As you can see Eloise is inspired by the Plague Doctor quite a macabre image and hence so suited for Halloween. The sinister, masked figure is draped in a dark robe and his head covered with a broad-brimmed hat with a flat crown. Of course, the most striking feature is the mask, with its goggled eyes and bizarre pointed beak. The plague doctor is, to this day, one of the more common costumes in the Venetian Carnival. Despite its fearsome appearance the plague doctor’s ‘attire’ was intended to enable doctors to safely care for patients during the Black Death in the Middle Ages. The beak part of the mask was filled with fragrant herbs, like lavender, rosemary and lemon balm, to oppose the miasma or ‘bad air’ that was thought to be the cause of the plague!