Historical Fancy Dress

Research for rent: we take requests!

SInce I'm starting to get requests for particular costumes in light of the upcoming Fancy Dress Ball, and these requests take time, and time is money, I'm putting a new policy into place to help people to get what they need and support Historical Fancy Dress at the same time!

I will happily take requests for specific fancy dress costume descriptions and do my best to find all the information I can in return for a small Paypal donation in support of Historical Fancy Dress.  "Small" means a $5.00 minimum, though more is fine.  And if I can't find anything, I'll refund your donation unless you prefer to let me keep it in support of this blog and my research endeavors.

So if there is a particular costume that interests you and you would like to see any information (description, illustration, photo, etc.) that we can find posted on Historical Fancy Dress, use the link below for your donation and Paypal's "Note to the seller" option to tell me what you want.  Posts come out regularly on Tuesdays and Fridays and I'll move your request to the top of the list!

The Windsor uniform

(In answer to a question in the comments on the post listing costumes from a fancy dress ball in Singapore: what the "Windsor uniform" refers to.)

...the Windsor uniform, which is red cloth lapels and cuffs sewn on to an ordinary evening dress-coat, sometimes, in lieu of red cloth, light blue silk is used.  (1880)

... the Windsor uniform, with red cloth lapels and cuffs sewn on to an ordinary evening dress-coat, -- sometimes, in lieu of red cloth, light blue silk is used.  (1887)

The actual Windsor uniform, undress version, appears to have been a dark blue coat with red cuffs and lapels; presumably for a fancy dress ball people were just going for the general look, though it is possible that the wearers in Singapore were among the officials expected to wear it and thus had the proper coat already.  Their listings are plain "Mr." with no associated titles, however, and the descriptions above suggest to me that it was an easy shortcut for men disinclined to put much effort into costuming.

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

Portuguese Officer of the 16th Century

  (Yes, men really did wear tights to fancy dress balls!  Here's a Canadian gentleman in Tudor-era costume, complete with tights and tall boots.  Click the image for a larger version.)

Left: Edward Waldo, as "Portuguese Officer of the 16th Century", Montréal, QC, 1881 by Notman & Sandham.  Image © McCord Museum.

The photograph is part of an online exhibition of photographs of fancy dress costumes from balls and skating parties; the museum's description of it states, in part:

"Mr. Waldo wore this costume to several different balls and carnivals in the 1880s, in both Ottawa and Montreal. Like women, men in fancy dress, enjoyed flouting everyday conventions. Under no other circumstances would Victorian men ever expose this much of their legs. Journalists chronicled a great deal of anxiety among men over the adequacy of their legs and the decision to expose their calves or thighs."

"This photograph was probably taken in the Notman studio in Montreal, where Mr. Waldo attended Mrs. D. Lorn Macdougall's ball and a skating carnival two weeks later"

"Mr. Waldo wore this costume at least three times in 1881, when this photograph was taken, and again in 1889. He had it remade for another ball in 1896."

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

(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.