can i get the odyssey (2026) costume design rant 👀👀👀
YES
First off, I have to say I am not an authority on the subject.
I rarely if ever get to choose the time period I design for (my current project is based in WWII). But I’ve had to take plenty of fashion history courses, done a lot of research for various reasons, and this period is a personal love. If I screw up anywhere, let me know!
FIRST AND FOREMOST:
What. Was. The. DEAL.
With all the long sleeves and pants?!
I noticed it most on Telemachus, but almost everyone was guilty.
I genuinely do not know what time period was trying to be replicated here. I get that Christopher Nolan was trying not to reinvent the wheel, but? Why??
This is a very basic overview of the clothing of the time. Now, Ancient Greece lasted a LONG TIME, so this is subjective, but anything in this vein would be closer to the mark than whatever Nolan had going on.
Most of the clothing in Homeric times was straight rectangles or squares of fabric. Textiles were an extremely hard and labor intensive craft. So you took that big square and folded, pinned, and draped it into the shape you wanted without cutting the finished length of cloth.
Young men like Telemachus would have worn their chiton or peplos shorter. Older men and royalty like Menelaus and Nestor (who was ABSENT) would have worn theirs longer and accompanied by a himation or cloak.
While traveling to Sparta, Telemachus would have worn a chlamys, or a travelers cloak.
NOT his armor. That was a great way to get robbed, killed, or robbed and killed.
SPEAKING OF ARMOR
I get it.
I really get it. It looks SO COOL, BUT-
That man’s neck is wide open.
Homer described Odysseus as wearing a boar tusk helmet, which is actually a really smart move. Odysseus got that scar on his leg for a reason.
This is a good recreation of what the Achaeans during the Trojan War would’ve hypothetically been wearing:
Which, I get it, it looks goofy. But compare the brightness of this to this:
I mean come on. Not to mention they’re STILL WEARING PANTS-
If you can’t make a chiton look manly that’s ON YOU
Do NOT get me started on the Lastrygonians either.
Plate armor. In Ancient Greece. Thousands of years before such technology was available. If I kept going down this thread we'd be here for twenty years, so moving on.
Penelope. The MVP. She whom none of us deserve.
I have no idea what style or period this is supposed to be.
Women in Homeric Greece draped and pinned their clothing the same as men, just normally floor length (Unless, according to some, you were Spartan). Her gowns, to put it simply, looked too structured.
Her jewelry was honestly pretty accurate, aside from whatever is going on with that chin height chain necklace pictured above. I have no idea what that's about.
Homeric women, especially Myceneans, wore this gorgeous sun spot blush as well:
Bring it back.
Overall, I liked the movie more than I thought I would. The cinematography was phenomenal, as was the music, and the cast couldn't have been better.
I understand that Nolan wasn't going for historical accuracy, and I can accept that. The Odyssey is a myth. None of these characters are real people, not that we can prove.
Historical fashion, mythology, and history in general are some of my great loves. Costuming is the only thing that I ever really get hung up on when consuming period media, and that is entirely my problem, not something the whole world needs to accommodate.
It is nice to bitch sometimes though.
THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME RANT!





















