Halloween & fancy dress

Image: Members of the Sixes and Sevens Opera Company, 1909. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 31-57673. Photographer: Herman Schmidt.

Halloween is a time of ghosts, witches and ghouls; of dressing up and trick or treating and pranks. It is one of the most popular costume or fancy dress events of the year in western society. Whilst the contemporary celebration of Halloween is often seen to have its roots in American culture, the origins of this festival actually go back to Celtic times. The Celts believed that 31 October represented a liminal time when the line between the living and the dead became distorted. Condemned souls were thought to come back on this night and cause havoc. To protect themselves, the Celts would dress up in scary costumes to frighten the evil spirits away.

Image: The Ghost Of Compulsion; A Young New Zealander's Vision After Hearing Of The Territorial Army Scheme. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19100512-10-02. Photographer: A.J.Watson.

Fancy dress has a long tradition for a variety of different occasions, not just Halloween - such as birthdays, stag parties, New Year parties. Enjoy this stroll through the fancy dress outfits from yesteryear, drawn from the heritage collections at Auckland Libraries.

Individuals in fancy dress:

Woman in fancy dress, Clevedon, ca 1910. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Footprints 02622. Photographer: David Bryan. 

Image: Mrs McCallum, 1911. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 31-63721. Photographer: Herman Schmidt. 

Image: Mr Webster in costume, 1910. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 31-59888. Photographer: Herman Schmidt. 

Groups:

Image: Employees of W H Fenton and Company in fancy dress, 1889. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 4 -RIC117.

Image: Fancy dress celebration, 1920s. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 01114.

 

Image: Northcote Rugby Club's fancy dress match, c. 1900. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections N0108016.

Image: Fancy dress tableau, c. 1910s. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1043-9713. Photographer: Samuel Frith.

Image: Group in fancy dress. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1054-UN124.

Imaginative and novel outfits:

Image: Florrie Hallworth dressed as an aeroplane, 1932. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 807-9368.

Image: A novel fancy dress costume, 1909. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19090722-12-1.
  

Image: Young girl in fancy dress, 1900-1909. Auckland Libraires Heritage Collections 2-V1540. Photographer: Hubert Vaile.

Image: Fancy dress skiing, 1928. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19280126-48-2. 

Image: Peacock fancy dress, 1926. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19261021-52-1.

Image: Fancy dress costumes on a cruise liner, 1938. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19380824-48-2.