The ribbon on Dracula's suit...?!

[Fermenter]

Hey everyone, bit of a teaser for you, but I can't think where else to ask!

I haven't even had any luck in an image search so you'll have to work with me here (hopefully I'm not going insane and imagining this)...

Picture Dracula in his sharpest suit. In my mind I see a little flash of maybe red and white ribbon, at chest height or a little lower, on the edge of the jacket. Only a couple of inches of it, at maybe a 45 degree angle. I'm thinking it's some kind of military rank or nobility/family colours? I'm sure I've seen something similar on other TV/movie characters of similar European nobility.

I know that high ranking military men of that era are often depicted with a broad red sash, but the picture in my mind has a little tab on the jacket.

Am I going mad? If not, what is it, how does it attach, and does it have a specific name?

 

[ruvort]

Would this tab of cloth happen to be coming from the lapel hole? Or is it located elsewhere?

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[Fermenter]

Aaargh this is so frustrating! Can't find any supporting images, although I really don't know what to search for!

This photoshop is KINDA the vibe - but don't get hung up on the details, I'm just guessing obviously. It might be attached to a (black) waistcoat rather than a jacket, and I may be well off the mark wrt location:

 

[Mathematicus]

You talk about Dracula but I see a major problem here: what rendition are you talking about?

This is a shot from the 1931 movie:

 

[Fermenter]

Yeah Dracula is probably a terrible example, for the exact reason that it's easy to argue about details when I'm really just trying to grasp at a general vibe, that may or may not actually be seen in some version of Dracula.

Instead of Dracula then just imagine some very grand, possibly royal, possibly military character in a really spiffy suit

 

[Fermenter]

Guys thanks for your efforts and sorry to lead you on a wild goose chase, but I feel like I'm going to have to admit fault here - I've searched extensively (again) and I just can't turn anything up.

I have to assume that I've conflated a sash worn across the body with maybe medal ribbons, and come up with this crazy idea of some kind of colour worn on the suit jacket.

The closest I can find is when a cross-body sash appears as a flash of colour at stomach height, something like this:

That's certainly the style of dress I'm picturing, so unless anyone else has any ideas, that must be it

 

[Edward]

DRacula is very loosely based on Vlad Tepes, a Transylvanian Royal, so it is perhaps a (real or more likely Hollywoodised) attempt to suggest the sort of decoration worn by those at the very top of an ancient European class system, baubles that signify aristocracy and such.

 

[Tiki Tom]

When I read Fermenter’s question, I thought “yes, I can recall seeing something like that.” And his photoshop attempt struck me as near the mark, but not quite. I really do think I remember some kind of button hole (maybe) ribbon indicating some sort of status, worn on mens’ formal Wear. Yet, after spending waaay more time googling images than I should (I even googled images of Grandpa Munster), I found exactly NOTHING. Which leads me to the conclusion that this is an example of the Mandela Effect: we are recalling something that may exist in an alternate timeline, but does not exist in our current timeline.

Relax. I’m joking. But it is strange.

 

[ruvort]

Was it anything like this? Or more defined?

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[Nobert]

You're talking about this thing, yes? Sort of a medal on a ribbon underneath the bow tie.

"If the stage show invented the image of Dracula, the Universal movie cemented it. Lugosi contributed his own flair to Dracula’s costume with the mysterious addition of an ornamental medal worn on his chest that, depending on who you ask, may or may not have been his own personal possession. Interesting fact about the “dracula medallion“: it’s actually based on the real medal awarded to Count Victor von Dracula during the Vampire Wars of the 14th century.

That’s not true, actually. So please don’t cite this post in your term paper on supernatural military campaigns or undead numismatics.

The origins of the medallion are, however, somewhat mysterious. It only appears in two scenes, including the first onscreen appearance of Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula (see top image). Despite its meager screen time, the medallion is Lugosi’s signature piece and has become an integral part of the visual identity of Dracula. Lugosi was allegedly buried with one version of the medal, and the other version –if it ever existed– was lost during the production of the film. For years, the medal has been the focus of speculation among Dracula fans. What did it mean? What happened to it? What did it look like? Some of that speculation has been answered with the recent release of an official replica created using new sculpts painstakingly crafted with the aid of image-enhancement and color-recovery software. Lugosi’s iconic performance and wardrobe formalized the tropes first established in the play to create the familiar image of Dracula that we know and love today."


Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts...meless-vampire-101868474/#ku1MbBrT2UKZtjuV.99

 

[Edward]

This is what I had in the back of my head:

https://fashioninmotion.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/marilyn_diamonds.jpg

 

[Edward]

You're talking about this thing, yes? Sort of a medal on a ribbon underneath the bow tie.

"If the stage show invented the image of Dracula, the Universal movie cemented it. Lugosi contributed his own flair to Dracula’s costume with the mysterious addition of an ornamental medal worn on his chest that, depending on who you ask, may or may not have been his own personal possession. Interesting fact about the “dracula medallion“: it’s actually based on the real medal awarded to Count Victor von Dracula during the Vampire Wars of the 14th century.

That’s not true, actually. So please don’t cite this post in your term paper on supernatural military campaigns or undead numismatics.

The origins of the medallion are, however, somewhat mysterious. It only appears in two scenes, including the first onscreen appearance of Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula (see top image). Despite its meager screen time, the medallion is Lugosi’s signature piece and has become an integral part of the visual identity of Dracula. Lugosi was allegedly buried with one version of the medal, and the other version –if it ever existed– was lost during the production of the film. For years, the medal has been the focus of speculation among Dracula fans. What did it mean? What happened to it? What did it look like? Some of that speculation has been answered with the recent release of an official replica created using new sculpts painstakingly crafted with the aid of image-enhancement and color-recovery software. Lugosi’s iconic performance and wardrobe formalized the tropes first established in the play to create the familiar image of Dracula that we know and love today."


Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts...meless-vampire-101868474/#ku1MbBrT2UKZtjuV.99

Indeed. Grandpa Munster spoofed his look; Hammer Horror took it on as a significant influence on Christopher Lee's Dracula. HUgely influential.

As a side note, not only was LUgosi buried with the medallion, he was buried in his full Dracula costume, per his own explicit wishes.

 

[Fermenter]

The image I had in my head definitely wasn't a neck medallion - my photoshop effort is as close as I can get, it was definitely some kind of very obvious ceremonial augmentation to either the jacket or possibly the waistcoat.

Perhaps it exists in some solitary movie scene somewhere, depicting some grand European character, and it stuck in my mind to the point it seemed like an actual thing.

Or perhaps I'm barking mad...

 

[Just Jim]

If you're mad, you aren't alone. I read your original post and immediately wondered the same thing. Post #3 is close to the image I saw in my mind's eye.

 

[Patrick Hall]

You might also be thinking about the Nazi version of the Iron Cross 2nd class that has become a pretty iconic piece of Nazi costuming in film. Recipients generally only wore the ribbon for every day wear, from the second button of their tunic. But it's the same colors as your photoshop. Google it and see if that's what you are thinking about.

 

[Edward]

You might also be thinking about the Nazi version of the Iron Cross 2nd class that has become a pretty iconic piece of Nazi costuming in film. Recipients generally only wore the ribbon for every day wear, from the second button of their tunic. But it's the same colors as your photoshop. Google it and see if that's what you are thinking about.

Like this?

 

[Patrick Hall]

that's the one! Nazis/Dracula - not a hard leap in the subconscious imagination.

 

[Edward]

that's the one! Nazis/Dracula - not a hard leap in the subconscious imagination.

It wouldn't be entirely surprising, no, given that so much of the Nazi aesthetic has since been adopted here and there in popular culture, even subconsciously, as representative of evil. Worth remembering too how many people who worked in Hollywood in the 30s through 50s were refugees from the German cinema industry; as memory serves, the key cinematographer on the Lugosi version of Dracula, who went on to work on a lot of the classic Universal horror features, had also worked on Nosferatu with Murnau before fleeing the Nazis.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Brilliant detective work. That is indeed what I was thinking of. I never thought of it coupled with a uniform. Somehow, in my mind’s eye, it was linked to formal wear (and not necessarily to vampires.). Still, this seems to be the root of it. Funny how the mind works. Well done, folks.

 

[kaiser]

Ok, now that it has been found, what is it exactly ?