Dressing Gods and Demons: Costume for Khon

Known in Thai as the Ramakien, is thought to have come to the Siamese royal courts from the khmer(Cambodian) kingdom during the Ayutthaya period(ca.1350-1767), probably in the 15th century. The main characters of Khon are gods, demons, and kings. The story of Ramakien is mainly concerned about the war between Tosakanth, the demon king of Lonka, and Rama, the righteous crown prince of Ayodhya. The war began when the demon king abducts Sida, Rama’s wife, with the hope of marrying her. The characters of monkey appear as Rama’s army while Tosakanth has his family members lead his troop. In Khon, the masks distinguish the differences between characters of human, monkey, and demon.

In 2005, when Her Majesty Queen Sirikit set about organizing the revival of Khon, She assembled a scholarly research team to discover what the costumes might have looked like in the past. After the historical evidence had been collected, specialists were selected to design new costumes to fit contemporary adults. This authenticity required re-establishing or expanding the weaving, embroidery, mask- and jewelry-making workshops necessary to produce all aspects of Khon costuming. 

Metal-thread, gold-metal bullion, sequin, glass-bead, and plated- copper-ornament embroidery on plain silk and silk and metal-thread brocadeMask: paper, sawdust, glass, gold leaf, paint  Mangkonkan, nephew of King Tosakanth, is a demon prince fighting against Rama and his ally Hanuman.  His demonic nature is defined by his distinctive green mask and crown, and the grotesque face embroidered onto his “armor.” Although he is a minor character in the Ramakien, Mangkonkan has a featured role in the Episode of Prommas, which was staged in 2015 and for which this costume was made.

Gold-metal bullion embroidery on silk. These and all the other items in this case were embroidered by students who were learning the techniques and styles required for khon costume.

Since 2001, master craftsmen and experts have been commissioned by Her Majesty the Queen to design embroidery in traditional style for new khon costumes and provide technical training for embroiderers. This revival effort, which began with nine embroiderers working at the SUPPORT center at Chitralada Palace in Bangkok, has now spread to a number of other workshops and employs a much larger population of workers.

Khon mask and headdress are designed for each specific character; therefore they distinguish two opposite characters in an obvious way. A headdress is usually for only male royal or noble character.