The Ornamented Being

House of Worth (French, 1858–1956)

1900-1905

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Interesting to see how even thought this is a fancy dress the silhouette is has the Gibson Girl pigeon breast shape.

Oh la la! So scandalous!

Fancy dress costume
c. 1883-87
Swan & Edgar
Gift of Helen Larson Estate
2001.31.15AB

(Source: blog.fidmmuseum.org)

Once again this costume is courtesy of The Manchester Galleries.

c. 1826

“This dress was worn by Sarah Coke, who lived at Brookhill Hall, Pinxton, Derbyshire, at a fancydress ball in Nottingham in 1826. It was Sarah’s “coming out” ball, her first social event as an adult, and the dress was supposed to represent the fashion of Charles II’s time, and she wore her hair in ringlets, adorned with white ostrich feathers. However, the puffed sleeves, the flat collar and the stomacher effect of the bodice front actually suggest the fashions of Charles I rather than Charles II.

Fancy balls became extremely popular in the 1820s, the fashion spreading from court and high society balls given in London, Paris and Brussels, to private family balls, and then to large municipal balls organised by committees to raise money for charity, like this Nottingham ball. Preston held a ball as early as 1822, Liverpool in 1827 and Manchester in 1828. A “fancy dress” often represented a historical figure such as Mary, Queen of Scots or Queen Elizabeth I, a character from fiction such as a Shakespeare play or a Scott novel, or simply mainstream fashionable evening dress with a few “fancy” trimmings, such as feathers, furs and oriental scarves.”

(Source: manchestergalleries.org)