Historical Fancy Dress

Category: Fancy Dress Balls

  • Fast and easy fancy dress ideas

    With the upcoming 1880s Victorian Fancy Dress Ball, I've gotten a lot of questions along the lines of "can I wear _____?"  The answer is usually "Yes!"  To shortcut some of this discussion, here are some general categories of costume that are perfectly fine for a fancy dress ball:

    – Any historical costume from any era prior to the 1880s.  It doesn't even have to be very good — there are comments in manuals about how some people are very authentic in their costuming and some much less so (nothing has changed!)  Call yourself "a lady of the previous century" or "a gentlemen of the Roman times" or something similar and you're all set.  Ladies, try wearing a different era over a Victorian corset or even a bustle for the hilariously inappropriate silhouette sometimes found in 1880s "historical" costumes.  (Examples of historical costumes, good and bad.)

    – Any ethnic dress from any country, from a Scottish kilt to a Japanese kimono, is fine.  Ethnic and national dress were very popular for fancy dress balls.  (Examples of national/ethnic costume.)

    – Any role from a novel, opera, poem, or play from the 1880s back is eligible; Gilbert and Sullivan costumes are particularly appropriate, and mythology was a popular source.  (Examples of costumes from literature, mythology, and theater/opera.)

    – For ladies who already have a gown in a particular color combination that matches a flower or butterfly, use fake ones as accessories (on the head or shoulder, as trim, and as a hat and/or fan as well) and go as that flower or butterfly.  Find or make wings and antennae for the latter.  Multicolored costumes might be a garden of flowers or flock of butterflies, or the queen of either.  (Examples of flower and insect costumes.)

    – Add a few accessories to a gown and go abstract to represent a month or season, weather, or astronomical bodies — with a green dress, be summer, and with a white one, winter.  Pastels?  Represent spring.  Grey?  Dusk.  Yellow?  The sun.  Blue?  The sky.  Rainbow?  Rainbow!  (Examples of costumes for months or seasons and astronomical themes.)

    – An easy one for gentlemen is the Victorian idea of futuristic eveningwear: a white tailcoat and trousers with a black shirt.  This ensemble can be rented at formalwear stores or bought used online.  The Windsor uniform, which involves tacking a bit of fabric onto a tailcoat, is also a quick and easy costume for men who already have formalwear.

    – Gentlemen disinclined to dress up can get into the spirit of things by at least wearing an unusual boutonniere.  (Read the description of this ball for an example.)

    – Fancy dress doesn't have to be fancy — people dressed up as fanciful versions of Puritans, servants, peasants, beggars, charity girls, and more.  This could be a character from a play or novel or something more generic.  Authentic amounts of dirt and grime are unnecessary, however.

    – Still have your graduation cap and gown, or a friend you can borrow them from?  Academical dress is a legitimate costume for men or women.

    – Victorianesque science fiction is a possibility — while H.G Wells' novels are still to come, Jules Verne's major novels are all out by the 1880s.  A "Duchess of the Next Century" appears on a list of costumes and could cover a modern evening gown, and there's a full description of a footwoman of the future which suggests openings for ladies' versions of many masculine outfits.  Enjoy steampunk?  An airship pilot, balloonist, or submariner would be a costume that allows for speculation.  A Harry Potter-inspired costume could be a witch, wizard, or astrologer.

    – Use your imagination!  Victorians dressed up as everything from sports equipment and items of food to playing cards, wastebaskets, and the mysterious Bounding Ball of Babylon.  Here's a list of actual costumes from an 1884 ball to start you off.  Avoid overtly modern elements, remember you have to be able to actually dance in it, and let your imagination fly!

  • A Fancy Dress Ball, Singapore, 1884

    Newspapers of the era often published lists of the costumes worn by guests at fancy dress balls.  The lists were typically provided in advance, so it's possible not all of the costumes worked out, as anyone who's ever tried to finish a costume at the last minute before a ball will understand.

    The lists below are from a fancy dress ball held by British expatriates in Singapore and are taken from an article on the ball published in the Singapore newspaper Strait Times Weekly on February 23, 1884.

    From the description of the ball itself:

    On Thursday evening, the Fancy Dress Ball, which for some time past had been looked forward to, took place at the Town Hall.  The upper room is well known to all visitors as being one of the handsomest in the Far East.  On the present occasion it was simply and tastefully decorated, in a manner which was well adapted to enhance the architectural features of the building.  The result was such as might have been expected from the interest evinced by the fairer portion of the community, and the skill and attention they bestowed upon their costumes, which contributed so materially to the success of the entertainment.  One could not fail to notice, among the many handsome dresses, that there were several in the disposal and arrangement of which the fair owners displayed an intimate and correct knowledge of true artistic and aesthetic principles.  The style of the costumes was exceedingly diversified, some being of a purely classic type and thus pertaining to the tragic, while there were some which were the representatives of comedy, and others again which successively adopted comic character.

