Historical Fancy Dress

Category: Insects

  • 1888 “Beetle Wing Dress” restored

    EllenTerryMacbeth1888 After a £110,00 restoration, the famous Beetle Wing Dress worn by Victorian actress Ellen Terry for the role of Lady Macbeth in 1888 (image at left; click to enlarge) has been restored and is now on display at Smallhythe Place, in Kent.  While this is a theatrical costume worn on stage rather than a fancy dress costume for a social event, its use of actual insect parts is interesting in the wake of comment-thread speculation on previous posts about the use of such materials in fancy dress costumes imitating insects and birds.

    True to its name, the dress was covered in real beetle wings, which made repairing it an interesting challenge.  An article published by Britain’s National Trust quotes Paul Meredith, House Manager at Smallhythe Place:

    ‘We had collected the beetle wings that had fallen off over the years so that the conservator was able to re-attach many of the originals, plus others that had been donated to us – 1,000 in total.”
    The actual dress is a stunningly bright blue-green, and was an enormous sensation at the time:

    SargentBeetleDressThe dress, transforming the beautiful red-haired actor into a cross between a jewelled serpent and a medieval knight, was the talk of the town after the first night. John Singer Sargent painted Terry wearing it, and the artist’s neighbour, Oscar Wilde, recalled the impact of Lady Macbeth arriving in a taxi: “The street that on a wet and dreary morning has vouchsafed the vision of Lady Macbeth in full regalia magnificently seated in a four-wheeler can never again be as other streets.” 

     

    BeetleDress The Sargent portrait is shown at right and the actual dress, in a photo the colors of which do not do it justice, at left.  Click the images to enlarge.  Better-colored photos, though only partial views, are available in the National Trust article.

    Special thanks to Eowyn for the tip!

  • Butterfly/Queen of Butterflies

    FD-Holt-1896-Butterfly (Here's a whole selection of ideas either for a personified butterfly or for the Queen of Butterflies. Butterflies seem to have been fairly egalitarian in dress — the costume listed for a plain old butterfly in 1880 appears in later editions as suitable for the Queen. Different colors are given for different styles of butterfly; see the Canadian Butterfly for a color rendering and description of one variety.  Pre-made butterfly wings are easy to purchase nowadays, so it would be easy to transform any gown into a similar costume.  The illustration at left is from the 1896 edition; presumably an 1887 butterfly would have at least a small bustle!)

    1880:
    Butterfly: Tulle dress bordered with butterflies; black velvet tunic shaped and pointed like the wings; low bodice, with bands of gold across the front; blue gauze wings attached to back, short sleeves, with butterflies; a butterfly on the head; black shoes with blue butterflies.

    Queen of Butterflies: For the Queen, the dress would be similar, of bluish silken tissue, the tunic cut in the shape of a butterfly's wings; a jewelled zone round the waist; wand carried in the hand.

    1887:
    A Butterfly: Short white satin skirt, covered with clouds of brown, pink, and blue tulle.  Flight of butterflies all over it.  Wings of blue gauze, and the antennae in the head-dress.  White silk stockings and white shoes.  Butterfly on each.

    Golden Butterfly: Short skirt and low bodice of yellow merveilleuse, draped with tinsel gauze, trimmed with yellow, jet, and gold butterflies; gauze scarf; butterfly and feather head-dress, yellow shoes and stockings.

    Queen of Butterflies: Tulle dress covered with butterflies; black velvet tunic shaped and pointed like wings; low bodice, with bands of gold across the front, blue gauze wings attached to back; short sleeves, with butterflies; a butterfly on the head; black shoes with blue butterflies.

    The following is a very pretty rendering: White tulle dress, puffed and bouillonéed, with scarf of pale blue satin caught together with loops at back, bordered with tinsel fringe, dotted all over with butterflies; also bodice; a large one on each shoulder; wreath of butterflies and white veil with butterflies upon it; gold wand in hand with butterfly a-top; pale blue fan with butterflies. 

    Or, dress of brown velvet, front made with robings of brown and gold brocade; large gold and brown wings; hair dressed high above the face, surmounted by cap like antennae; brown gloves, shoes, and stockings.  For the Queen, the dress would be similar, of bluish silken tissue, the tunic cut in the shape of a butterfly's wings; a jewelled zone round the waist; wand carried in the hand.

    1896:
    Butterfly: [In the figure above at left] is depicted wearing a diaphonous skirt with panels showing the markings of the wings; a brown velvet bodice with handsome gold and velvet applique ornamentation; two gold cords falling like the antennae.  The folded tulle above is caught up with similar ornaments on shoulders, wings at the back, antennae in the hair.

    A tulle evening gown with a flight of butterflies across it, gauze, wing butterflies on hair and shoulders.

    (For young child.)  Short skirt of blue foulard, with an over-skirt of gauze; low bodice, having a waistband fastened in front with bows; two wings are attached to the middle of back, made of gauze, edged with fine wire; silk stockings; blue satin shoes.

    Queen of Butterflies: Dress draped with tinsel gauze, black velvet tunic shaped and pointed like wings; low bodice, with bands of gold across the front, blue gauze wings attached to back; short sleeves, with butterflies; a crown with a butterfly hovering behind it; black shoes with blue butterflies.

     

    Sources:
    Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 2nd Edition, Illustrated.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1880.
    Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 5th Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1887.
    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.

  • Fly Costume for Boy of Four

    (Here's another insect costume, this one apparently for a boy so young that he's not yet breeched (put into trousers of some kind rather than dresses), as the outfit is basically a dress.  I suspect this is why the age is specified in the title of the costume.  Nowadays this would probably not be a popular choice for a boy's costume, but might work for a little girl, so I'm cross-listing it.  No illustration, alas!)

    Golden-yellow satin skirt, ornamented with black braid and studded with small gauze flies.  The sort upper skirt forms a sort of long basque and is sewn to the waistband; rows of gold braid across the high bodice, and round the short sleeves, loose jacket ornamented with gauze; fly in the centre of back, an smaller ones in front; black velvet toque, with gold band round, a gold fly fastening down aigrette.

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

  • Dragon-Fly

    (Back to insects again, in the continuing Victorian fascination with the natural world…)

    Evening dress of green tulle, spangled with green tinsel, trimmed with bulrushes and dragon-fly; a dragon-fly on the head and on each shoulder.

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

  • Canadian Butterfly

    FD-Holt-1887-Girl-Butterfly (Something adorable for a little girl!  Notice the elongated bodice meant to represent the insect body; this is found on women's insect costumes as well.  I don't know enough about butterflies to have any idea what makes this particularly Canadian, but there are non-Canadian butterfly costumes as well for both women and girls and the general style could be adapted to any species of butterfly.)

    Bodice of green plush elongated into a point which falls on to the short yellow tulle skirt; short, puffed sleeves; gauze wings at back forming tunic; butterfly on head; green gloves and shoes with butterflies; butterfly fan.

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

  • Queen of Beetles

    (The Victorian fascination with the natural world…Angels & Insects was not as far off as you'd think.  I love the "ever-moving" toy beetles.  Keep in mind that "short skirt" in this case means mid-calf length, not a miniskirt, and the whole thing would probably be built over a bustle.)

    Short black skirt with horizontal stripes of red and yellow; the same combination carried round the top of the black bodice; a black pointed cap, the whole covered with ever-moving toy beetles.  A sceptre in the hand, surmounted by a beetle.

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