Historical Fancy Dress

Category: Women’s

  • Nocturne

    (Here's another easy out for ladies who don't want to wear "decided" fancy costumes, and a perfect example of the power of strategic naming: simply wear an evening gown in colors reminiscent of one of Whistler's famous Nocturne paintings, of which a primary characteristic was their lack of narrative content.)

    "In black and white, or red and white, after Whistler.  The term is generally applied to a stylish evening dress of the above mixtures.  The name is a fashion of the hour, and finds favour with those who do not care for decided fancy costumes."

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

    The "fashion of the hour" label seems to be accurate — it does not appear in the sixth (1896) edition of Holt. 

    WhistlerNocturne Interestingly, there is at least one Whistler portrait labeled a Nocturne: the Nocturne in Pink and Grey, Portrait of Lady Meux (1881-1882), shown at left (click image to enlarge).  It's not a ballgown, but it does suggest a wider range of color possibilities than those given above.  Whistler also painted Nocturnes in combinations of blue and gold, black and gold, blue and silver, and grey and gold.

     

     

  • Fast and easy fancy dress ideas

    With the upcoming 1880s Victorian Fancy Dress Ball, I've gotten a lot of questions along the lines of "can I wear _____?"  The answer is usually "Yes!"  To shortcut some of this discussion, here are some general categories of costume that are perfectly fine for a fancy dress ball:

    – Any historical costume from any era prior to the 1880s.  It doesn't even have to be very good — there are comments in manuals about how some people are very authentic in their costuming and some much less so (nothing has changed!)  Call yourself "a lady of the previous century" or "a gentlemen of the Roman times" or something similar and you're all set.  Ladies, try wearing a different era over a Victorian corset or even a bustle for the hilariously inappropriate silhouette sometimes found in 1880s "historical" costumes.  (Examples of historical costumes, good and bad.)

    – Any ethnic dress from any country, from a Scottish kilt to a Japanese kimono, is fine.  Ethnic and national dress were very popular for fancy dress balls.  (Examples of national/ethnic costume.)

    – Any role from a novel, opera, poem, or play from the 1880s back is eligible; Gilbert and Sullivan costumes are particularly appropriate, and mythology was a popular source.  (Examples of costumes from literature, mythology, and theater/opera.)

    – For ladies who already have a gown in a particular color combination that matches a flower or butterfly, use fake ones as accessories (on the head or shoulder, as trim, and as a hat and/or fan as well) and go as that flower or butterfly.  Find or make wings and antennae for the latter.  Multicolored costumes might be a garden of flowers or flock of butterflies, or the queen of either.  (Examples of flower and insect costumes.)

    – Add a few accessories to a gown and go abstract to represent a month or season, weather, or astronomical bodies — with a green dress, be summer, and with a white one, winter.  Pastels?  Represent spring.  Grey?  Dusk.  Yellow?  The sun.  Blue?  The sky.  Rainbow?  Rainbow!  (Examples of costumes for months or seasons and astronomical themes.)

    – An easy one for gentlemen is the Victorian idea of futuristic eveningwear: a white tailcoat and trousers with a black shirt.  This ensemble can be rented at formalwear stores or bought used online.  The Windsor uniform, which involves tacking a bit of fabric onto a tailcoat, is also a quick and easy costume for men who already have formalwear.

    – Gentlemen disinclined to dress up can get into the spirit of things by at least wearing an unusual boutonniere.  (Read the description of this ball for an example.)

    – Fancy dress doesn't have to be fancy — people dressed up as fanciful versions of Puritans, servants, peasants, beggars, charity girls, and more.  This could be a character from a play or novel or something more generic.  Authentic amounts of dirt and grime are unnecessary, however.

    – Still have your graduation cap and gown, or a friend you can borrow them from?  Academical dress is a legitimate costume for men or women.

    – Victorianesque science fiction is a possibility — while H.G Wells' novels are still to come, Jules Verne's major novels are all out by the 1880s.  A "Duchess of the Next Century" appears on a list of costumes and could cover a modern evening gown, and there's a full description of a footwoman of the future which suggests openings for ladies' versions of many masculine outfits.  Enjoy steampunk?  An airship pilot, balloonist, or submariner would be a costume that allows for speculation.  A Harry Potter-inspired costume could be a witch, wizard, or astrologer.

    – Use your imagination!  Victorians dressed up as everything from sports equipment and items of food to playing cards, wastebaskets, and the mysterious Bounding Ball of Babylon.  Here's a list of actual costumes from an 1884 ball to start you off.  Avoid overtly modern elements, remember you have to be able to actually dance in it, and let your imagination fly!

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Moonlight and more

    (My favorite line in this lengthy list of moon-inspired costume ideas is "to make it more peculiar, a bat could be fixed on the left shoulder.")

    MOONLIGHT, MOONSHINE, MOON, LUNA, CLAIRE DE LUNE.  A silver-spangled tulle evening dress, over white satin; a mantle of the same, bordered with silver lace, attached to the shoulders of the low bodice; a white and silver scarf twisted round the head, fastened either with diamonds or with silver crescents, which must be introduced on the shoulders, front of the bodice, and skirt; white satin shoes with crescents; silver ornaments.  Dark grey and silver is another pretty combination for the character.  Moonshine, all of black tulle, with a basque bodice of silver brocade; the tunic edged with a most delicate fringe of crimped silver, looped at one side with one large star; the head-dress, a close-fitting turban cap of silver brocade, with a narrow fringe of crimped silver; black long gloves, with bands of silver tissue or brocade, about an inch wide, at equal distances; black fan with silver sticks.  This costume could be called Night, if preferred, and to make it more peculiar, a bat could be fixed on the left shoulder.  Another costume for Moon is a dress of soft white silk, trimmed and bordered with brown velvet cut in vandykes, three-quarter moons in gold cloth or yellow silk appliquéd on the velvet; plastron placed on low bodice, the same on short sleeves; blue scarf round waist, edged with gold; gold and silver-spangled tulle round neck; small silver-spangled cap with a bunch of arrows, surmounted by crescent, on one side.  Or, a dressed trimmed with moonlight tints on grey and silver; an electric star in hair is a novel feature.  A blue gauze dress, or sometimes green, may be worn.

