makes for a look that is both mysterious and often spooky. But it has a long history dating back to the times of the plague.

The History Of The Plague Doctor Costume

The first recorded appearance of the plague doctor was in 1619. Charles de Lorme, who was a French doctor at the time, designed a special outfit to protect himself from any germs that he may come into contact with while treating patients.

The clothing, which included a mask with glass eyes and a large beak-like nose (to hold fragrant herbs), was worn as a precaution against contracting diseases like the Bubonic plague.

In addition to this mask, plague doctors also wore gloves, boots, a wide-brimmed hat and an overcoat. At times they carried a cane to examine patients without having to touch them. In some cases they also wore a beard snood which was used to cover their mouth and nose area. The clothing would be covered in wax to prevent infection from seeping through.

Plague Doctor Costumes Today

Today, people wear the plague doctor costume for many reasons including Halloween and historical reenactments

Have you ever seen the plague doctor costume? It’s hard to miss: a black cloak, a wide-brimmed hat and a mysterious beak-like mask that hides the doctor’s face.

The plague doctor costume is one of the most recognizable costumes in history, but it didn’t begin as an outfit for Halloween. In fact, this costume had a serious purpose during the Middle Ages: it was designed to protect doctors from the plague.

The Plague Doctor Costume

Plague doctors have been treating victims of infectious diseases for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks used doctors who wore protective clothing made of animal skins and administered treatments like wine and sulfur. In medieval France, doctors wore long leather coats from head to toe in order to protect themselves from the Black Death, which they thought was caused by miasma (putrid air).

Doctors didn’t wear masks with beaks until the 17th century, when an Italian physician named Charles de Lorme created a grotesque mask featuring glass eyeholes and an extended beak filled with flowers or herbs. The idea behind this design was that disease-carrying particles were carried by bad smells. The mask was designed to filter these smells out while also giving doctors enough room to breathe through their noses.

There is something about the Plague Doctor costume which makes it so frightening to us. Maybe because we were not used to seeing doctors with a hollow mask and a long black cloak. These doctors were mostly hired by villages to treat victims of the bubonic plague. They were called Plague Doctors and their “uniform” was a mask that looks like a beak, with glass eye holes, and filled with aromatic substances. The purpose of the mask was not only to protect them from the disease but also to protect the patients from the unpleasant smell of the doctor’s breath. They even carried a cane to point out things rather than touching them and kept their distance as much as they could.

It is believed that they weren’t really medical doctors but simple people who used this costume as an excuse for robbing people affected by the plague (they were called “plague-spies”). However, some of them might have been real doctors.

The Plague Doctor Costume is one of the most recognizable costumes. It is not just a costume, but a cultural icon. There are many stories and legends related to it. Some of these stories are true and some are not.

The Plague Doctor Costume originated in medieval England during the time of King Henry VIII. The costume was worn by doctors who treated people infected with the plague. The first use of the costume was in 14th century London where it was used for treating the sick. However, there were other uses for the costume throughout history as well.

The most famous example of this use is during World War II when American soldiers wore them to protect themselves from diseases that could be spread through their uniforms. This was done so that they could continue to fight without having to worry about getting sick or dying from an illness caused by their uniforms. The use of this type of costume became more common after World War II when doctors began using them for treating patients who had diseases such as tuberculosis and syphilis.

Anyone who has ever watched The Mask of Zorro or The Name of the Rose is probably familiar with the plague doctor costume. It’s pretty iconic, even if it has now been turned into a popular Halloween costume.

But it wasn’t just a costume. It was a uniform that real doctors wore when treating plague victims. It was intended to protect them from catching the disease.

The most iconic feature of the costume is the mask. It is shaped like a bird’s head, which would have been terrifying for plague victims to look at, as it would make the doctor look like a creature from folklore. (via Mental Floss)

The long nose on the mask had small pieces of fabric dipped in aromatic substances hanging from it because doctors believed that bad smells caused plague, so they tried to combat it with sweet smells. (via Mental Floss)

The hat they wore was wide-brimmed to prevent any pathogens from entering through their hair and beards, and there were holes in it to allow them to breathe easily. (via Mental Floss)

They also covered themselves in waxed clothing and stuffed their gloves with cotton so no germs could get through their skin. (via Mental Floss)

The beaked mask, worn by a plague doctor, makes for a great Halloween costume. But it was originally used for a real disease.

In the 17th and 18th century, the bubonic plague killed about 100 million people across Europe. The worst outbreak occurred in 1654-55 across France, Italy, and Germany.

During this time period, the plague doctor was born. He was known as the “Angel of Death,” and would roam the streets looking for dead bodies and taking care of ill patients.

The Plague Doctor’s Mask

Part of his uniform was his mask. Made out of wax or leather, it featured red glass eyes and a long beak that supposedly held herbs or flowers to protect him from bad smells (the miasmatic theory of disease). The mask also had a hollow beak that held scented items like vinegar and dried flowers (to cover up the smell of death).

The Plague Doctor’s Clothing

It is believed that the clothing protected doctors from their patients’ infectious diseases. The long overcoat, made out of dark colored leather or oilskin, came down to mid-calf with tight cuffs at the wrists and a wide hat that kept off rain when treating patients outdoors. The cane was also used to examine

The first use of a bird-beaked mask as protective gear was by Charles de Lorme, a French doctor during the plague of 1619. He would wear such a mask while treating plague victims.

This mask was made out of leather, and had glass openings for the eyes, and had a curved, beak like nose. The beak would be stuffed with herbs, spices or a plant called camphor which was believed to protect the wearer from being infected by the plague.

The masks were also worn by apothecaries who sold remedies for the plague. They would wear this as a sort of advertising gimmick. The name for these masks is known as “Peste” masks in French, which is short for “la peste” which means “the plague” in English.