Historical Fancy Dress

Category: Women’s

  • Suez Canal

    (A marvel of Victorian engineering, the Suez Canal opened in 1869 and affected both trade patterns and politics, with the resultant ease of access for Europeans to parts of Africa enabling a new wave of colonization efforts during the 1880s.  Apparently its impact was such that even a decade after its opening it inspired a fancy dress costume design!)

    The description is identical across three editions of the same manual:

    Long flowing robe of cloth-of-gold, with waves of blue satin bordered with pearls, underskirt of red satin embroidered in Egyptian designs.  A gold key at the girdle; Egyptian head-dress of pearls, turquoise, and diamonds; girdle of roses and lilies.

    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.

  • Elizabethan Serving Maid

    (Here's one of those costumes fondly considered "historical" — an Elizabethan maid wearing an 18th-century mobcap, 19th-century corsetry, a hint of a bustle, and a very upper-class ruff.)

    FD-Holt-1887-ServingMaid SERVING MAID (Elizabethan Period). Short fawn-colored stuff gown, made with pointed bodice; tight sleeves with stuffed epaulettes; ruff at throat; muslin cap; bag hanging at side.

    The illustration (click to enlarge) is taken from the 1887 edition of Holt's Fancy Dresses Described and displays a hint of the bustle shape of the era in the pleated fullness at the back of the skirt.  The identical description appears in the 1896 edition.

    Sources:
    Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, 5th Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1887.
    Holt, Ardern.  Fancy Dresses Described, Sixth Edition.  London: Debenham & Freebody, 1896.

  • Proserpine

    (Here's a costume from Greek mythology that doesn't follow the classic style, instead using a witchy black-and-red color scheme and adding wing sleeves and a ruff!)

    Scarlet robe with wing sleeves lined with black,and a full, wide ruff of scarlet lined with black high about the neck.  A large poppy for a head-dress, and poppies on the toes of the black slippers; red stockings.

    Source:
    Masquerade and Carnival.  New York: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1892.

    Proserpine is the Romanized Persephone, daughter of Demeter (Ceres) and queen of the underworld as the unwilling bride of Hades (Pluto).  The poppies are symbolic of sleep, death, and resurrection and thus particularly appropriate for Proserpine, whose annual descent into the land of death represents the sleep of the earth during winter and whose return brings springtime to the land.

  • Freemason (Female)

    (This costume description predates the Co-Freemasonry movement that began on the European continent in the 1880s.  It is probably meant as a futuristic fantasy costume, rather like the Footwoman of the Future.)

    FREEMASON, FEMALE.  Black velvet dress; white satin Watteau sacque, trimmed with swansdown; swansdown ruff at throat; hair powdered; quaint velvet hood, studded with pearls and Masonic emblems; a Master Mason's apron and collar of office, with pendant gauntlets and Masonic jewels; clock at girdle.

    Other than the earliest edition not capitalizing "Mason" or "Masonic", the descriptions are identical throughout across sixteen years and three editions of a single manual.

    The costume is a poudré (powdered) one; see With Regard to Powdering for instructions on how to powder the hair for such costumes.

    MrsAldworth Oddly enough, there was a female Freemason in the eighteenth century, Elizabeth Aldworth, whose portrait may be seen at left.  Her clothing is considerably less elaborate than the swansdown-trimmed outfit described above, and her hair is not powdered, but the apron is present, and she is pointing to a Masonic symbol in the book next to her.

     

    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.

  • The Classic Domino

    (Here's a set of descriptions of the classic domino, a robe-like costume which dates back to the masquerades of the 18th century and is more associated with masquerades (masked balls) than fancy dress events, but still seem to have turned up occasionally.  The English in particular appear to have continued to use dominos and evolved a lot of rather frou-frou variations barely related to the original concept of the simple black robe.)
    FD-Butterick-Domino
    1880, English:
    DOMINO.  Worn at masque balls and sometimes as a fancy dress.  They are made in satin, silk, and brocade, or of plain cotton in the Princess shape, having often a Watteau plait with capes and large hoods and wide sleeves.  They should be large and long enough to slip over the dress easily, and hide it completely.  The black are usually trimmed with a colour, such as a thick ruching down the front and round the tunic-shaped sleeves, and are often piped with a colour and lined with the same.

    1887, English:
    DOMINO, A.  Worn at masque balls and sometimes as fancy dress.  It is made in satin, silk, and brocade, or of plain cotton in the Princess shape, having often a Watteau plait with cape and slender-pointed hood and wide sleeves.  It should be large and long enough to slip over the dress easily, and hide it completely.  The black are usually trimmed with a colour, such as a thick ruching down the front and round the bell-shaped sleeve, and are often piped with a colour and lined with the same.  The lighter tones sometimes edged with swansdown.

