Historical Fancy Dress

Tag: Victorian costume

  • A Victorian Fancy Dress Ball, New Haven, Connecticut (Saturday, March 24, 2012)

    Enjoying the descriptions and illustrations of fancy dress costumes posted here?  Now's your chance to try it for yourself!

    On Saturday, March 24th, in New Haven, Connecticut, there will be a fancy dress ball in the style of the 1880s, featuring live music, Victorian dancing, refreshments made from historical recipes, and a chance to bring fancy dress costumes to life!

    The ball will be held from 8:00 to 11:30pm at beautiful Pratt Hall, less than a block from the New Haven Green and only a few blocks from the historic Yale University campus.  The dancing will be precepted by dance historian and teacher Susan de Guardiola (author of the Capering & KIckery dance history blog and owner of Historical Fancy Dress) with live music by the noted dance trio Spare Parts, heard recently on the soundtrack of the film Bright Star.  The dances will be a typical Victorian mix of couple dances (waltz, polka, schottische, galop) and set dances (contras, quadrilles).  All set dances will be taught during the evening, and there will be a workshop from 3:00 to 5:00pm the afternoon of the ball to help people wanting to learn the couple dances.  There will also be a procession of costumes and

    Fancy dress based on the styles of the 1880s is strongly encouraged, and this blog is your resource for costume ideas.  Since this is a fancy dress ball rather than a masquerade, masks are not necessary.  To preserve the beautiful floor, please make sure to have clean dance shoes or indoor-only shoes to change into at the hall so as not to track dirt or grit into the ballroom.

    The ball is strictly limited to 80 people due to the size of the hall.  Advance registration ($30 per person, or $20 for ages 13-21) is recommended.  At-the-door prices are $10 higher and admission will be available only if space permits.  Younger children may attend with their parents, and are expected to be strictly supervised throughout and withdrawn from the ballroom if they become too tired/fussy to display polite behavior.

    A hotel block at the nearby New Haven Hotel has been reserved at a discount rate; reservations must be made by March 7th to be guaranteed this rate.

    Full information and registration (by mail or Paypal) are available at the Fancy Dress Ball website.

  • 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.

  • Evening Dress of the Future

    (This costume is from a listing of simple costume suggestions for gentlemen and provides a very easy out for a modern gentleman — white tailcoats and trousers and black shirts can be easily rented or bought from a formalwear store.  The waistcoat color is not specified, perhaps because both black and white were worn in period, though black was more common.  Like the Footwoman of the Future, this costume tries to anticipate change, though it fails to predict the tuxedo!)

    …viz, white where it is usually black, and vice versa, white coat and trousers, black shirt, tie, and collar.

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

  • Christmas Card

    (An amazingly detailed description of how to embody a Christmas card. Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating!)

    Short striped skirt of black and gold, on the black a row of Christmas Cards printed horizontally, edged with gold braid, three on each, graduated, the largest at the bottom. At the edge of skirt are satin flounces, over which fall gold tinsel and fringe. Red satin paniers and drapery, covered with swansdown pompoms; scarlet satin cuirass bodice laced at the back, bordered at the neck with swansdown, festoons of holly-berries on the arm, below the shoulder. Cordon of Christmas roses across the bodice, white ribbon epaulettes, holly wreath, red aigrette, stockings and shoes. A Christmas card in centre of white swansdown fan.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Justice

    (An interesting costume combining both symbolic and practical elements of the theme.)

    Short white satin dress, scales in black velvet appliquéd upon it; black velvet jacket with policeman’s badge on one arm; a leather belt; a truncheon in hand, and policeman’s helmet.

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

  • Will-o’-the-Wisp

    (Here are very similar descriptions for a woman’s version and a girl’s version of the same outfit. The electric stars would have been very modern and fashionable, less than a decade after the invention of the light bulb.)

    Women:
    Flowing hair falling over black fashionably-made evening dress; tiny lantern carried in hand; star of electric light in the centre of the forehead.

    Girls:
    Black lantern in hand, hair flowing; black tulle dress with iridescent beads; star over the forehead of electric light.

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