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

  • A Fancy Dress Ball, Singapore, 1884

    Newspapers of the era often published lists of the costumes worn by guests at fancy dress balls.  The lists were typically provided in advance, so it's possible not all of the costumes worked out, as anyone who's ever tried to finish a costume at the last minute before a ball will understand.

    The lists below are from a fancy dress ball held by British expatriates in Singapore and are taken from an article on the ball published in the Singapore newspaper Strait Times Weekly on February 23, 1884.

    From the description of the ball itself:

    On Thursday evening, the Fancy Dress Ball, which for some time past had been looked forward to, took place at the Town Hall.  The upper room is well known to all visitors as being one of the handsomest in the Far East.  On the present occasion it was simply and tastefully decorated, in a manner which was well adapted to enhance the architectural features of the building.  The result was such as might have been expected from the interest evinced by the fairer portion of the community, and the skill and attention they bestowed upon their costumes, which contributed so materially to the success of the entertainment.  One could not fail to notice, among the many handsome dresses, that there were several in the disposal and arrangement of which the fair owners displayed an intimate and correct knowledge of true artistic and aesthetic principles.  The style of the costumes was exceedingly diversified, some being of a purely classic type and thus pertaining to the tragic, while there were some which were the representatives of comedy, and others again which successively adopted comic character.

    The general effeect [sic] of the intermingling of thse many and varied styles and colors, whether seen in the Hall itself or viewed from the gallery above, furnished a spectacle not only charming to the eye, but one which those who witnessed it, will not readily forget…

    …Dancing commenced shortly after nine with an opening quadrille which extended the entire length of hte Hall.  The floor was in excellent condition, and the music was performed by the Regimental Band of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.  It is no wonder that these and other attractions rendered the visitors loth [sic] to part, and prolonged the dancing after supper far into the small hours.  At what precise time the company would have separated it is difficult to determine, as dancing only stopped upon the Band playing the National Anthem.

    The entire article may be found online at the website of the National Library of Singapore.

    In looking through the lists of costumes, some trends are obvious: historical costumes of the previous few centuries, characters from plays, and national/ethnic costumes of various kinds.  Classic fancy dress costumes such as Harlequin and Folly are also represented.  More unusual examples are the gentlemen attending as "Bat" and "Paint Box" and the lady depicting "Economy."  There are also a few cop-outs: "Civil Service Uniform" and "Evening dress, 19th century" suggest that not all the attendees made any special effort at costuming.

    While some couples may have coordinated costumes — the Cavalier and the Lady of the 17th century appear to be husband and wife — it is actually more common for the costumes not to match: Ralph Rackstraw wth Follie, Peasant of the Black Forest with Persian Lady, and so forth.  The substantial disparity in numbers between ladies and gentleman probably reflects the nature of society in a distant colonial posting of that era.

    Here are the lists of costumes, reformatted to separate the ladies' and gentlemen's costumes and with the names of the wearers omitted to save space:

    (more…)

  • Mermaid

    (Perhaps in the interests of having something one can actually dance — and walk — in, this description of a mermaid costume blithely ignores the fish-tail aspect!)

    Dress with low bodice of eau de Nile silk, covered with drapery of sea green tulle, with a profusion of white corals, shells, marine grass, flowers, and crystallised foam; the left shoulder of the dress ornamented with a cluster of diamonds; the right shoulder and ceinture with silvery iridescent gems; flowing hair crowned with corals, pearls, and diamonds; interspersed with pendants of seagrass.

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

  • Wastepaper Basket

    FD-Holt-1896-Wastebasket (One of those deliciously silly ideas: dressing up as a wastepaper basket, hilariously applied over the 1890s hourglass silhouette, complete with the enormous sleeves of the mid-1890s, festooned with paper!)

    The gown in the Illustration must be carried out in any fabric which most closely resembles the wicker basket work, the trimmings being entirely confined to waste paper, which should be sewn with some skill round the hem forming the sleeves and cap.

    (Click the image to enlarge.)

    Source:
    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.

  • Snow, Snowstorm, Snow Queen

    (A costume suited to the season or for anyone with an excess of swansdown at hand.  White maribou would make a workable substitute.)

    Snow, Snowstorm.
    A princesse dress of soft white foulard, made high to the throat, or with a square-cut bodice, back and front, and very short sleeves; a drapery of Indian muslin put on just below the hips, covered with detached pieces of frosted swansdown, caught back at both sides with a long broad piece of swansdown, long glass icicles; the bodice and short sleeves trimmed to match, and a wreath of frosted swansdown, with icicles; a veil, fastened either to the wreath or to the shoulders, of frosted gauze, dotted all over with swansdown; very long gloves, trimmed to match, and shoes covered with swansdown; necklace of frosted swansdown and icicles, and from underneath a few drooping snowdrops peeping out; hair down; the fan entirely of swansdown, with an edging of drooping icicles; if the swansdown is just touched with gum, and some "frosting" powder sprinkled on, the effect is very sparkling.

    Snow Queen.
    Same, with crown of icicles.

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