    1896, English:
    DOMINO, A.  Worn at masque balls and sometimes as a fancy dress.  It is made in satin, silk, and brocade, or of plain cotton in the Princess shape, having often a Watteau plait with cape and slender-pointed hood and wide sleeves.  It should be large and long enough to slip over the dress easily, and hide it completel.  Black is usually trimmed with a color, in the form of a thick ruching down the front and round the bell-shaped sleeves, and are often piped with a color and lined with the same.  The newest kinds are made in chiffon and gaily trimmed with flower.  White satin is covered with white chiffon and lilies of the valley are dispersed all over it, falling in a shower; the cape is formed of boullonnees of chiffon; blue satin dominoes are turned back with pink roses.  Handsome velvet and satin brocades are employed on some with no capes, but full bishop sleeves and lace ruffles are gathered from the neck beneath a double frill of lace.  The Merveilleux Domino is trimmed at the hem with festoons of old lace caught up with pink bows repeated on the shoulders; the large sleeves coming from the plait at the back.  Some are parti-colored half black half cerise.  A white brocade might have an accordion pleated cape, pink, flame color, black and yellow are effective.

    1906, American:
    Domino
    Black silk, sateen or woollen material is selected to develop this popular garment. A silk cord, knotted, encircles the waist and is tied in front. Mask of black satin.  (Illustrated above right; click the image to enlarge.)

     

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

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

  • Golf

    (Continuing with the theme of summer sports, women's increased participation in golf is reflected in the evolution of this costume over two succeeding editions, spanning nine years, of the same fancy dress manual.)

    In the 1887 description, the costume is meant to portray a golf course or game, with the lady imitating grass with clubs and balls and a sand-trap scarf, though above the waist she wears the traditional red golf coat.

    1887:
    Grass green tulle skirt, fringe of grass and gorse; scarf of sand-colour draped round waist, and ornamented with balls and clubs; and bright red golfing coat.

    Compare this with the 1896 description below, which retains the golf-course skirt but adds accessories and a golf club that make it obvious that the woman herself is now a golfer.  This fits neatly with the development during the 1890s of golf as a game played by women as well as men.

    1896:
    Grass green satin skirt studded with golf balls and clubs, fringe of grass and gorse; scarf of sand-color draped round waist, and ornamented with balls and clubs.  Bright red cap and coat with swallow tails and white satin facings held back with golf buttons.  Suede shoes, white gauntlet gloves, a golf club in hand.

    Victorian ladies seem to have traditionally worn the red golf coat, but the December 1, 1899, edition of Golf Illustrated offers under "Some Hints on Dress for Lady Golfers" a bit of debate on the matter of "Coats Red and Green":

        Though her red Golf coat is not as a rule individually becoming to an Englishwoman, its effect collectively on the links is so bright and picturesque that one can only hope the coats of green, which are certainly gaining in favour for wear thereon, will not finally oust the red ones. 

        There is no doubt that though their rivals in green are not only very smart but excellent foils for complexions brightened by exercise (which, by the way, is not always the case with the red ones), and recently I saw a very effective one, built of green cheviot and, like all our apparel of the tailor-made persuasion this season, liberally bestripped: it was fastened with buck-horn buttons and lined with a thick red silk, though many of these cheviots have reversible tartan linings; one I saw at a leading tailor's the other day being bright red on the outer side while the reverse showed the Stuart tartan.

        This coat, in green, makes a capital all-round coat, which a red one of course does not, as it invariably boasts its owners club collar, cuffs, and buttons, thus stamping it with its raison d'être so plainly as to make it out of place anywhere but on the links.  With a green one, however, the addition of one of those big collars or necklets of fur makes it a perfect little coat for ordinary walking or driving use.

        To revert to its lining, there is a fancy just now for having the red Golf coats line with silk which exactly matches the colour of its collar and cuffs and a very good effect this has, especially when these are of one of the many shades of green which is such a favourite club colour.

     

    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.

  • 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.

  • Powder vs. Wigs

    (Thoughts on whether to powder the hair or wear a wig for a Poudré ball or costume, and how to go about each method.)

    Contrary to the advice given by Ardern Holt, Lucie Armstrong felt that a wig was better than powdering one's own hair:

        The way to powder the hair is as follows: — First dress it very firmly and grease it all over.  Another person now takes the hair-powder and throws it lightly from above all over the hair, care being taken to protect the dress by means of a large wrap.  The effect of the powdered hair is extremely becoming, but the after-consequences are far from agreeable.  It takes days to get rid of all the powder and grease, and the hair often gets tangled and broken during the many washings and combings necessary.

