Making Mischief Oral History Project 'Jack in the Green' full

London College of Fashion

British fashion and set designer Simon Costin has had a life long passion for folklore set in motion by a childhood experience. He set up and is the Director of the Museum of British Folklore and has been going to the Jack in the Green Festival in Hastings for about 30 years. He describes the ‘Jack’ as an ambulant hedge which is attended by the ‘Bogies’. For several years Simon has been part of a flamboyant group known as the ‘Gay Bogies’. He used to make his own costumes for the festival but recently collaborated with the costume designer Christopher Kelly to create a Gay Bogies costume based on a frock coat, which was in fashion during the 1730s, the approximate date of the first written accounts of the Jack in the Green Festival.