Louis XIII, Richard I, and the Duchess of Devonshire: Nineteenth-Century Jews in Fancy Dress Costume

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, fancy dress activities and their material record formed part of the mise-en-scène of the Jewish elite’s self-fashioning. Family photographs and press reports of Jews in costume cast new light on the visualization of wealthy Jews. These Jews actively participated in the fancy dress culture of the elites, a popular form of cultural expression that was deemed a powerful way to convey social messages. In the British Empire, Europe, and North America, affluent Jews negotiated their feelings of solidarity and difference among non-Jews. They explored and articulated their self-image and group identity by appropriating others’ history and culture in public and private dressing-up amusements. Fancy dress, this article argues, enabled Jews to question who they wanted to be and communicate their desires to their Jewish and non-Jewish peers.