    The general effeect [sic] of the intermingling of thse many and varied styles and colors, whether seen in the Hall itself or viewed from the gallery above, furnished a spectacle not only charming to the eye, but one which those who witnessed it, will not readily forget…

    …Dancing commenced shortly after nine with an opening quadrille which extended the entire length of hte Hall.  The floor was in excellent condition, and the music was performed by the Regimental Band of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.  It is no wonder that these and other attractions rendered the visitors loth [sic] to part, and prolonged the dancing after supper far into the small hours.  At what precise time the company would have separated it is difficult to determine, as dancing only stopped upon the Band playing the National Anthem.

    The entire article may be found online at the website of the National Library of Singapore.

    In looking through the lists of costumes, some trends are obvious: historical costumes of the previous few centuries, characters from plays, and national/ethnic costumes of various kinds.  Classic fancy dress costumes such as Harlequin and Folly are also represented.  More unusual examples are the gentlemen attending as "Bat" and "Paint Box" and the lady depicting "Economy."  There are also a few cop-outs: "Civil Service Uniform" and "Evening dress, 19th century" suggest that not all the attendees made any special effort at costuming.

    While some couples may have coordinated costumes — the Cavalier and the Lady of the 17th century appear to be husband and wife — it is actually more common for the costumes not to match: Ralph Rackstraw wth Follie, Peasant of the Black Forest with Persian Lady, and so forth.  The substantial disparity in numbers between ladies and gentleman probably reflects the nature of society in a distant colonial posting of that era.

    Here are the lists of costumes, reformatted to separate the ladies' and gentlemen's costumes and with the names of the wearers omitted to save space:

    (more…)

  • A Victorian Fancy Dress Ball, New Haven, Connecticut (Saturday, April 2, 2011)

    Enjoying the descriptions and illustrations of fancy dress costumes posted here?  Now's your chance to try it for yourself!

    On Saturday, April 2nd, in New Haven, Connecticut, there will be a fancy dress ball in the style of the 1880s, featuring live music, Victorian dancing, refreshments made from historical recipes, and a chance to bring fancy dress costumes to life!

    The ball will be held from 8:00 to 11:30pm at beautiful Pratt Hall, less than a block from the New Haven Green and only a few blocks from the historic Yale University campus.  The dancing will be precepted by dance historian and teacher Susan de Guardiola (author of the Capering & KIckery dance history blog and owner of Historical Fancy Dress) with live music by the noted dance trio Spare Parts, heard recently on the soundtrack of the film Bright Star.  The dances will be a typical Victorian mix of couple dances (waltz, polka, schottische, galop) and set dances (contras, quadrilles).  All set dances will be taught during the evening, and there will be a workshop from 3:00 to 5:00pm the afternoon of the ball to help people wanting to learn the couple dances.

    Obviously, fancy dress based on the styles of the 1880s is strongly encouraged, and this blog is intended as a resource for costume ideas.  The evening will include a procession of costumes.  Since this is a fancy dress ball rather than a masquerade, masks are not necessary.  To preserve the beautiful floor, please make sure to have clean dance shoes or indoor-only shoes to change into at the hall so as not to track dirt or grit into the ballroom.

    The ball is strictly limited to 80 people due to the size of the hall.  Advance registration ($25 per person, or $18 for ages 13-21) is recommended.  At-the-door prices are $10 higher and admission will be available only if space permits.  Younger children may attend with their parents, and are expected to be strictly supervised throughout and withdrawn from the ballroom if they become too tired/fussy to display polite behavior.

    A flyer with registration information may be downloaded here.  A website will be up shortly.

  • Costumes for brunettes

    (Costumes ideally suited the wearer by age and coloration.  Here three nearly-identical lists of suggestions for brunettes, taken from different editions of the same manual.)

    Among the Costumes best adapted to BRUNES are Africa, Arab Lady, Arrah-na-Pogue, Asia, Autumn, Bee, Gipsies of various kinds, the Bride of Abydos, Brigand's Wife, Britannia, Buy-a-Broom, Carmen, Cleopatra, Colleen Bawn, Connaught Peasant, Diana, Druideess, Earth, Egyptian, Erin, Esmeralda, Fenella, Fire, Greek, Harvest, Maid of Saragossa, Maritana, Oranges and Lemons, Rose of Castille, and Zingari, together with Italian, Spanish, and Oriental.

