OF FANCY DRESS
The fancy-dress ball of private enterprise has nowadays comparatively
little patronage. The hostess is willing, but the guest is weak, and
while idleness is at the root of most social pleasure, the effort
required to assume the virtue or vice of some other personality is
placed without the pale of popularity. There have been, of course, some
historical exceptions, such as the famous balls given by the Duchess
of Devonshire and the Countess of Warwick, but similar triumphs seem
scarcely possible except in these exalted circles, when the attendance is
great because not to be present is to argue yourself unasked.
There are public fancy-dress balls in plenty, and the Ice Carnival has
just lived its little day--or night, and now and again some daring
creature, unversed in the ways of her world, issues invitations with the
words "Fancy Dress" printed on the corner of the card, which declares her
determination to be "At Home" at some club or another. But disappointment
generally waits upon the result: the numbers who accept are few, and of
these many will consider themselves exempt from wearing the motley, and
will beg the question in the Windsor uniform of red facings to the dress
coat. Most men candidly confess to feeling themselves fools arrayed in
any but the most conventional costume, and it is only the vanity of a
few that will yield to the attractions of being a velvet-clad Cavalier,
a slashed Romeo, or a bedizened Beaucaire. A woman, on the other hand,
delights in being somebody else, and scarcely a country house party comes
to its close in winter time without some attempt at dressing up, the
"head-dress" dinner being quite an established function, whence, without
doubt, much amusement may be evolved and much ingenuity result. The
success of the head-dress in influencing the entire appearance gives, of
course, proof to my favourite dogma, that the crowning point is the point
of importance in costume.
Time and opportunity in the past have exhausted the decorative delights
of simulating some flower, but although such tactics are distinctly
common-place, yet few frocks look prettier than these when well planned.
One of the most successful I can recall represented a fuchsia, and it
had a purple velvet skirt cut in pointed tabs, and bore an over-skirt
similarly treated of crimson silk; the tight-fitting short bodice was
of the palest green, cream-coloured stockings in pale green satin shoes
appeared beneath these, while the hat was an entire fuchsia, violet,
purple, green, and cream being all disposed in their proper places.
This was easy enough to make, and facility must be an advantage, even
as economy, in the planning of a dress for the carnival, since, after
all, it is scarcely likely to make its appearance on more than one
occasion. An original idea for which we can give thanks to the Fates is
the Gooseberry-fool's dress, which may be compassed with petticoats of
pale-green silk fringed with gooseberries of padded silk, and on the head
a fool's cap with pendent gooseberries as bells.
As a dress easy of achievement I can quote that one sketched here in
colour, the Seville Orange. The dress and bodice of orange-coloured silk
bear an application of padded oranges and leaves on the skirt, beneath a
chenille fringe of black with heavy netting, velvet streamers and oranges
are used at discretion to adorn the hair, and the petticoats beneath the
yellow skirt are of green, the stockings and shoes being of the same tone.
At a fancy-dress ball the costume which is merely original and not pretty
should be condemned except when the novelty prize is the desideratum
of the occasion. There have been some remarkable costumes designed,
which have proclaimed every scientific invention, and others which have
illustrated topical scenes and current events, involving much special
preparation and printing, and invariably presenting some difficulty when
the great question of head-dress had to be answered becomingly. It is
not easy to convey a Marconi system as a hat, nor can it be considered a
simple task to invest a coiffure elegantly with the best principles of an
air-ship, even though the ladies of long ago saw fit to crown themselves
with the last cry in Armadas. It is on record that the audacious actor,
Samuel Foote, distinguished himself by appearing at a masquerade in an
abnormally exaggerated caricature of this fashion--a policy which led
more directly to the discomfiture of Samuel Foote than to any serious
contempt for the fashions he held up to ridicule.
[Illustration: THE SEVILLE ORANGE.]
[Illustration: A BOTTICELLI DANCING-DRESS.]
An easy and popular manner of solving the problem of what to wear is
to reproduce the dress which is being worn by the heroine of some very
favoured play. Véronique, in her pale-green silk and white muslin
draperies, was a recent opportunity much adopted, and for years no
fancy-dress ball was complete without at least three Kate Hardcastles,
while Juliets were to be found in every doorway, and a dancing Faust
would lack no choice of Margarets.
The Calico ball proclaims itself pre-eminently thrifty in its intention,
and remarkably pretty effects may be obtained with cotton fabrics, if
sufficient intelligence be used in the design of the dresses. To achieve
the effect of an "old print," white crêpe cotton and pale blue sateen,
with a straw bonnet banded with the blue and a pink rose beneath, may
be recommended as useful ingredients. The "Marcus Stone" girl, as we
familiarly call a maiden clad in white muslin with a frilled fichu, is
another heroine whose frock lends itself readily to cheap material,
and we have always at our disposal the ever-popular red, white, and
blue flag, yet bunting is not the most comfortable of fabrics for the
enthusiastic dancer. The embodiment of the Seasons, although considerably
hackneyed, may safely be accomplished with cottons and muslins and
swansdown, leaves, and flowers; and a very effective dress is the
Rainbow, in which rainbow crêpe of Japanese manufacture is an ideal
assistant.
Chiffon is indispensable to the success of many a frock. In a dress
which shall represent Smoke, for instance, the chiffon ought to be of a
dark-grey tone, and yards and yards should be wound about the figure
and the head, the sleeves being wing-shaped, the stockings and shoes to
match. "Flames" may also be embodied with orange-red and yellow chiffon,
draped round with liberality, it being understood in both these cases
that a thin, tightly-fitting petticoat and under-bodice be supplied of
pongee to match the chiffon.
[Illustration: AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PIERROT.]
