Tiger Mask

Pulling on a tiger mask is the quickest costume change there is: one piece, and a face becomes a tiger's. The masks in this collection cover the whole range of ways to wear one, from a full head that reaches down past the chin to printed half masks that leave the mouth free, and from lifelike fur and pale blue eyes to a bright cartoon face ringed with shaggy fur.

How each tiger mask covers the face

The most complete is the Carnival Tiger Head Mask, a full head that goes over the wearer's own. It shows a lifelike tiger with orange and white fur, crisp black stripes, pale blue eyes, a pink nose and whiskered white cheeks, and a thick white ruff that continues below the chin to cover the neck. Its eyes are painted on, so the face looks finished.

The Original Tiger Mask sits on the front of the face instead. It is shaped into a snarling expression, with cut-out eye holes, a broad red nose, a white muzzle and an open mouth lined with fangs, and its orange coat carries thick black stripes up over the brow. The Sneaky White Tiger Head Mask takes a similar form in white, with black stripes, narrow slanted eye holes that give it a sly, scowling look, a small pink nose and a row of teeth showing along the bottom edge.

The half masks cover the least of the face. The White Tiger Mask is printed with a photographic white tiger face, pale fur with dark brown and black stripes, soft pink inner ears and a pink nose, and it stops at the nose so the mouth stays uncovered. It has two cut-out eyes and a thin black strap, and an orange tiger version in the same printed style sits alongside it. Both half masks are listed at 18x18 cm.

Lifelike or cartoon

Most of the designs aim for realism: printed or sculpted fur, natural stripe patterns and eyes set where a tiger's would be. The Tiger Mask Cartoon goes the other way. Its face is bright orange and white, with bold black stripes drawn across the brow and cheeks, outlined eyes, a round black nose and dotted whisker marks, and the whole face is framed by a shaggy ruff of long brown fur-like trim that stands out around it like a mane. It reads instantly from across a room, and cartoon faces like this one are a classic at children's parties and school plays.

Where tiger masks come out

Carnival is the obvious stage, and the designs here stretch from a full parade head to a quick half mask for a costume party. Halloween is another, especially for the snarling faces with bared teeth. In China the tiger is the third animal of the zodiac, and Lunar New Year celebrations in a Year of the Tiger bring out plenty of tiger faces. Chinese folk tradition has also long dressed small children in tiger-head hats and shoes, which are believed to keep them safe from harm.

The tiger mask in Japanese popular culture

In Japan the name has a story of its own. Tiger Mask is a well-known manga and anime from the late 1960s about an orphan who grows up to become a masked professional wrestler, and Japanese wrestlers later carried the persona into the ring. The masks on this page are costume pieces rather than replicas of that character, but they work on the same idea: a tiger's face as an instant identity.

The fascination goes much further back, to Byakko, the White Tiger who guards the West in the Four Symbols that Japan shares with China and Korea. Our article on white tiger mythology traces that figure through all three traditions, and it makes a good companion to the white masks in this collection.

Tigers on screen

Many tiger costumes start with a film. Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, Rajah in Aladdin, Tigger in Winnie the Pooh and Tigress in Kung Fu Panda have all sent people looking for a tiger face. Our complete list of movies with tigers gathers these films and many more, from animated classics to Life of Pi, and it is a handy source of costume ideas built around a striped character.

Finishing a tiger costume

A mask covers the face, and the rest of the look can follow. A tiger temporary tattoo adds a striped head or a full tiger to an arm or a shoulder, an easy match for a half mask that leaves the lower face bare. For the party itself, a tiger candy mold turns chocolate or cake into tiger heads and cartoon tigers, so the treats on the table match the costumes around it. Both sit within our wider tiger accessories range, which also gathers keychains, phone cases, mugs and patches.

Mask questions, answered

Which masks leave the mouth free?

The two printed half masks, the White Tiger Mask and its orange companion, end at the nose, so the mouth and chin stay uncovered. The face masks cover the front of the face, and the Carnival Tiger Head Mask covers the whole head.

Is there a white tiger version?

Yes. The White Tiger Mask is a realistic printed half mask, and the Sneaky White Tiger Head Mask is a white face with black stripes, pink nose and a sly, narrow-eyed expression.

Which mask looks most like a living tiger?

The Carnival Tiger Head Mask, with its painted blue eyes, white ruff and fur texture across the whole head, is the most lifelike. The printed half masks come next, since they carry a photographic tiger face.

Are the masks one size?

Each design is sold in a single version. The two half masks give their size in their options, 18x18 cm, and the other masks are listed without a size option.