Costume Balls: Dressing Up History – runs until August 17, 2025

Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870–1927

Dress worn by Alice Scott as “A deck of cards” in 1887. Gift of Katherine Cleaver, M2014.111.96.1-3, McCord Stewart Museum

The McCord Stewart Museum presents Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870–1927, a unique introduction to the world of fancy dress balls, some dating back 150 years. The exhibition captures the splendour and extravagance of these entertainments, where guests transformed themselves into a colourful array of characters for an evening. Over 40 dazzling costumes from the Museum’s collection, as well as photographs of costumed ball-goers, souvenir publications and programs, capture all the scope and pageantry of these prestigious occasions. The exhibition takes a critical look at these social events that, though offering an unusual amount of freedom at a time when behaviour was highly codified, also helped further colonial and imperial projects.

William James Topley, Alice Scott as “A Deck of Cards,” Ottawa, 1887, Library and Archives Canada, e011536971

“Of extraordinary nature and scale,the exhibition and companion book are the culmination of a research project that only the McCord Stewart Museum could have carried out successfully. Mobilizing the expertise and ingenuity of several departments, the project explored a relatively untapped area of Canadian social history and used a cross-disciplinary approach to study a variety of objects from the Museum’s remarkable collections. It also led to the development of original practices in the conservation, reproduction and presentation of historical costumes and objects,” explains Anne Eschapasse, President and CEO.

Wm. Notman & Son, Alice Graham as “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary,” Montreal, 1907, painted photograph. Gift of the Estate of Alice Hallward, M972.75.70, McCord Stewart Museum

A focus on history
While ball-goers in search of ideas drew from many aspects of popular culture to choose their characters, the exhibition highlights the predominance of history as a source of inspiration. The many photographs featured in the exhibition reveal guests’ enthusiasm for embodying figures from Canada’s past at historically themed balls.

Immortalizing the evening of a lifetime
A visit to the photographer’s studio was a must for those attending a fancy dress ball or skating carnival, so they could create lasting mementoes of themselves in the costumes made for these often once-in-a-lifetime social events. Visitors to the exhibition will find many portraits made by William Notman of Montreal and William J. Topley of Ottawa, who ran the leading photo studios of the time.

Costume worn by Alice Graham as “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” in 1907 (detail). Gift of the Estate of Alice Hallward, M972.75.71.1.1-6, McCord Stewart Museum

“This exhibition tells an extraordinary story by bringing together some of the most extraordinary material in the Museum’s collections. Rarely do visitors get a chance to see so many garments from the 19th century—which have survived in spite of being created to last a single evening—in an exhibition space, alongside images of the people who wore these costumes. And rarely do we see captured in photography such a lighthearted side of life from a time when public presentation of the self was a most serious matter,” says Cynthia Cooper, exhibition curator.

Dressing up colonial violence
A century and a half ago, costumes that caricatured the “Other” were popular choices. The exhibition examines the history of this practice as an act of colonial violence. “Looking beyond the glamour and spectacle of the motley array of characters at these balls, visitors will discover the ball-goers’ shared vision of exclusion—who they portrayed as ‘Other,’ often with an incongruous mix of cultural objects and elements created as costume,” explains Cynthia Cooper.

“The exhibition delves into the fictions of Indigeneity that were very present at one historical ball, juxtaposing objects from the Museum’s Indigenous Cultures collection with images of their use by white ball-goers. We look at why this is so difficult and disturbing from an Indigenous perspective,” notes Jonathan Lainey, Curator, Indigenous Cultures.

An unprecedented research project
The exhibition is the culmination of research into the practice of fancy dress, begun over 30 years ago by Cynthia Cooper, Head, Collections and Research and Curator, Dress, Fashion and Textiles, long before she joined the McCord Stewart Museum in 1998. Her work with the Museum’s extensive collections has enabled her to make some astonishing discoveries related to this topic, the latest of which are now being presented to the public for the first time in the exhibition and the catalogue.

Putting 40 costumes from the McCord Stewart Museum’s renowned Dress, Fashion and Textiles collection on display required a colossal effort from the Museum’s team. The limits of traditional conservation practice had to be pushed to allow all the costumes to be displayed, as Caterina Florio, Head, Conservation, explains: “Given the fragile—or even damaged—condition of some garments, we took a long, hard look at the approaches we could take. This led us not only to question traditional conservation treatments, but also to make bold decisions and experiment with new ideas for preserving material integrity.”

Dress worn by Andrée Béïque in 1927. Gift of Suzanne Bernardin, MMQ1993.19.02, McCord Stewart Museum

“While Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870–1927shines a spotlight on the extravagance of period costumes, students completing their studies in Costume specialization within the Fashion Design program will be given the opportunity to create contemporary designs inspired by the theme of the exhibition for presentation at a related Museum event. This unique collaboration between LaSalle College Montréal, a member of LCI Education, and the McCord Stewart Museum embodies the essence of tradition and innovation. The initiative not only emphasizes the historical legacy of the exhibition, it showcases how young designers are taking a creative, modern approach to passing on expertise,” says Andrew McNally, Dean of Fashion at LaSalle College.

A fun and educational tour for families
An interactive family tour invites young and old alike to share in the excitement of attending a costume ball. Children from the period serve as guides on this journey of discovery, made up of interactive stations. An activity booklet will be available, in which children can record their ideas for the perfect costume as they visit each station. These include a photo booth-style photographer’s studio and a space for creating a photomontage.

Activities related to the exhibition
A symposium on the making of the exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927 will be held at the McCord Stewart Museum and online on March 20 and 21, 2025.

Nocturne – Costume Ball – Thursday, February 13, 2025, 5 to 10pm – Paid activity – At the Museum
On February 13, 2025, the Museum invites the public to immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere of Victorian fancy dress balls. This costume ball is an opportunity to transcend convention and express one’s identity by moving between the visible and invisible, in a world of black-and-white dreams, crepe paper, drag karaoke hosted by the talented Barbada, and much more! On the program: exhibition tours, costume-making workshop, drag karaoke, and cash bar and refreshments.

For information on opening hours and ticket prices, visit: www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca