Some things never change, and one of the great features of the Victorian era was the enthusiasm for fancy dress. Fancy dress was the precursor of cosplay, and I am entertained by the concept that my great granny probably liked dressing up in costumes just as much as I do. Modern cosplayers can be inspired by some of the famous costumes from the Victorian era, like the Bat Girl costume. Both a photograph and an illustration of the costume is shown above.
Bat Girl image from the Museum of Victoria
Bat costumes seem to be a favourite of the Victorians. I can understand why … bat costumes are mysterious and dramatic, and much more exciting and sexy than a fairy costume. Bats have a sinister connection to vampires and we all know how popular vampires were in Victorian-era Gothic fiction.
Just think of the implications in the characterization of your protagonist (or antagonist) in choosing a bat costume for a fancy dress party in a Steampunk narrative. What does it say about her motivations? Is she secretly longing to play the part of a ‘bad girl’? Is she longing for the freedom that wings would provide?
Of course, gentlemen also had their own version of the bat costume. The image above; I can never quite figure out if this image is photoshopped or not. But where a Batman might be scary, a Batgirl tends to be sophisticated. Edgy. And, as a zoologist, I love bats. A girl in a bat costume is confident and in control!
To make your own costume based on the Victorian Bat Girl costume, go to this link:
http://www.evadress.com/1887Bat.html
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Love these!
The ingenuity that went into making these costumes is amazing.
Amazing!
So brilliant! I love these so much. Really fires up the imagination, too!
Whatever was in their heads?
Escaping from being domesticated women in a male-dominated society?
Just wondering about information of the elderly bearded gent with the bat mask , who and why ?
One of the great entertainments of the Victorian era were fancy dress balls. I imagine the elderly gentleman was dressing as a bat for Halloween or some other occasion. He probably thought he looked quite scary.
I found a site that claims the gentleman is ‘Obadiah Wayne, circa 1870’. I am sceptical. 🙂