All posts tagged: masquerade

Rate the Dress: Pink bows at the masqued ball

Last week I presented a 1920s frock with lace and geometry, and you didn’t like it much.  In fact, what you really didn’t like was the only part I found interesting: the lattice.  But I can’t tell you exactly how much you didn’t like it because I used my weekly maths adding quota up on marking student papers, ‘kay? This week, I present a masquerade themed Rate the Dress.  We can tell it’s a masquerade costume because she has a mask.  Also, she’s at the masquerade, and it’s called Venetian Lady at the Masqued Ball. In addition to a mask, our pretty Venetian is very fond of matching: she’s got a profusion of picot-edged pink bows which perfectly match her pink skirt, and the delicate pink piping of her bodice. Even her black mitts are trimmed with matching pink ruffles. The only things that aren’t pink and black are her white undersleeves, and her mad feather-bedecked hat. So, dear readers, there are two important questions to answer here.  First, what do you think she is …

Rate the Dress: Fancy dress for 1830

The Halloween run-up purple and black dress from last week was very divisive.  You either loved the dress, or hated it.  One thing you did agree on though: the fringe was not good.  Perhaps my anti-fringe stance has influenced all of you after all!  The pro-black and purple-ites won a slight victory, bringing the rating in at 6.7 out of 10 Last week I gave a taste of the season, and I promised a proper Halloween Rate the Dress for this week, but when I came to pick something, I realised what a mistake my promise was!  How was I ever to live up to last year’s Victorian Batgirl?  How was I ever to find something else that was said ‘Halloween’ so clearly, that was from a different period (because the whole point is variety), and that wasn’t so historical that the costume would make no sense from a modern perspective. So I thought about the timeless trends in costuming: things that make Halloween costumes Halloween costumes, and it boiled down to three things: scary, …

Rate the Dress: Maria Terese in masque

Your response to last week’s Rate the Dress surprised me. In the past, you have disapproved of children dressed in adult style clothes, so I assumed you would approve of the childlike cartoon print of the little girls dress, but condemn the elaborate construction and decoration of the dress. Instead, you liked the construction, but found the print frankly, well, ugly.  The dress did however, get the ultimate seal of approval: as a four year old, most of you would have loved it!  It rated a 6.2 out of 10 Today’s ‘Rate the Dress’ includes a child, but it is the adult who we are focused on.  Mignard depicts Maria Theresa of Spain (who is, coincidentally, most famous for having been painted as child by Velazquez) dressed for a masqued ball. She wears a dress of multiple rich fabrics in red, gold, black, and white, elaborately trimmed with ostrich feathers (shades of Sunday’s wedding dress!) and pearls. Maria Theresa, as a Queen of France, actually has a reputation for being exceedingly dull and boring, and …