:5^ 1 : Fancy dresses described; OR, WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. By ARDERN holt. FIFTH EDITION. LONDON DEBENHAM & FREEBODY, WIGMORE STREET AND WELBECK STREET ; WYMAN & SONS, 74-76, GREAT QUEEN STREET AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL. '^/f"] 1 hit DEBENHAM & FREEBODY Invite an inspection of their Novelties and Specialties in COURT DRESSES AND TRAINS, PRESENTATION DRESSES, BALL, EVENING, AND VISITING DRESSES, COSTUMES, TAILOR-MADE JACKETS AND GOWNS, TEA-GOWNS, DRESSING-GOWNS, MANTLES, MILLINERY, AND WEDDING TROUSSEAUX. s:p'ecia;i. o.'Esre'NS in NA TIONAL, ilf/Srp^^GJlL. '^ANDjFAJk'f V COSTUMES jF<:^i?J fli'Bi^&Aj}^xya''tiEkigijzAi.s, and * FANcYBALLS. DEBENHAM & FREEBODY, WIGMORE STREET c^' WELBECK STREET, LONDON, W. aiFT OF PREFACE HE Fourth Edition of Ardern Holt's "Fancy Dresses Described" being exhausted, we have made arrange- ments for the publication of the Fifth Edition with such corrections as experience dictates, and a very large addition to the number of characters detailed. The suggestions we have received have been carefully noted, and the result is a larger and more comprehensive work than any hitherto published. The inquiry for Coloured Plates has induced us to select sixteen favourite Models for Illustration in Colours, of a completely new character, as well as a new series of smaller Illustrations, and we trust they will add greatly to the usefulness of the book. The Author's name is a guarantee for the correctness of the descriptions and accuracy of details; and we have endea- voured (as in former editions) to maintain such simplicity as will enable many ladies to produce the costumes at home. DEBENHAM & FREEBODY. London : WiGMORE Street and Welbeck Strzet, December, 1887. iyi94388 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/fancydressesdescOOholtrich LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. COLOURED. PLATE Marguerite de Valois I. Magpie X. Countess of Argyle (in the Monte Carlo . XI. time of Mary, Queen of Normandy .... XII. Scots) II. Swiss , XIII. Classic III. Watteau XIV. Dowager of Erionne IV. Witch XV. Esmeralda V. Maltese Water r. Hero VI. Carrier «:1 Hornet VII. <3 k .. Butterfly XVI. Incroyable VIII. Red Riding Hood s^ j o Italian Peasant IX. Goblin UNGOLOURED. Alsatian i Folly 17 Amy Robsart 2 Flower Girl 18 Anne Boleyn 3 Footwoman 19 Air 4 Fish Girl (Newhaven) 20 Mrs. Balchristie 5 Girl Graduate 21 Blue Coat 6 Gleaner 22 Breton 7 Grace Darling 23 Carrier Pigeon 8 Gainsborough 24 CharityOirl 9 Miss Hardcastle 25 Charlotte Corday 10 Huguenot 26 Cinderella 11 Juliet 27 Colleen Bawn 12 Joan of Arc 28 Di Vernon 13 Marie Stuart 29 Diana 14 Mary Queen of Scots 30 Dresden China 15 Marguerite 31 England 16 Marie A.ntoinette 32 VI FANCY D:. ESSES DESCRIBED. FIG. FIG. Nurse 33 Effie Deans 49 Night 34 Dress of the Empire 50 Olivia Primrose 35 Maid of Athens 51 Punchinella 36 Music 52 Patience 37 Lady Jane Grey 53 Pansy 38 Martha 54 Polish 39 Welsh 55 Puritan 40 Louis XIV 56 Rubens's Wife 41 Pillar Post 57 Russian 42 Puritan 58 Serving Maid 43 Old-Fashioned Beau 59 Lady Teazle 44 Harlequinette 60 Venetian 45 Fairy ... 61 Vivandiere 46, 47 Dutch Fisher Boy 62 Vandyke 48., 64 Grenadier 63 INTRODUCTION; UT, WHAT ARE WE TO WEAR? This is the first exclamation on receipt of an invitation to a Fancy Ball, and it is to assist in answering such questions that this volume has been compiled. It does not purport to be an authority in the matter of costume, for, as a rule, the historical dresses worn on such occasions are lamentably incorrect. Marie Stuart appears in powder ; Louis XIV. wears a beard ; and Berengaria dis- tended drapery. No one would probably view the national costumes with more curiosity than the peasantry they are intended to portray, although certain broad characteristics of the several countries are maintained by Fancy Ball-goers. Several hundred characters, which a long and varied ex- perience has proved to be the favourite and most effective, are here described, with every incidental novelty introduced of late years. A glance through these pages will enable readers to choose which will best suit them, and learn how they are to be carried out. Among the Costumes adapted to BRUNES are Africa, Arab Lady, Arrah-na-Pogue, Asia, Autumn, Bee, Gipsies of various kinds, the Bride of Abydos, Brigand's Wife, Britannia, Buy-a-Broom, Carmen, Cleopatra, Colleen Bawn, Connaught Peasant, Diana, Druidess, Earth, Egyptian, Erin, Esmeralda, Fenella, Fire, Greek, Luti, the Indian Girl, Harvest, — FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED. Maid of Saragossa, Maritana, Rose of Castille, and Zingari, together with Italian, Spanish, and Oriental dresses. '.For :.F;AIR 'WOMEN, among others, the following are suiiable::^Arctic Maiden, Air, Bride of T.ammermoor, Aurora, W^itte Lady .of Avenel, Canada, Canadian Snow Wreath, t)gfliish Pea s?.m, Day, Dew, Edith Bellender, Elaine, Fair Maid of Perth, Fairy, Flora, Gabrielle