A good idea for a fancy-dress ball, if not one based perhaps upon the
truest spirit of poetry, is "Greens"; chiffon or silk of many shades of
green, with a head-dress in the shape of a cabbage. Very successful,
though not inexpensive, is the Oyster dress, composed of a very thin
white satin lined with pink satin, adorned at discretion with fringes of
pearls, while a pink chiffon chemisette is gauged to admiration upon the
draped white satin bodice, and the coiffure of the wearer is surmounted
by a coronet of oyster shells set on a bandeau of pale-pink chiffon, with
a floating veil of a deeper pink.
The White Queen from _Alice in Wonderland_ can be cheaply and
sufficiently represented by a frock of white calico, with the hooped
skirt set in a succession of thickly padded rolls, the hair net of
white chenille, surmounted by a crown of white cardboard painted with
the title. Ingenious, but perhaps not very becoming, is a dress of
white linen, with a big clock painted in the middle of the skirt, the
hands pointing to, say, 5 A.M., with the obvious purpose of suggesting
that the wearer is "Better late than never." A character which never
fails to attract at the gay carnival is Mephistopheles, the feminine
or masculine variety being alike adopted with avidity, in bright red,
feather in the cap, and a little shoulder-cape, and spangles complete.
A good costume for a man is the Druid, when he can arrange voluminous
white draperies as he will, and take unto himself the liberty of the
mistletoe wreath. A popular habit prevails of embodying the names of
certain illustrated journals, and representing the titles of some books.
Some daring innovator suggests labelling himself as a Doctor, and vows he
represents the "Dark Lantern," and the principle opens up a large field
for selection. Why should not an ordinary evening-dress-coated gentleman
be labelled "The Sphinx's Lawyer," and "The Coming Race" be expressed
by the Oxford and Cambridge crews limned on satin; and "The Imaginative
Man" might have a pair of wings fixed to the shoulders of his ordinary
broadcloth, a sign that he imagines himself an angel. The ground is
fruitful of suggestion.
"Fancy me in fancy dress," sings some gay lady in some gay play, and the
notion is full of fascination, which may best be realised, not by the
borrowing of clothes, but by making them, planning them, inventing them,
and, above all, wearing them with grace. We have passed the days and
nights when we yearned to represent some tragic figure--when to appear as
Marie Antoinette or Mary Queen of Scots seemed the pinnacle of delight.
Gone too are the times when the representation of the lamp-shade would
exhaust the inventive power of the many, and fled are our desires to
coquette as a Columbine or flit as a fairy in white tulle.
In an assembly where none are masked, a masked girl may attract
conspicuous attention, a monk who never draws cowl from his face may have
a following of the curious; she who would dress as Money, in gold or
yellow satin, jingling with golden coins, may be assured that she will
be run after, and she who represents Cleopatra, or some other Oriental
queen, blazing with jewels, will not be allowed to sit in a corner.
An audacious selection is the costume of the Wallflower in gold and
brown, which looks its best when made in chiffon and velvet.
As a rule, it must be admitted that the finest fancy dress looks the
best, and however charming may be the effects arrived at with muslin,
cotton, crêpe, and calico, she who stands out in the vast crowd will
be she who has the most magnificent clothes. The glories of brocade
and satin and velvet will always hold supreme sway, allied to some
distinctively grand head-dress elevated from the head on a frame and
banded with jewels, with a long diaphanous veil flowing into a sumptuous
length of train. The splendidly glorious is only rivalled by the darkly
mysterious, and the maiden of the Yashmak, if only she has the liquid
eye that speaks the flirtatious soul, and the veiled Sorceress, if her
wit be sufficient to carry the situation, may be quite irresistible: for
always the unknown allures.
[Illustration: A SOUTH SEA ISLANDER.]
[Illustration: THE KNAVE OF DIAMONDS.]
An idea which, to say the least of it, savours nothing of conceit is
to select the costume of a South Sea Islander, and it is one most easily
contrived with a sateen foundation oversewn with feathers, and surmounted
by a head-dress of erect plumes disposed in wild confusion above locks
apparently uninfluenced by the persuasive brush or comb. You can see the
result pictured, and note the contrast of the sleek knave of diamonds,
whose dress should be expressed in red and blue and white and yellow,
with black silk stockings.
In deciding upon a costume for a fancy-dress ball, the first thought
of the reveller should be to secure the becoming and the suitable, and
to be successful the choice should be mainly influenced by his or her
personality. I quite realise the problem to be a difficult one, since
happily we have not the gift given to us to see ourselves as others see
us, else should we never meet a podgy Mephistopheles bulging out of his
clothes, nor an attenuated Juno, nor a dusky Desdemona, nor a buxom Puck.
Most artistic and felicitous results may be obtained from copying
costumes in old pictures; and visits to the National Gallery, and an
afternoon spent at the Wallace Collection, will prove themselves at once
a profit and a pleasure, and an easy guide towards the selection of the
appropriate dress. It is advisable on such occasions to be accompanied by
the kind friend who, without fear to risk a reproach, will counsel with
all wisdom, and temper your ambitions to your personality.
An admirable item in the programme of the fancy-dress ball is the
quadrille, the lancers, or the cotillon, which shall be danced by
people clad in costumes of the same period, such harmony being a
special pleasure to the beholder, who may nevertheless also glean some
entertainment from the spectacle of the nineteenth-century Columbine
hobnobbing with the fourteenth-century monk; and may no doubt get some
satisfaction from the sight of Cleopatra in the arms of the Devil.
But I will linger no longer lightly in the realms of fancy dress, but
penetrate the dark depths of Dominoes and Masks, leaving the many
illustrations in these pages culled from the centuries to speak the last
word of selection with most fluent and expressive tongue.