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In honour of this piece I wrote for @prospect_uk on Brigid Brophy's The Snow Ball + why reading about sweaty, noisy, glittering parties currently feels like an acute form of fantasy, here are some photos from a few fave historic costume balls: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/brigid-brophy-the-snow-ball-review-masked-ball-rosalind-jana
1.) Truman Capote's Black and White Ball (1966). 540 attendees. Huge squabbles over the guest list. A lot of good feathers, masks, monochrome costumes, and general preening.
Special mention goes to Leonora Hornblow, who recalls the evening thus: "My memory is entirely of my beauty... I had a mask made with beautiful white feathers to go with my beautiful white hair. I was so glorious I couldn’t believe it." https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a32972194/truman-capote-black-white-ball-oral-history/
2.) The 1972 Rothschild Surrealist ball featuring antlers, apples, fur covered plates, cat-butlers, and Audrey Hepburn's head in a bird cage. Oh and Salvador Dalí (of course). More details here: https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/7604/lessons-we-can-learn-from-the-rothschild-surrealist-ball
The previous year's ball theme was Proust. Marisa Berenson recalls, "I went as the Marchesa Luisa Casati & no one recognised me, not even the hostess! Piero Tosi dressed me in a black gown by Paul Poiret, draped in pearls & with black feathers in my hair." (feathers are a theme!)
Talking of notable 20th Century costume ball attendees, a brief pause in appreciation of Surrealist painter and costume connoisseur Leonor Fini. She dressed as an owl for the Bal des Oiseaux in, I believe?, 1949. She also LOVED masks and plumage.
I'm also FASCINATED by Bauhaus costume parties. "The essential difference between the fancy-dress balls organized by the artists of Paris, Berlin, Moscow and the ones here at the Bauhaus is that our costumes are truly original."
https://archive.curbed.com/2017/10/25/16547486/bauhaus-design-style-school-costumes-parties
https://archive.curbed.com/2017/10/25/16547486/bauhaus-design-style-school-costumes-parties
There are various others I'll try to dig out later, but in the meantime, too, some further glitzy balls & mysterious costumes reading recommendations. 1.) @alexanderchee's The Queen of the Night. 2) Colette's exquisite (very) short story 'The Hidden Woman' http://vestoj.com/the-hidden-woman/
3.) The absolute horror of a ball in du Maurier's Rebecca. The second Mrs de Winter is tricked into dressing as her husband's dead wife! Dark! (Side note: I liked the lurid fever dream feel of this scene in the Netflix adaptation and wish more of the film had adopted that tone)
