Fancy Collection

Fancy Pigeon Breeds
Fancy pigeon breeds (Columbidae species)

Sobranie cigarettes advertisement, 1963
Advertisement for Sobranie Cocktail cigarettes, available in a variety of fancy rainbow colours with gold tips - like all the best parties well bred, well dressed and perfectly packed. Date: 1963

Racing pigeon release
Racing pigeons released from their traps from transport lorries at the start of a race from Worcestershire to Tipton in The Black Country in the English Midlands Date: 1992

The carnival in the port of Spain, Trinidad, 1888. People cavort in fancy dress through the street, some playing banjos, others brandishing what looks like bladders on sticks

The Chelsea Arts Club Dazzle Ball
A flamboyant fancy-dress ball given by the Chelsea Arts Club at the Albert Hall. It was based on the principles of Dazzle

The Sites of London, by William Heath Robinson
Humorous designs for London fancy dress parties by William Heath Robinson. Please note: Credit must appear as Courtesy of the estate of Mrs J.C.Robinson/Pollinger Ltd/ILN/Mary Evans

The Bright Young People - mock Rayner-Ponsonby wedding
A group of Bright Young Things indulging in one of their many silly pranks, in this case a mock wedding where Elizabeth Ponsonby married John Rayner. The best man was Robert Byron

The fancy fair, Princes Park, Liverpool, August, 1849. Print shows a festival and balloon ascension during the campaign to raise funds in support of the Northern and Southern Hospitals in Liverpool

Stephen Tennant as Prince Charming
Stephen Tennant in fancy dress at the Pageant of Romantic Historical Lovers. The party was organised by Olga Lynn for Marie Tempests London Pride matinee at the New Theatre

New Years Eve Party, Chelsea Arts Ball, 1923
Photograph showing the revellers at the Chelsea Arts Ball, on New Years Eve, 1923. A monumental John Bull figure looks down on the party goers in their fancy dress costumes

Our Fancy Rabbits
An illustration of various breeds of rabbit drawn for The Boys Own Paper by F. A. Lydon

DREADNOUGHT HOAX
VIRGINIA WOOLF as a young woman, with Duncan Grant, Adrian Stephen, Anthony Buxton, Guy Ridley and Horace Cole as " The Emperor of Abyssinia and His Suite"

Carnival in Venice by C. H. Shepard
Glowing and colourful scene showing various masked revellers enjoying the Carnival in Venice

PIrate knitting pattern
A gay, swashbuckling three-piece to knit for teenagers! The 1950s were a more innocent time

X-X-X-X-Xmas by J. Gordge
Two lovers dressed as Columbine and Harlequin prepare for a romantic kiss at what looks to be a deserted party

Fancy dress
Leachs Fancy Dress for Children front cover. Artist: M Banuval Date: 1920s

The Diving Belles music hall divers and aquatic acrobats
The Diving Belles led by Daphne ?appearing in an elaborate sea cave scena Mermaids in Shells with clever and original tricks and fancy diving?

Mrs McCorquodale (Barbara Cartland) dressed as champagne
Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland (1901-2000), married name Mrs Barbara McCorquodale, British novelist. Photographed here in a sparkling champagne dress

The Bright Young People at a party
A group of Bright Young Things at Captain Macheacans fancy dress party where guests were instructed to come as a living celebrity

King George V and Queen Mary at Devonshire House Ball
A photograph taken at Devonshire House Historical Costume Ball held during the Diamond Jubilee festivities of 1897, of King George V (then Duke of York), dressed as George Clifford

Captain Henry Avery, pirate
Captain Avery and his crew taking one of the Great Moguls ships. In 1695, pirate Henry Averys (aka Every or Avary) ship, the Fancy

Yevonde Cumbers Middleton (1893-1975), also known professionally as Madame Yevonde, posing as Harlequin in a 1923 self-portrait. Date: 1923

Mary Henniker-Heaton in fancy dress as Egypt
Mary Henniker-Heaton, debutante daughter of Sir John and Lady Henniker-Heaton, photographed in a fancy dress costume that won her first prize at one of the Monte Carlo fancy dress balls

Pierrot clown
Man in fancy dress wearing a pierrot clown outfit with white face soft pointed hat, green neck ruff and pom-poms to the feet

