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Vanderbilt Costume Ball

Photographs of the Vanderbilt Costume Ball showing the lavish lifestyles of the Gilded Age elite.

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Vanderbilt Costume Ball
An 1883 photograph of a white woman dressed in an elaborate Venetian ball gown with a brocade fabric underskirt and waist covering, while upon her head is a bejeweled Venetian cap. Standing before a painted Corinthian column background, she is surrounded by four white doves.
Alva Vanderbilt

José Maria Mora, Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt (Alva Murray Smith) as a Venetian Princess at the Vanderbilt Ball, 1883. New-York Historical Society Library.

An 1883 photograph of white woman with a golden peacock headdress and a tulle veil covering her face. She wears a white satin dress with a sweeping train and gold embroidering, as well as gold bangles.
Mrs. John C. Mallory

José Maria Mora, Mrs. John C. Mallory (Jean Turnure) as an Egyptian princess at the Vanderbilt Ball, 1883. New-York Historical Society Library.

An 1883 photograph of a young white woman standing like the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with arm-length gloves. Her floor-length dress with beads, lightning bolt and starburst motif embroidery, features an extensive train with twisted fringe. The top of the fitted bodice has a low, wide neck with a tinsel, metallic contour. At the back, tulle drapery falls from the shoulders to below the hip.
Mrs. Vanderbilt Electric Light

José Maria Mora, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt as ‘Electric Light’ at the Vanderbilt Ball, 1883. New-York Historical Society Library.

An 1883 photograph of a white woman wearing a feathery, white dress with large white pearls as well as a white, taxidermized bird headdress.