Victorian Fancy Dress April 25, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Stressful days – just discovered our house is riddled with woodworm – are ameliorated by making lists. This is one I’ve been playing around with all afternoon: the demography of Victorian fancy dress parties. You know the drill. Invitation arrives with instructions to turn up on the Sunday afternoon in a costume and identity of your choosing. Today expect to see fairies, pirates, kings and queens. But what did our Victorian ancestors bring to the ball? There follows a catalogue based off two extensive fancy dress lists from England in the 1890s: involving both children and adults. Interesting to see some similar choices: Red Riding Hood still prances across the floor; fairies still flutter from punch bowl to sandwich stack. But there are also some surprises: practically no pirates; and what is it with Swiss Peasants, Italian tambourine girls and Zurich? I’d love to do more work on Victorian fancy dress as an informal census of the nineteenth-century imagination: any ideas how to do it? Drbeachcombing AT gmail DOT com
Flower (and ivy) (Roses, Flower Girl, Poppy, Water Lilly, Daisy, Miss Buttercup, Snowdrop, Violet, Daisy, ‘Queen of the Roses’, ‘Little Miss Snowdrop’, Wild Rose, Primrose, Forget Me Not, Apple Blossom, Ivy): 23
Season (‘Summer’, ‘Autumn’, Winter, Queen of Winter, Queen of May, Frost, Snow): 15
Peasant (Swiss Peasant; Dutch Peasant; Normandy Peasant; French Peasant, Norway Peasant; Swedish Peasant; Farmer’s Boy, French Peasant; Neapolitan Peasant; Brittany Milkmaid, Breton Peasant): 13
Cavalier (‘Court Page of Charles I’; ‘Charles 1’, Charles II): 7
Cook (French Cook, Boulangerie, Pastry Cook, Chef): 7
Soldier (‘6th Dragoons’; ‘Artillery Officer’; Vivanderie; Yeoman of the Guard, Prussian Soldier): 6
Little Lord Fauntleroy: 5
Gipsy (‘Spanish Gipsy’, Italian Gypsy, Gipsy Queen): 6
Red Riding Hood: 6
Fairies (‘Fairy Queen’: Fairy Starlight): 5
Jockey: 4
Court Dress (Page): 4
Court Personnel (Barrister, Judge): 4
Bo Peep: 4
Fish Wife (Bayenne Fish Wife, French Fish girl): 3
Man o’ War: 3
Cherry Ripe: 3
Hunter (‘Huntress’; Master of the Fox Hounds’, Hunting): 3
Fishermen (‘French Fishergirl’, ‘Fishergirl’, ‘Neapolitan Fisherboy’): 3
Night: 3
Tudor (Courtier of Queen Elizabeth): 3
Shepherdess (Shepherdess, Watreau Shepherdess): 3
Cricketer: 3
Nurse (Red Cross Nurse, Hospital Nurse): 3
Little Miss Muffett: 2
Black American (‘Uncle Tom’): 2
Dudley: 2
Ye Old English Gentlemen (‘Old English Gentleman’): 2
Fred Archer: 2
Brigand (Greek Brigandess; Italian Brigand): 2
Music: 2
Jester: 2
Boy Blue: 2
WSYC: 2
Slave Girl: 2
Robin Hood: 2
Dresden China: 2
Gondolier: 2
Bullfighter: 2
Tambourine Girl (Swiss TG; Italian TG): 2
Prince Charming: 1
An Ancient Dandy: 1
Patchwork: 1
Britannia: 1
Doctor of Divinity: 1
Little Bo Peep: 1
Sir Peter Teazle: 1
Kate Greenaway: 1
Fordham: 1
Buy a broom: 1
Georgian (Court Dress 18C): 1
Capt Paul Jones: 1
Mermaids (‘Undine’): 1
Zurich: 1
Bookmaker betting man: 1
Snowed Up Minstrel: 1
British Flag: 1
Robinson Crusoe: 1
Sir Walter Raleigh: 1
Elsie Mayonard: 1
Maid of Seville: 1
Nancy Lee: 1
Jolly Young Waterman: 1
Mayor of the Faithful City: 1
Clown: 1
Turk: 1
Puppy: 1
Lawn Tennis: 1
Carmen: 1
Punchinello: 1
Masher: 1
Maritana: 1
A Hundred Years Ago: 1
Esmerelda: 1
Paritan Maiden: 1
PASLI: 1
Prince in the Tower: 1
Edward V: 1
Madame Récamier: 1
Judy: 1
Knight Templar: 1
Faust: 1
Folly: 1
Postilion: 1
Alphabet: 1
Vice Versa: 1
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary: 1
General Graham: 1
Sister Dora: 1
Page of Louis XIII: 1
Pirate (Pirate’s Wife: 1
Napoleon Bonaparte: 1
Marquis: 1
Swiss Girl: 1
Poudrée: 1
Highlander: 1
Lord High Chancellor: 1
St Cecilia: 1
Mother Hubbard: 1
Little Mischief: 1
Huguenot: 1
Susan M, 29 Apr 2018, writes in with this link (check out the last chapter) HOME-MADE MASQUERADE AND THEATRICAL COSTUMES The White Man of the Desert; The Fourteenth Century Young Man; The Medieval Hat; The Wig; Eyebrows, Moustache, and Beard; The Doublet; Trunks; Tights; To Dress; The Baby; How to Make a Handkerchief Hood.
Lewis JWH, 3 May 2018: I notice that, nestled away in the list of Victorian children’s fancy dress costumes, is a “Jolly Young Waterman”. This is an interesting 1890s throwback to Charles Dibdin’s ballad opera, first performed at the Haymarket Theatre in 1774. Intriguing to see the lingering influence of the stages and pleasure gardens of the bawdy old 1700s on the prim children’s parties of the 1890s. I wouldn’t be surprised if one could trace a line from the court masques of the early modern period to the fairy wings and fairy cakes of modern children’s parties.
Invisible, 3 May 2018: What is it with Zurich? The traditional dress of that canton (as, to be honest, does the dress of many cantons) features a lace-up bodice that was considered both flattering and sexy as it somewhat imitated ladies’ corsets worn on the outside. BUT Princess Louise and Princess Helena wore Zurich costume in 1859 so perhaps it was made popular by the royal association. The Metropolitan Museum has a large collection (perhaps some 80+ images) of a children’s fancy dress ball from the 1870s. Here’s one example, of “Cherry Girl.”