Mrs Charles Sweeny as Astrae the Star-Maiden
Mrs Charles Sweeny, formerly Miss Margaret Whigham and later the Duchess of Argyll (1912 - 1993), pictured as Astrae, the Star-Maiden for the Olympian Party at Claridges on 5 March 1935 in aid of

Mediaeval Headdresses
Medieval ladies in their fancy headdress

English Lunacy - A man dressed as a chicken running wild and free across a field and up a small hill

Two women in fancy dress with tankards
Two women in fancy dress costumes comprising of knickerbockers, shirts and waistcoats, raise a tankard of beer each - presumably they re meant to be some kind of 17th century roisterers? c.1928

A new dog-fancy: the Basset Hounds by Louis Wain
Engraving by Louis Wain showing four naughty basset hounds teasing two scared black and white cats. A fifth basset hound enters the room looking coy but unrepentant with a whip in its mouth

Christmas crackers box label
Label for a box of Batgers Carnival crackers featuring a couple in fancy dress, he dressed as Harlequin, playing a ukelele and a banjo

Pan Cover 1920
Illustration by Pizer on the front cover of Pan magazine, showing a couple in costume, the man dressed as harlequin and the woman wearing butterfly wings and headdress

An Interval in Motley by S. S. Longley
Colour illustration by S.S. Longley showing Harlequin and Columbine with balloons. 1922

Group of revellers at the Princess Mary Hospital Ball. This group were all dressed as figures from 1820 with the ball organiser, Lady Terrington (centre), dressed as Princess Charlotte. Date: 1922

A sketch of a couple attending a carnival, Germany, 1924
A sketch of a couple attending a carnival in fancy dress, Germany, 1924 Date: 1924

Chelsea Arts Club Ball, 1954
Scene at the Chelsea Arts Club Ball at the Royal Albert Hall at midnight with balloons drifting down from the ceiling and revellers in fancy dress costume singing Auld Lang Syne. 1954

Costumed group at Baroness D Erlangers costume ball, Venice
A group on the theme of Neptunes Embassy at Baroness D Erlangers celebrated costume ball at the Fenice Theatre, Venice in 1926

Selfridges fancy dress advertisement
Selfridges say that the secret of successful fancy dress is originality. Advertisement for fancy dress costumes from Selfridges department store

Viola Tree (17 July 1884 15 November 1938) English actress, singer, playwright and author. Daughter of the actor Herbert Beerbohm Tree

GUTIERREZ SOLANA, Jos鮠Masks
GUTIERREZ SOLANA, Jos頨 1886-1945). Masks. Expressionism. Oil on canvas. Private Collection

The Victory Ball by Pizer
An impression of the great Victory Ball, held at the Albert Hall to celebrate the end of the First World War in aid of the Nations Fund for Nurses

On with the dance by Lewis Baumer
A fancy dress ball in full swing in the early 1920s with couples on the dance floor in costume and balloons and streamers filling the air. Date: 1921

The Graphic Christmas Number 1926 front cover
Front cover of The Graphic Christmas Number 1926 featuring an illustration depicting party goers arriving at a fancy dress ball

Boys Club, fancy dress, February 1931
Seven boys from a Boys Club in wonderful fancy dress costume. Characters include, a News of the World paperboy, an Arab, a housewife

Craven Lodge Fancy Ball
A page from The Tatler, featuring photographs and a report on the Craven Lodge Fancy Ball in Melton, Leicestershire, a New Year party with a prehistoric fancy dress theme

Raoul Shoe Company 1912
Chic Parisian footwear offered for sale in Regent St featuring a brogue shoe, fancy top boot, seaside shoe, French shoes and court shoe

Two people in fancy dress. The girl on the left is in a fanciful Pierrot type outfit reminiscent of Paul Poiret, or at least the more flamboyant fashions of the First World War, while in contrast

Rather wonderful pair (possibly father and son?) dressed as Tom, Tom the Pipers Son. The boy on the right is Tom, while the man on the left, dressed as a yokel, holds the pig that Tom steals

Carnival Ball at the Royal Albert Hall
Cover of brochure for the Carnival Ball at the Royal Albert Hall, 12th November 1925 with a Jazz Age illustration of two people in fancy dress Date: 1925

All Professionally Made to Order for Quick Shipping