1800 - 1900
THEMED COSTUMES
Themed costume parties enabled the late Georgians and Victorians to have fun with dressing up.
Like a game of charades, partygoers had to guess who their fellow guests were dressed as.
Esoteric costumes absorbed in fluencies from history, mythology, theater, literary characters, and the Orient, reworked by dressmakers in imaginative and extravagant ways.
Some partygoers wore costumes that family members had brought back from abroad, or retrieved treasured ancestral outfits from the attic.
Others were inspired by sources such as Arden Holt’s 1887 catalogue of Fancy Dresses Described, which was sold through Debenham and Freebody’s the department store.
These featured themed costumes as diverse as a foppish Incroyable, a witch, and a hornet.
Natural materials such as beetle wing cases and butterfly wings, and even live fireflies in net bags, were used to create a suitable macabre or exotic atmosphere.
ROYAL DRESSING UP
England’s 1897 Devonshire House Ball was themed around allegorical or historical costume pre-1820.
The Duke of York went as the 3rd Earl of Cumberland, with embroidered Genoa velvet pour point, sleeves and mantle, steel gorget (plate armor collar), crimson velvet trunks, high boots, and felt hat with three feathers.
The Duchess was Marguerite de Valois, in pale blue satin, with a Medici old lace collar, and copious pearls and diamonds.
1800 - 1900
主题服饰
主题服饰派对令格鲁吉亚与维多利亚晚期的装扮变得更加有趣。
就像玩哑谜游戏，派对常客们不得不去猜测与他们结伴的客人是谁。
这些服饰装扮吸收了来自历史，神话，戏剧，文学角色甚至东方的影响，由裁缝师以富有想象力和奢华的方式重新设计。
一些派对人士穿着家庭成员从国外带回来的服饰，或是珍贵的家族祖传服饰。
还有一些服饰灵感来自像Arden Holt1887年的花式连衣裙目录里展示的款式，经Debenham与Freebody百货公司进行销售。
这些特征明显的主题服饰花样繁多，浮夸的男人，可爱的女巫，甚至一只马蜂等。
天然材质例如甲壳虫虫翼与蝴蝶翅膀，甚至放在网袋中的活萤火虫，都被拿来贴合一种异国情调的气氛。
皇家装扮
英格兰1897年的德文郡庄园舞会服饰装扮都是围绕1820年前的寓言或历史主题的。
约克公爵作为坎伯兰的第三位伯爵，穿着绣花的热那亚天鹅绒袖子与披风，平板钢制盔甲，深红色天鹅绒裤子，高筒靴，戴三根羽毛的毛毡帽。
公爵夫人玛格丽特 德瓦鲁瓦，穿着浅蓝色缎面的，搭配美第奇式旧蕾丝花边领，以及丰富的珍珠与钻石。
