Historical Fancy Dress

Category: National/Folk Costume

  • Spanish Toreador

    FD-Butterick-SpanishToreador (A costume that let an Edwardian gentlemen be colorful and glittery yet still feel masculine!)

    Red velvet jacket ornamented with gold; white shirt, red tie, striped sash over a vest of blue cloth, and breeches trimmed with gold braid. Brown stockings, brown hat with red pompon, brown cape.

    Click the illustration at left for a larger view.

    Ambroise-Vollard-Dressed-As-A-ToreadorSource:
    Masquerades, Tableaux and Drills.  New York: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1906.

    Eleven years later, in 1917, Renoir painted the art dealer and patron Ambroise Vollard dressed as a toreador, as seen at right (click to enlarge), though I don't know whether the costume was for a particular fancy dress occasion or merely for the sake of an interesting portrait.

     

  • England

    FD-Holt-1887-England(This type of costume could be made for any nation by using flags and the national colors as drapery over a simple gown.  It appears in both the 1887 and 1896 editions of a single manual, perhaps initially inspired by the Victoria’s 1887 Golden Jubilee celebrating the 50th anniversary of her rule.)

    Skirt of cream bunting, the lions of England painted on each of the battlements in which the edge of the skirt is cut; the Union Jack and Standard of Scotland draped with Prince of Wales’ plumes, ostrich feathers; dark blue velvet bodice, made quite plain, and trimmed with gold and small Union Jacks; fan covered with Union Jack; headdress a helmet; effigy of St. George and the Dragon round neck.  (Click the image to enlarge.)

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

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

  • 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.

  • Russian Peasant

    (The "peculiar headdress" is presumably some version of the kokoshnik in this Anglo-American interpretation of Russian folk dress.)

    A chemisette of fine cambric, neatly gathered and drawn round the throat with a frill; long sleeves of the same frill, and gathered round the wrist; a short-sleeved bodice of black silk, laced across the chest with gold braid; a peculiar headdress — a sort of half-moon of cardboard about six inches deep is covered with blue and red silk, and embroidered with beads; to the top is fastened a white gauze veil.

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

  • Scotch Lassie

    FD-Butterick-Scotch Lassie 20 (National costume or folk dress of different countries were popular themes for fancy dress costumes.  This outfit is remarkably similar to modern formal Scottish dress for men.  It features loose hair and even reveals a few inches of bare leg.  The "vest" referred to is a blouse or dickey, not a waistcoat; it can be seen under the jacket and plaid.)

    Kilted skirt of Scotch plaid.  White silk bouffant vest.  Jacket of the principal clan color trimmed with black velvet, and scarf of the plaid goods.  Cap of plaid.

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