fancy dress

The term fancy dress mainly refers to a costume used by guests attending a costumed party or any other event that would require a special attire such as a carnival, Halloween parties, and gaming or fantasy conventions.

It is a term used in the UK and British English speaking countries for what American English users would call costume. Parties or social events that require the use of this type of costume are called fancy dress parties.

The origins of the use of costumes for special social events can be traced back to the 18th century masked balls in the United Kingdom and the 15th century Italian masquerade balls. Victorians used to dress up in fantastic costumes for theatricals, games or balls, and assume a fantasy persona for the evening as a way of eluding the rigidity of every day life.

The fancy dress was usually representing a historical figure or a iconic character like Romeo or Juliet, and was usually of a very complex and colorful design.

With the onset of the 20th century and especially starting with the 1940s, costume parties were a fairly common, although more simple, event up to the seventh decade of the century. With costumes becoming more easily available and fashionable, such events grew more popular in the 90s.

Modern trends in fancy dress include iconic movie figures such as Darth Vader, superstar look-alike costumes, superheroes, with the focus shifting from complex or even luxurious characteristics to ironic or funny ones. Retro fashion events are generally centered upon mimicking the style of previous decades, in a humorous way, mainly the '70s and '80s, with disco, hippie or punk outfits purposely designed with exaggerated features in order to underline the amusing quality of the costume.

A second meaning for the term fancy dress refers to a more elaborate, unusually designed or luxurious type of dress. Such a dress will usually be the product of a well known brand designer, will be made of high quality materials like silk, velvet or satin, and will present special characteristics in line, cut, as well as other features, making it well suited for special events.

You'll find bloggers talking about fancy dresses at sites like 4hset-wiki.unl.edu and siarchives.si.edu.

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