Cloak used by Elisabeth Moss as Offred in <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i>
date: label: date made
content: ca 2016
name: label: wearer
content: Moss, Elisabeth
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This red wool cloak is part of a handmaid’s uniform worn by Elisabeth Moss as Offred throughout season one of the Hulu streaming television series <i>The Handmaid’s Tale</i>. The costume was designed by Ane Crabtree for the 2017 series, an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 best-selling novel by the same name. Crabtree chose this vibrant shade of red to symbolize the fertility of the handmaids. The show is set in the near future following a Second American Civil War. The Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian nation, rises to power during the war’s aftermath and implements a strict code of laws based on Christian theology, relegating all women to subservient, second-class citizenship. Worldwide infertitlity led to Gilead’s conscription of fertile women like Offred to lives as child-bearing handmaids for the dominant elite. Atwood’s dystopian world in The Handmaid’s Tale was inspired by the political climate of 1980s America – an age of Reagan conservatism, the rise of Christian fundamentalism, and heated debates over women’s reproductive rights and the environment. <p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: Hulu’s <i>Handmaid’s Tale</i> series, created and executive produced by Bruce Miller, won critical acclaim, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018, and it became the first series on a streaming service to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama. Star Elisabeth Moss also won a Golden Globe for Best Actress. Since the series’ debut, handmaid costumes have been worn by activists in several high-profile demonstrations, including protests against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and demonstrations for women’s reproductive rights.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Canada
label: Associated Place
content: Canada
topic: label: Subject
content: Television
label: Subject
content: Entertainment, general
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: MGM Television
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2018.0100.01.01
label: accession number
content: 2018.0100
label: catalog number
content: 2018.0100.01.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cloak
label: Object Name
content: costume
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall (mounted): 71 in x 28 in x 20 in; 180.34 cm x 71.12 cm x 50.8 cm