Sources of Inspiration for Costumes


Allegorical Characters


 
The Hornet
Fashion plates in popular magazines provided colour illustrations of fancy dress and specialized books giving descriptions of characters and some illustrations were also widely available.

The Hornet
Reproduced from Fancy Dresses Described,
By Ardern Holt, 5th Edition, 1887

Miss Laura Smith as a Hornet
Canadians used the published information on fancy dress as inspiration for their costumes, as evidenced by this photograph of Miss Laura Smith dressed as a Hornet for the Ottawa Skating Carnival of 1889.

Miss Laura Smith as a Hornet
Ottawa, 1889
W.J. Topley
National Archives of Canada,
PA-192747


 
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