The costume of Cleopatra is unmistakable: gold, heavy adornments, lavish headdresses, dramatic makeup. The film honours this and then some, providing Taylor with 65 costume changes and showing off Cleopatra's imitable beauty and style at every opportunity.
Mankiewicz's 243-minute epic. “There were days when we literally had 10,000 extras,” recalled Landau, who played Rufio, the loyal right-hand man to Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) and Marc Antony (Burton). “They would come at 5 in the morning and be sprayed with makeup to darken them before they got into the costumes.”
What was the budget for the costumes for Cleopatra?
The original budget was $2.9million – the final bill was $44million! Rex Harrison was paid £200,000 and Richard Burton £250,000. 79 sets were constructed and costume designer Irene Sharaff created a record 26,000 costumes. Elizabeth's costumes alone cost $194,800 and included a dress made of 24-carat gold.
Costume designer Irene Sharaff was solely in charge of the designs and numerous costumes made for, and worn by, Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 Twentieth Century Fox production Cleopatra. Sharaff won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Costume Design, along with fellow costumiers on the film, Vittorio Nino Novarese and Renié.
What happened to Elizabeth Taylor during Cleopatra?
During the production of the film Cleopatra in 1961, Taylor and co-star Richard Burton began an extramarital affair, which caused a scandal. Despite public disapproval, they continued their relationship and were married in 1964.
Did Elizabeth Taylor do her own makeup in Cleopatra?
Taylor would often do her own make-up for movie roles and red carpet appearances, including in her role as Cleopatra, which called for dramatic eyeshadow play. “When I was younger, for a long time I didn't wear any make-up in films; when I did start to wear make-up, I always did it myself,” she once said.
Historians say she used herbeuty to seduce Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and his leadinggeneral Mark Anthony. But a new exhibition at the British Museum in London nextmonth, which features 11 statues previously thought to portrayother queens, will show Cleopatra as plain-looking, about 5 feet tall and apparently plump.
Cleopatra used her cosmetics not simply for beauty's sake, but for certain benefits that beauty might bring. With Julius Caesar as her lover and, later, Marc Antony as her husband, Cleopatra consolidated Egypt's power with that of Rome.
The kohl they used was a mixture of Galena and Malachite, with animal fat added to make application easier since galena and malachite are powders. This mixture was usually applied on the eyelids and around the eyes. This helped the Egyptians protect their eyes from the harsh rays of the burning Egyptian sun.
Cleopatra, the last Queen of Egypt, made a bet with Marc Antony that she could spend a large sum of money on just one meal. Cleopatra always wore two pearl earrings that, at the time, were described as the largest pearls in history.
In Greek dress, she would have worn a chiton, a type of tunic made from a single piece of fabric that was draped and pinned around the body. In Egyptian dress, she might have worn a kalasiris, a close-fitting linen garment adorned with jewellery and embellishments.
Not entirely. For the most part, the film's depiction of how things would have actually been like in Ancient Egypt and Rome are most likely far from reality. This is particularly true when it comes to Cleopatra's costumes.
There are plenty of coins surviving with Cleopatra's portrait on them, and they generally repeat the same features that seemed to astound reporters: a prominent nose, sloping forehead, sharply pointed chin and thin lips, and hollow-looking eye sockets.
Cleopatra later adopted the trend, forbidding all under her rule from painting their nails red to ensure she would stand out from the crowd. With all these antiquated cosmetics to apply, it's no surprise the ancient Egyptians had a high regard for mirrors.
Diana Preston also writes that Cleopatra's paternal grandmother may have been part Syrian, continuing that even if Cleopatra had an Egyptian grandmother "it does not follow she was a black African" and that Cleopatra "almost certainly had olive skin and dark eyes".
False lashes have been a part of beauty rituals for centuries, but their history dates back much further than many of us realize. From Cleopatra's iconic kohl-rimmed eyes to the glamorous Hollywood stars of today, false lashes have been used throughout the ages to create a dramatic and stunning look.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR: It is believed that Cleopatra also used apple cider vinegar infused into the water she used for washing her face. Apple cider vinegar has cleansing and anti-bacterial properties, leaving the skin healthier than before.
Cleopatra was said to have used a lipstick that was a red color that was obtained by crushing carmine beetles and ants. An interesting fact about ancient Egyptian lipstick—and makeup, in general, was that it was believed to have healing powers.
There are legends that Cleopatra bathed in goat milk daily for her complexion. These legends have not been confirmed and some historians believe that Roman Empress Poppaea (wife of Nero) set this bathing fashion after Cleopatra's death.
After their defeat, the children were taken to Rome by Octavian and paraded as spoils of war. Alexander Helios and his siblings were later sent to live with Octavian's sister Octavia, who had been Antony's wife before he abandoned her for Cleopatra.
Cleopatra, an Egyptian queen from a Greek family (the Ptolemys), died by suicide in 30 B.C.E. Currently, most (I take that word to mean “mainstream”) Biblical scholars think that Jesus would have been born between 4 and 6 B.C.E. so he would have missed Cleopatra by about a quarter century.
