Last week most of you loved our heavily accessorised Regency beauty

Last week most of you loved our heavily accessorised Regency beauty.  You rated her an 8.4 out of 10.  While I loved the overall painting, I have to agree with Stella: the accessories made the ensemble, and without them the dress would have been lucky to get a 2 out of 10.

I wanted to do something really different and exciting for Rate the Dress today, and I though “ooooh….ancient costume!  Greek or Roman or something”.  And then I remembered the whole “there aren’t any extent ancient costumes” issue.  Blast. Blah.  Icky ick.

So I present the next best thing: 20th century costume designers do ancient costume.  Or, more specifically, Fritz Leiber Sr as Ceasar from the now lost 1917 Cleopatra, opposite Theda Bara.

I was going to show you Theda’s costume, but that seemed too easy.  We’ve seen variants of 1910′s and 20s sexy exotic before.  So manly warrior-emperor it is.

Lieber’s Ceasar has it all: Greek wave patterned boots, an elaborate tunic, wristbands, a Babylonian gryphon across his chest, swooping cloak, and a laurel wreath on his brow.

Did the costume designers err in taking every classical reference ever and mashing it on to one costume?  Or is the blatant and elaborate imagery necessary in a black and white film?  Aesthetically, how does the costume compare?