Historical Fancy Dress

Category: Opera

  • Ruth, the Pirate Maid-of-All-Work

    (Inspired, of course, by the popular Gilbert & Sullivan operetta!)

    Ruthbarnett Ruthbrandram RUTH, THE PIRATE MAID-OF-ALL-WORK (Pirates of Penzance).  This costume is suited to a dark beauty; a head-dress of red drapery and coins; red and black short skirt, with much gold trimming; low black gold-bedizened bodice, and gold armlets, with chain of sequins from the shoulder to wrist.

    Ruthdesign The description is identical between the sources, except that the 1897 one omits the suggestion of it being suited to a "dark beauty."  Note that "short" is a relative concept in Victorian skirts; it meant you could see the the ankles, or possibly a bit of calf.

    Nowadays (and from the 1910s onward) Ruth's costumes have a stereotypical pirate look, but judging by photographs from early productions of The Pirates of Penzance, a Victorian version of her costume should probably have a vaguely Mediterranean feel.  For reference, at left are pictures of Alice Barnett, who played Ruth in New York in 1880; Rosina Brandram, who played the role in 1888 and 1900 at the Savoy, in 1901; and a 1908 costume design, courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center, which was very similar to that worn by Brandram.  Click to enlarge the images.

     

    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.

  • Gleaner

    FD-Holt-1887-Gleaner (Here are several options for people who like the red-gold-brown color family and happen to have a sickle handy.  While one description remains constant over sixteen years and three editions of the same manual, in 1887 three other descriptions appear, one of which, Rachel the Gleaner, remains in 1896 as well.)

    1880:
    Short yellow skirt, red tunic, black velvet low bodice, laced across the front, cut in tabs round; short sleeves and low chemisette; hat with flowers, sometimes a coloured handkerchief wound about the head, or an evening dress of maize and brown tulle, all trimmed and embroidered with wheat, corn-flowers, and poppies; a sickle at the side.

    1887:
    Short yellow skirt; red tunic; black velvet low bodice, laced across the front, cut in tabs at waist; short sleeves and low chemisette; hat with flowers, sometimes a coloured handkerchief wound about the head.  Or, an evening dress of maie and brown tulle, all trimmed or embroidered with wheat, cornflowers, and poppies; a sickle at the side; wheat-sheaf and wreath.  Or, amber satin skirt, red over-skirt and bodice, with large muslin kerchief; hat enriched by wreath of grain and poppies; sickle at one side.  Rachel the Gleaner: orange-coloured handkerchief loosely thrown over the hair and tied in front; grey bodice with cream fichu, quite plain and unfrilled; over-skirt grey with wheat ears in the lap; orange-couloured petticoat; grey stockings or tanned shoes; sickle in hand, and bunch of corn poppies and juettes.

    1896:
    Short yellow skirt; red tunic; black velvet low bodice, laced across the front, cut in tabs at waist; short sleeves and low chemisette; hat with flowers, sometimes a coloured handkerchief wound about the head.  Rachel the Gleaner: orange-coloured handkerchief loosely thrown over the hair and tied in front; grey bodice with cream fichu, quite plain and unfrilled; over-skirt grey with wheat ears in the lap; orange-couloured petticoat; grey stockings or tanned shoes; sickle in hand, and bunch of corn poppies and juettes.

    Rachel the Gleaner is depicted in the illustration above left (click to enlarge), and appears to have been a popular costume choice.  From lists given in various newspapers, it was worn by a Miss Gray at a fancy dress ball given in British Columbia in 1885 by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Dunsmuir, by a Miss F. Keasbery at a ball in Singapore in 1884, and by a Miss A. Welch at a New Zealand ball in 1885. The way "the Gleaner" is used as a title makes me suspect that Rachel was a character in a novel, opera, or play popular in the early 1880s.  Her skirt appears to be slightly bustled in back.

    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.

  • Rosina (Barber of Seville)

    (Another costume from the opera, this time from Rossini.)

    (Barbiere de Seville). Spanish dress of cerise satin and black lace; black velvet senorita jacket; black lace mantilla.

    FD-senorita jacket Reconstruction note: the senorita jacket pictured at left is from the fashion section of the April, 1867, issue of Arthur’s Home Magazine. Though this is twenty years earlier than the description above, but the style is probably similar. The description given with the illustration is:

    Breakfast jacket of scarlet cashmere, ornamented upon the breast, and epaulets with butterflies with spread wings cut out in velvet and embroidered with gold and red and blue silk. There is a slight spring at the back of the waist, which deepens into a point, ornamented with butterfly to match.

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

  • Brunhilda and Kriemhilda

    (My fabulous costume-and-dance friend Eowyn requested the description of a Walküre (Valkyrie) costume. This was the closest I could find for her — Wagnerian characters in medieval gowns. I don’t know the operas well enough to know whether the outfits would be particular to some specific scene.

    (Niebelslungen Lied). Suitable for two sisters. They wear rich gold stuffs made in Burgundian fashion of the thirteenth century. Brunhilda would have under-dress of brocade, over-dress of gold tissue caught up at the side; low square bodice bordered with jewels, jewelled stomacher, silver girdle; sleeves puffed at elbow and shoulder; gold crown, hair in coil entwined with pearls. Kriemhilda: under-skirt of rich stuff, bordered with bands of gold; upper-dress of embroidered cloth-of-gold, bordered with ermine; low bodice much jewelled in front, long sleeves lined ith ermine, and bound with gold, tight sleeves to wrist; hair on shoulders, surmounted by a crown.

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