    Source: Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 2nd Edition, Illustrated.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1880.

    Among the Costumes adapted to BRUNES are Africa, Arab Lady, Arrah-na-Pogue, Asia, Autumn, Bee, Gipsies of various kinds, the Bride of Abydos, Brigand's Wife, Britannia, Buy-a-Broom, Carmen, Cleopatra, Colleen Bawn, Connaught Peasant Diana, Druidess, Earth, Egyptian, Erin, Esmeralda, Fenella, Fire, Greek, Luti, the Indian Girl, Harvest, Maid of Saragossa, Maritana, Rose of Castille, and Zingari, together with Italian, Spanish, and Oriental dresses.

    Source: Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 5th Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1887.

    Among the Characters adapted to BRUNES are Africa, Arab Lady, Arrah-na-Pogue, Asia, Autumn, Bee, Gipsies of various kinds, the Bride of Abydos, Brigand's Wife, Britannia, Buy-a-Broom, Carmen, Cleopatra, Colleen Bawn, Connaught Peasant, Diana, Druidess, Earth, Egyptian, Erin, Esmeralda, Fenella, Fire, Greek, Harvest, Maid of Saragossa, Maritana, Rose of Castille, together with Italian, Spanish, and Oriental dresses.

    Source: Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, Sixth Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1896.

    The 1896 edition of Holt may be found online at the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

  • For elderly ladies

    (This author pulled no punches with regard to dressing your age; no sexy costumes for older women, though at least there are a few suggestions that are not just some sort of old woman.)

    For ELDERLY LADIES the following costumes are suitable: –Mrs. Balchriste; Griselda Oldbuck, Dowager of Brionne, My Grandmother, a Lady of the Olden Times, Night, Puritan, some Vanduke dresses, Quakeress, Mrs. Primrose, wife of the Vicar of Wakefield, Peacock, the Duchess of Orleans, a Maltese Faldette, Mother Hubbard, Mother Shipton, a Sorceress, a Gallician Matron, and some Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds’s dresses.

    Source: Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 5th Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1887.

  • On authenticity

    (This author is modest about the level of accuracy in the descriptions given.)

    It [the book] does not purport to be an authority in the matter of costume, for, as a rule, the historical dresses worn on such occasions are lamentably incorrect. Mary Stuart appears in powder; Louis XIV. wears a beard; and Berengaria distended drapery. No one would probably view the national costumes with more curiosity than the peasantry they are intended to portray, although certain broad characteristics of the several countries are maintained by Fancy Ball-goers.

    Source: Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 5th Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1887.

  • On masked balls

    (One might deduce that the “national character” of late nineteenth-century England is a little too straitlaced for the presumed dissipation that occurs when the dancers are masked…)

    A masked ball is rarely given in England. One or two were given during the existence of the New Club, and it is possible that they will come into favour again, but it is a question whether the national character adapts itself readily to this description of entertainment.


    The ladies at a bal masqué wear little black velvet masks on the upper part of their faces, and a domino covers the ball-dress. This domino may be of a plain black silk lined with colour, or may take the form of a very elaborate tea-gown. Both masks and dominoes are usually doffed at the announcement of supper, and the brilliant toilettes and sparkling jewels of the ladies shine out all the brighter for their temporary effacement.

    Source: Armstrong, Lucie.  The Ball-Room Guide.  London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co., c1880s.

  • Strategic naming salvages weak costumes

    (Practical advice for the lady or gentleman with a mediocre costume. Note the last costume on the list: in a one throwaway line, Holt has just provided for futuristic costumes…as imagined by someone in the 1880s! And I have never wished so much for an illustration as for the Bounding Ball of Babylon…)

    There is much in a name, — A Coquette, a Lady of the Past Century, Petite Sole à la Normandie, the Bounding Ball of Babylon, His Picture in Chalk, a Duchess of the Next Century, &c., have attracted attention to very mediocre costumes ere this.

    Source: Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 5th Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1887.

  • Plant Party

    (A hilarious society column description of a themed party, though it doesn't seem to have included much dancing.  Read all the way to the end for descriptions of some of the specific costumes.  Thanks to Irene Urban for finding this article for me!)

    From The New York Times, February 18, 1898:

    THE HEWITTS' PLANT PARTY.

