Are you ready for a dance?

Must-have items for a fashionable lady at balls from a hundred years ago
Ball (referring to the formal occasion) was the most important social event for the aristocratic class in European culture. Well-dressed men and women gathered in the splendid banquet hall and danced to the melodious music under the illumination of candlelight. Of course they were not just dancing, as Jane Austen (1775~1817) said "To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love”. As a place to search for marriage, the dance party has been placed with infinite longing. If they wanted to stand out in a dance party and become the focus of everyone's admiration, they must put in lots of effort in makeup, hair, dresses, jewelry, etc. It was basic to be familiar with dance steps and show etiquette. If you lived in one or two hundred years ago and wanted to enjoy a smooth dance, there were some practical and fashionable items that should absolutely not be missed. Let’s take a look at these gorgeous ball essentials from the 19th century to the 1920s!
Women are armed with fans, as men are with swords:
The folding fan was introduced to Europe from China by Portuguese merchants in the 15th century, and it became the new fashion favorite of the European upper class. By the 18th century, it had become a must for women to participate in balls. When the folding fan carefully matched with the dress was slowly unfolded between perfumed clothes and gorgeous hair, or covered the shy face, or flied gracefully with slender hands, it all made the lady’s frown and smile even more charming. The folding fans used by these ladies were mostly made of ivory, animal horns, animal bones, tortoiseshells and other rare materials to make fan frames, and sometimes the fan surfaces were also finely crafted. Fans carefully woven or hand-painted with silk threads, lace, feathers, etc. were even more common. How to hold a fan gracefully in public was a part of the etiquette for well-educated women, but there were rumors that the corresponding flirtatious code could be conveyed by using certain movements of the fan.
My dance card is full:
A dance card was a booklet used by ladies to arrange/record dance partners and dance sequences, originated in Vienna in the 18th century. The earliest may be written on a fan or a single card, and later developed into an independent form. It had been popular both in Europe and the United States for more than a hundred years. When a lady received an invitation from the gentlemen to dance at a banquet, she would quickly write down their names on the dance card so that she could dance with them in sequence later because refusing or missing an invitation was considered rude. Needless to say, dance cards were very important. The style of dance cards varied with full creativity. Under the ornate cover or casing made of metal, precious stones, enamel, etc., the paper was mostly bound in a fan-shaped, accordion-folded or page-turned manner. Pocket pencils were also necessary. The set of dance cards was a masterpiece in itself that combined a variety of craftsmanship. Ladies used small hooks and ropes to fasten them to dresses, hung from gloved wrists or stowed in clutches.

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Makeup case like a treasure box:
After the First World War, make-up quickly became popular and was no longer confined to a few classes or specific industries. It entered women's daily life on an unprecedented scale. In the 1920s, fashionable girls did their delicate faces with white powder, and then drew thick black eyeliner and alluring red lips. To maintain such a strong makeup look intact in a crazy party all night long, touching up makeup all the time was inevitable. Jewelers catered to the trend and created portable makeup box that make the most of space with great craftsmanship. Various ingenious compartment designs allow powder compacts, lipsticks, mirrors, hair brushes, perfumes, lighters, cigarette cases, clocks, etc. to be accommodated in small boxes all at once. The look of these makeup cases was often lavishly adorned with Art Deco geometric and oriental elements. Some had detachable buckles or chains to be worn directly as jewelry, while others were carried in the hand or in an equally delicate clutch.
Fashionable clutch:
Since at least the early 19th century, small mesh bags woven with tiny metal loops had been very popular, attached to rings, wrist straps or hung from chatelaines for women to wear. High-end mesh pouches were always the icing on the cake for women's ball looks. WIth excellent craftsmanship, they could be finished with neat shapes, delicate lace, and sometimes painted, with sculptural or ornate metal bayonet embellished with enamel and gemstones, which was very charming. In addition to the light and soft metal mesh bags, silk, satin, velvet, etc. have been widely used in evening bags for a long time, inheriting the fine craftsmanship, decorated with embroidery and glass beads, sequins, ribbons, full of intricate and stunning details, just beautiful. Art Deco had a great influence on the design of clutches, which could be seen from the decorative patterns and shapes. One of the most iconic was that the clutches of the 1920s often had tassels that could really swing, matching the dresses and jewelry at the time, blending wild and romantic, and showing Flappers’ rocking charm in the the roaring twenties.
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