d'Estrees, La Belle Dame sans Merci, Marguerite in Faust, Moonlight, Norwegian costumes, Ophelia, Peace, Polish Peasant, Rainbow, Rowena, Sabrina, Swiss, Schneewittchen, Titania, Twilight, and Water-Nymphs. The most notable HISTORICAL DRESSES de- scribed are Queen Anne, Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Arragon, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr, Catherine de Medici, Charles I. and his Family, Madame Elizabeth ; Elizabeth, Queen of England ; Elizabeth of York, the Georgian Period, the James XL Period, Princess de Lamballe, Louis XIIL, XIV., XV., XVI. Periods, Marguerite de Valois, Marie Antoinette, Marie Stuart, the Queen's Maries, and Philippa of Hainault. For ELDERLY LADIES the following costumes are suitable : —Mrs. Balchristie, Griselda Oldbuck, Dowager of Brionne {see large Coloured Illustration), My Grandmother, a Lady of the Olden Time, Night, Puritan, some Vandyke dresses, Quakeress, Mrs. Primrose, wife of the Vicar of Wakefield, Peacock, the Duchess of Orleans, a Maltese Faldette, Mother Hubbard, Mother Shipton, a Sorceress, a Gallician Matron, and some Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds's dresses. GENTLEMEN'S FANCY COSTUMES are not in- cluded in this volume. * The following can, however, with a little ingenuity be arranged at home : Evening dress of the * They are published in a separate work, entitled " Gentlemen's Fancy Dress: How to Choose It," published by Wyman & Sons, 74-76, Great Queen Street. INTRODUCTION future, viz.. white where it is usually black, and vice vefsd, white coat and trousers, black shirt, tie, and collar. Debar- deur : loose velvet jacket and short trousers with Maltese but- tons, scarf around waist and velvet cap. A clergyman desirous of being present might appear as a French abbe, or as a monk, in a long brown ample robe with wide sleeves, and a cord round the waist ; or a Sacconi or Italian mute, in a monk's long white calico dress, with cord about the waist, and a pointed cap over the head and face, having holes for the eyes and mouth. The tall gamekeeper in Pickwick requires only a brown velveteen coat and gilt buttons, corduroy trousers, stout gaiters, and a game-bag slung on the shoulders. An Irish car- driver: green coat patched, brass buttons, brocaded waist- coat, drab breeches with patches, high collar and red tie, blue darned stockings, leather shoes, hat trimmed with green and sprigs suit, of shamrock. The Cure : a blue and white striped calico with high conical cap. A Christy Minstrel: blackened face, woolly wig, enormous collar, extravagant bouquet, long- tailed coat, trousers of striped calico, and banjo. The two style. Obadiahs : two people dressed alike in the above Pierrot, the French clown, large loose trousers and blouse, with frill at throat, made in white calico, a row of coloured rosettes down the front, conical hat ; black skull cap, face much painted. Sergeant Buzfuz, in a legal black robe and coif; and 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. Baker, cook, bookmaker, butler, miller, coachman, crossing-sweeper, also suggest themselves. SISTERS who desire to appear in costumes which assimi- late might choose any of the following : Apple and Pear Blossoms, Sovereign and Shilling, Cinderella's two sisters, Cor- delia's sisters, Brenda and Minna Troil, Brunhilda and Kriem- hilda. Salt and Fresh Water, the Roses of York and Lancaster, a Circassian Princess and Slave, Music and Painting, the Two Nomas, Lovebirds, Aurora and the Hours, Oranges and Lemons, and Four Sisters as the Seasons. FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED. A Husband and Wife might select Jack and Gill, Cock and Hen, any Kings and Queens, a Wizard and Witch, Night and Morning, or Night and Day. Fancy Dresses are never more piquante and charming than when worn by children ; the several characters in the Nursery Rhymes are admirably adapted for them, and we have given a special selection of dresses for boys and girls in the Appendix, children's fancy balls being on the increase. For Calico Balls, among others the following are recom- mended : —Clairette, Fille de Madame Angot, Bo-peep, Mothers Hubbard, Bunch, Shipton, &c., all the several Fish-girls, the dress carried out in striped and plain cottons instead of woollen stuffs ; Cabaretiere, Five-o'clock-tea, Flower-girls, Flowers, Normandy, and most of the other Peasant Dresses ; Polly-put-the-Kettle-on, My pretty Maid, Shepherdesses, Poudre and Watteau costumes, Alphabet, Miss Angel, Scott's and Shakespeare's heroines, Bertrade, Bonbonniere, Queen of Butterflies, Buy-a-Broom, Charity Girl, Chess, La Chocolatiere Cinderella, Columbine, Coming-throiigh-the-Rye, Dresden China, Dominoes, Friquette, Germaine, Harvest, Incroyable, Lady-Help, Magpie, Olivia and Sophia Primrose, Rainbow, and One of the Rising Generation. " But it must be borne in mind that the word " calico is of elastic meaning at these balls, including cotton-backed satin and cotton velvet.