Historical Fancy Dress

Category: Historical

  • Classic

    FD-Holt-1887-Classic (This is my absolute favorite of all the pseudo-historical Victorian fancy dress costumes: a "classical" Grecian style…draped over a bustle and corset!  "Not rigidly correct" is quite the understatement!)

    This simple rendering of a classic gown is suited to a young girl of slender figure, and is not rigidly correct as the costume of ancient days. It can be made in soft cashmere, muslin, nun's veiling, crêpe, crêpe de Chine, or Liberty silk, worked in the Greek-key pattern with narrow Russian gold braid.

    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.

  • Grenadier

    FD-Holt-1887-Grenadier (An eighteenth-century military costume for a boy, though there's no particular reason an adult couldn't wear something similar.  Click the image to enlarge)

    (1760) High white gaiters buttoned to the knee; blue coat turned back with red; red cuffs; white waistcoat and breeches; red and white pointed cap; sword; hair in pigtail.

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

  • Shepherdess

    Butterick-17-Shepherdess (I don't know quite how to categorize this one: a romanticized "shepherdess" done as a pink-and-chintz pseudo-18th-century costume worn over a very, very Edwardian corset.  Click to enlarge the image.)

    Skirt of chintz, with large flowers. Bodice and panier-drapery of pink nun's-veiling. Black velvet on sleeves and square-cut neck. Large hat trimmed with flowers.

    Source: Masquerades, Tableaux and Drills.  New York: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1906.

  • Continental Beau

    Butterick-36-Continental Beau (Historical costume was popular for men as well as for women, as this stylish men's costume of a the late 18th century demonstrates.)

    Coat of snuff-colored satin with lapels and cuffs of green; vest of white satin and breeches of pale blue; white silk stockings, black, low shoes with large buckles, black hat, white cravat and wrist frills.

    Source: Masquerades, Tableaux and Drills.  New York: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1906.

  • Vandyke

    FD-Holt-1887-Vandyke

    (Not a costume of Van Dyke himself, but meant to represent the style of the dresses worn in his paintings, this is one of those hilarious reimaginings of a historical era with the general style worn over completely inappropriate Victorian underpinnings for a very peculiar silhouette.)

    Full plain skirt; muslin apron, edged with pointed lace; bodice with revers; sleeves to wrist; hair in curls.

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