vivelareine:

A watercolor over chalk and graphite by Alexandre Moitte depicting Louis Charles, dauphin of France, at the Fete de la Federation in 1790. His mother, Marie Antoinette, had him dressed in a small uniform resembling those of the National Guard.

chrisjonesing:

School boys in Germany celebrating the Kaiser’s birthday, 1915

Look at those adorable wee pickelhaubes! 

(via lostsplendor)

yeoldefashion:

A lady and gentleman lounge in fine historical costumes in this 1842 fashion plate from Le Petit Courrier des Dames.

I love the juxtaposition of the guy in regular 1840s clothes chatting with the people in crazy costumes!

oldrags:

Fancy dress, 1912 the Netherlands, De Gracieuse

Looks like (left to right) a flock of birds*, Dionysus or a grapevine and one of those newfangled flying contraptions.

* Possibly with real stuffed birds if the era is any indication.  The outfit was cute at first but now it looks like a massacre.

Oh!  Aeroplane hat!  And birdies!  I love these!

Restoration Dresses, 1789.

Brief history lesson:  King George III (probably) had Porphyria that made him crazy as hell.  It got really bad in the late 1780s and parliament passed an act of Regency that allowed his eldest son to rule in his place in 1789, but before it passed the House of Lords he recovered so the bill was scrapped.  There was universal celebration at his “restoration” and people wore patrotic outfits to balls and parties.  Here’s another example of one of the gowns.

I’d LOVE to do a restoration event at some point!

18thcenturylove:

Portrait of a Lady in Turkish Fancy Dress by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, ca. 1790

This is an all-around gorgeous portrait

turnofthecentury:

Alice Barnett as the Fairy Queen in “Iolanthe” - c. 1882

(via fuckyeahvictorians)

lostsplendor:

Maude Adams, c. 1890.  Click for Source.

 I love this…

maudelynn:

The chorus of fairies in the burlesque
Ariel, Gaiety Theatre, London, 8 October 1883

(Source: , via fuckyeahvictorians)