    Society Assumes Vegetable Garb for the Season's Last Big Dance — Striking Costume Effects.

        The last of the season's big dances, a revivification of the days of Louis XVI, who is credited with having stood sponsor for similar entertainments at Versailles, took place in the form of a "plant party" at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Abram S. Hewitt, 9 Lexington Avenue, last night.  It was attended by several hundred of the city's wealthiest and most fashionable people.

        As a novelty the plant party was a success.  The edifying spectacle of richly costumed and bejeweled women carrying about on their persons imitations of various representatives of the vegetable kingdom, from squash and lettuce to meteor roses and orchids, and of men in conventional evening dress, with similar additions, was something enough out of the ordinary to interest the people concerned, and also plenty of others who were not favored with invitations.

        The women guests were asked to go in costumes representative of some particular fruit, flower, or vegetable.  The men appeared at the house in ordinary evening dress, which prevented too close a similarity to the Versailles "plant parties," and as each of them entered he received a vegetable adornment, artificial of course, which he was supposed to wear for the rest of the evening.

        The feminine guests showed little tendency to clothes themselves in complete imitation of plants or fruits, but were contented with bizarre headdresses and vegetable garnitures, which were sufficiently startling without quite spoiling the effect of handsome gowns.  One young woman carried in a staff adorned with garlands, and another had snowshoes carried in for her to complete her costume.

        Mrs. Hewitt received her guests in a costume suggestive of violets, and carried real specimens of the flower.  The Misses Hewitt, who assisted her, carried pinks and orchids.  Mrs. P. Cooper Hewitt daughter-in-law of the host, who was with them, wore imitation red carnations in her hair.  P. Cooper Hewitt and Edward Cooper were among the other relatives present.

        The entertainment was of a vaudeville character and started abut 10:30 P.M.  There were charades, tableaux, and songs, all furnished by the guests.  Lander's Orchestra played, and supper was served about midnight.  There was some informal dancing afterward, but no cotillion.

    Mr. Webb's Make-up.

        G. Creighton Webb created considerable amusement by appearing in an admirable make-up of red hair and beard and complexion to match.  He disguised his voice with good effect.

        The plant party is said to have been the first thing of its kind ever given here, though a vegetable party, in which men and women were both costumed, took place at Sherry's two years ago.  It was a leap year dance, and was attended by a number of fashionable people.

        Among the striking costumes were those of Mrs. A. Cass Canfield, who wore a basket of roses as headgear; Mrs. Francis Key Pendleton, who was in yellow satin, trimmed with small sunflowers, and wore the head of a tremendous sunflower in her hair; Mrs. W. Bayard Cutting, in cerise velvet, and wearing as a bonnet the half of a flower pot from which a stalk bearing pink carnations protruded; Mrs. Nicholas Fish, a costume designed to represent wild field flowers; Mrs. Stanford White, in yellow satin, with poppies over her head and used to trim the corsage of her gown; Miss Edith WInthrop and Miss Ruth Morgan, gowned to represent poppies.

        Mrs. Victor Sorchan, in pink satin, trimmed with pink roses, and wearing a pink satin rose, which measured about eighteen inches across, on her head; Miss Kernochan, as a sunflower, with satin gown appropriately trimmed; Miss Mary Kernochan, a white satin gown covered with apple blossoms; Mrs. W. Stover Miller, in brilliant red tulle and wearing a Bacchante wreath of grapes and grape leaves in her hair.

    (The original article may be found in The New York Times' archive, here.)

  • Fine distinctions in the Regency era

    (Yes, there were fancy dress balls in the Regency era, though it's difficult to find much information on them.  Note the distinction made here between the masquerade or characteristic ball, at which masks were worn and behavior was less restrained, and the more respectable fancy dress ball, at which masks were eschewed.  This excerpt is from a lengthy satirical poem by London dancing master Thomas Wilson, who was active from approximately 1800 to 1825.  The "some people" said to confuse the two types of balls are rival dancing masters.)

    Fancy dress balls must as the next appear,
    And what they really are you now shall hear.
    Fancy Dress Balls, some people likewise name
    Characteristic, and think they are the same;
    (But Characteristic as I just have said,
    Is meant to signify a Masquerade,)
    A Fancy Dress Balls that, where every guest
    Is in appropriate costume strictly dres't;
    The face to shew the character, and age
    They paint, as is the custom of the stage;
    The mask's forbid the countenance to aid,
    For "Fancy Ball" means not a "Masquerade."

    — Thomas Wilson, The Danciad. London, 1824.