Black and orange were a popular color combination. Witches, ghosts, clowns, and goblins were standard. As author Diane C. Arkin notes in Halloween Merrymaking: An Illustrated Celebration Of Fun, Food, And Frolics From Halloween’s Past (a delightful book that we recommend highly to anyone with even a slight interest in this subject!), costume’s in the 20s-30s era weren’t gorey and gruesome. Masks were often worn so as to make the event of “unmasking” part of the evening’s drama.
The Household’s costume ideas from 1927 (below) were: a Spanish Dancer (“easy to make and inexpensive”), From the Far Away Argentine (“fetching when worn by a girl or a woman”), Pierrot (“can be made of either paper or muslin in black and white"), a Tom Boy or Girl (“could be worn for a masquerade or a “Kiddie” party”) of tiny blue and white or pink and white checked gingham; and The Old Fashioned Girl (“fashioned of crepe de Chine printed in quaint floral patterns, with georgette crepe contrasting, this costume has undeniable chic”).
More ideas from period film and fiction:
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, "The Camel's Back," which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post April 24, 1920 issue, featured a costume ball with a circus theme. (It actually takes places at Christmas time). The main character hires a camel costume from a shop.
Agatha Christie’s short story, "The Affair at the Victory Ball" (1923) featured characters dressed as Harlequin; Punchinello & Puncinella; Pierrot & Pierrette; and Columbine. The Poirot television series episode based on this story (1991, starring David Suchet) is really wonderful and features many other costumes, including Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) as the Scarlet Pimpernel (in the Christie story Poirot and Hastings do not attend the ball, but merely hear an account of it after the fact).
Christie also featured a costume ball in the Tommy & Tuppence short story "Finessing the King" (1924). One character is dressed as a newspaper, another as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. These costumes and many others are faithfully depicted in the episode of the Tommy & Tuppence: Partners in Crime televison series (1984) based on this story.
One of the most astonishing vintage costume parties we’ve seen is in the 1930 movie Madame Satan. It takes place aboard an Art Deco zeppelin!
Source books:
Fortunately several of the 1920s Dennison’s “Bogie Books” – the company’s annual Hallowe’en/Thanksgiving decorating idea books, have been reissued in recent years so are affordable; the scarce originals can break the bank.
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