A Ball Poudré (Powdered Ball)

(Here are a quartet of descriptions of an odd but apparently popular ball theme in which the only costuming done is that the ladies powder the hair.)

Occasionally the hostess elects that her guests shall apear in costumes of a particular period, and Poudré Balls find many patrons.  Under these circumstances the lady guests only wear powder with ordinary evening dress, the gentlemen making no change from their usual attire, save perhaps that white waistcoats and button-holes are enjoined.

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

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Yet another kind of fancy ball is a bal poudré.  Here the guests are free to appear in ordinary evening dress but with powdered hair.  The ladies arrange their hair in imitation of some old picture, and there is plenty of variety to be obtained in this way.  One wears the long locks pertaining to one of Reynolds' beauties, another wears the piled up coiffure indulged in by the Court ladies in the reign of Louis XVI.  A piquante beauty does her hair à la Watteau, and a more serious one adopts the style of Marie Antoinette.  Powder and patches are allowable with this style of coiffure, and the powdered hair is so universally becoming that all the ladies look their best.

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

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A Ball Poudré

A ball of this description is conducted upon the same basis as an ordinary ball, so far as the programme and general details are concerned.  The guests attire themselves as for a full-dress ball, except that th ladies are required to powder their hair white and wear fancy black patches upon their face; and the gentlemen to wear white vests and small button-hole bouquets.  The effect is very pretty, especially with the present artistic style of dressing which closely copies antique fashions.

        Masquerade and Carnival: Their Customs and Costumes.  London and New York: The Butterick Publishing Co., 1892.

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A Bal Poudré

A ball of this description is conducted upon the same basis as an ordinary ball, so far as the program and the general details are concerned.  The guests attire themselves in evening dress as is the custom for a ball, the only difference being that the ladies are required to powder their hair white and wear fancy black patches upon their faces; and the gentlemen to wear white vests and small buttonhole bouquets.  The effect is very pretty, especially with the present artistic style of dressing.  The minuet should be danced, also those dances which have a slow, graceful movement.

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

Comments

[JKM]

"The minuet should be danced, also those dances which have a slow, graceful movement."

If they did bouncy dances I wonder if there would be clouds of powder in the air?

[Susan de Guardiola]

I think the powder was put on over pomade or some other sticky hair stuff, so it wouldn't coat the room. I'll try to put something on how to apply powder up when I have a chance.

[Estott]

I think most powder at the time was rice powder which would have had more tendency to stick if there was any moisture on the hair. I suspect some people used plain old flour. BTW- occasional 18th C. portraits will show a trace of powder fallen on the subject's clothes so it was something taken for granted. What hostesses really did worry about was candle wax dripping from chandeliers.