        A simpler plan is to wear a powdered wig, which leaves no unpleasant results to the hair, though its weight is apt to induce headache.  A good wig is better than a bad head of hair, and the mass of curly locks are extremely becoming, and give a good deal of character to the face.

        It takes two people to put on a wig.  The one who is going to wear it must catch hold of the foundation, and pull it down in front as tightly as possible, whilst another person pulls it down as far as it will go at the back.  The hair must first be reduced to as small a compass as possible, combed up away from the face, and arranged tightly on top of the hea. The wig must be held in its place with white hair-pins, placed at the edge of the silk foundation, and fastened firmly into the hair beneath.  The curls are then arranged to suit the wearer, being gathered up towards the back with a few white-pins; and a few final touches of the powder-puff will improve the appearance of the wig when everything else is done.

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

  • In the Gloaming

    (Here's a more elaborate version — in title as well as detail — of the costume for "Dusk" from the same manual.  Note that if you're "in the gloaming", you get to have a bat and an owl!)

    GLOAMING, IN THE.  Dress of grey tulle, or muslin, or gauze over satin, made as an ordinary evening dress, or in classic fashion; a veil of the same material; fire-flies imprisoned in the tulle; bat fastened on one shoulder, an owl on the other; silver and smoked pearl ornaments.

    The above is from the 1887 edition of Holt.  "Dusk" is upgraded after this — in 1896, that entry, which "In the Gloaming" refers the reader to, uses exactly the description as given above.

    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.

  • Tennis and Badminton

    (Here’s an increasingly elaborate and ridiculous sport-themed costume for women — with a modern interpretation as well!)

    The 1887 edition of Ardern Holt’s fancy dress manual lists costume ideas under both “Tennis, lawn” and “Lawn tennis and badminton”:

    TENNIS, LAWN.  Short plain skirt of grass-green satin, slightly gathered at the back, and trimmed at the edge with grass fringe, headed by white satin bands; bats and balls introduced as trimming.

    LAWN TENNIS AND BADMINTON.  Sometimes for these only an ordinary lawn tennis dress and pouch are worn, with a bat attached to the side. 

    That not being nearly exciting enough, Holt continues the latter description with a rather witchy alternate version:

    A better representation is a green satin skirt, a bat fastening a silver net, forming paniers, pouches and balls on the shoulders, which drape the skirt; scarf across bodice, with lawn tennis in silver letters; black bodice with white circles to resemble balls; high pointed black hat with a bat as an aigrette; brown stockings and shoes. 

    And then tops it off by jazzing up the plain “Tennis, lawn” version even further:

    Or, a short plain skirt of grass green satin, gathered at back, trimmed round the edge with two rows of grass fringe, headed by a flat band of white satin an inch and a half in width, to represent the boundary of court; six lines of the same round the skirt at intervals; a tennis net draped from waist, edged with scarlet and white worsted balls; miniature tennis bats hold up the drapery; bodice of green velvet, long sleeves to wrist, all bordered with gold braid and scarlet and white balls; epaulettes of scarlet and white satin ribbon; red and white satin peaked cap, with daisies and leaves beneath the flap; Suède gloves, and black shoes; scarlet stockings; ornaments, gold tennis bats; fan like a bat, in red.

     The 1896 description is similar to the first and last parts of the longer 1887 description (now the tennis net is gold!) and adds a sop to badminton:

    LAWN TENNIS AND BADMINTON.  Sometimes for these only an ordinary lawn tennis dress and pouch are worn, with a bat attached to the side.  A better representation is a short plain skirt of grass green satin, gathered at back, trimmed round the edge with two rows of grass fringe, headed by a flat band of white satin an inch and a half in width, to represent the boundary of the court; six lines of the same round the skirt at intervals; a gold tennis net draped from waist, edged with scarlet and white worsted balls; miniature tennis bats hold up the drapery; bodice of green velvet, long sleeves to wrist, all bordered with gold braid and scarlet and white balls; epaulettes of scarlet and white satin ribbon; red and white satin peaked cap, with daisies and leaves beneath the flap; Suéde gloves, and black shoes; scarlet stockings; ornaments, gold tennis bats; fan like a bat, in red.  For Badminton Shuttle Cocks replace the balls.

    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.

    Frighteningly enough, the idea of dressing up as tennis (lawn) occurred to one of this year’s Wimbledon competitors — fashion-conscious tennis professional Bethanie Mattek-Sands made an appearance at the WTA’s pre-Wimbledon party in fancy dress, having sacrificed quite a few tennis balls for her look:

    MattekTennisBallDress
    Photos courtesy of Style Bistro (more photos there!)  Click the image to enlarge.

    Though it shows a little more skin than a Victorian fancy dress outfit would, and the shoes are hardly danceable, the general idea is very much in keeping with nineteenth-century fancy dress.  And they would have loved the hat!