Fancy Dress in the Edwardian Era: Theatrical Costume or Costume History?

A ca. 1900-1910 young woman in an impressive "bat" costume.

I’m always glad to say farewell to January, my least favourite month, with its cold winter blasts and the long, dreary, colourless weeks that follow the holiday season, devoid of anything much to look forward to.
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However, the Edwardian era knew how to mitigate that ennui!  In the French fashion publications of the early 20th century that I work with in my research, the January issues always previewed fancy dress for the “Carnaval” or Mardi Gras season, and the anticipation of lively costume balls and dinners that were an integral part of it.  From the 1890’s to the onset of WWI, French fashion magazines featured examples of, and patterns for, fancy (and “fantasy”) dress or disguises appropriate for the occasion, based on all sorts of creative whimsies.  

This certainly wasn’t a new concept, although these magazine articles and patterns specifically for fancy dress only began appearing after about 1900.  The history of fancy dress balls or masquerades and the making of costumes for them of course goes back centuries.  In fact it still continues with patterns offered for modern fancy dress -- readers of the German fashion magazine Burda will recognize the tradition in sewing pattern designs for Carnival season usually offered in their January publications, as in this January, 2004 issue:  

Likely because these carnivals were connected with the Catholic religious calendar, there seems to have been little focus on them in Edwardian British and North American fashion publications, as compared to their French counterparts.  Nonetheless, judging from British and American reports and novels of the era (not to mention surviving costumes), the season of parties, dinners, and balls of the end of the 1890's and beginning of the 20th century was not without “fancy dress” or masquerade balls. ​

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