Daomadan Warrior Chinese Opera Costume

This is my 5 year old daughter. Her name is Sukari Jordan. Each year I spend about 3 months making her costume. I rotate costumes between male and female characters and focus on a different origin country as well. I try to make costumes that are strong and have significant cultural value and history that I can teach her along the way. She helps me make the costumes as much as possible, the older she gets the more she is able to help. Her previous costumes were (in order): Maasai Warrior Kenya, Frida Kahlo Mexico, Muay Thai boxer Thailand, Queen Elizabeth the first England, Viking North Sea and this year she is a Daomadan Warrior from Peking (Chinese) opera. Daomadan are fierce warriors sometimes generals, they are known for thier strength, horse riding and fighting skills. We spent about 3 months making the costume and watching Chinese Opera together. She even learned a few words along the way. It cost around $175 and consisted of a variety of textiles, mixed patches, wooden poles (for the flags), heavy duty wire, duck tape, rubber cement, yarn, artificial flowers, hooks, tassels, fake hair, ribbons, elastic, pearls and other beads, styrofoam, a lot of feathers, other adornments and red white and black makeup. Each Halloween we make a mood board as well, I’ve included a photo. Daomadan warriors are characterized by the 7 “stars” on their headpiece (pompoms), the feathers are used as weapons to deter and fight villains, the shoulders are protected by what is known as a ‘cloud shawl’, the 4 flags on her back indicate that she is fully armed and ready for battle and the ‘armor’ around her waist protects her from further danger. I included a photo of a Daomadan from Peking opera to show you a little inspiration.