Get Inspired: Photos From Legendary Costume Balls of the Twentieth Century

British historian and journalist Nicholas Foulkes’s new book, Bals: Legendary Costume Balls of the Twentieth Century, from Assouline

John Jacob Astor IV posed in costume at the Brevoort Ball in New York City, thrown by Henry Brevoort in 1840. In the weeks prior to the event, local theaters were inundated with requests to borrow props and costumes. The ball also struck a deal with The New York Herald for exclusive coverage, marking a new era of media management.

These three masks were designed by Oliver Messel for guests at Count Etienne de Beaumont’s Flora and Fauna Ball at the Hôtel de Masseran in Paris during the 1920s. It was not uncommon for guests to have custom costumes made for the Count’s famously lavish Jazz Age balls.

Aspects of ballet and theater inevitably made their way into the world of aristocratic parties. Here, Marquis de Cuevas and his guests enjoyed a ballet performance at his Cuevas Ball in Biarritz, France, in 1953.

When it came to throwing parties, money was no object for Cuevas. The extravagance of his parties is on display here, as the French starlet Zizi Jeanmaire entered the Cuevas Ball atop a camel.

The wealthy hosts of some of history’s more eccentric balls often hired fashion designers to create their custom party attire. Pierre Balmain, pictured here at the Cuevas Ball in 1953, was chosen by Cuevas to design over-the-top outfits for the Marquis’s fetes.

Lee Radziwill, star socialite and sister of Jacqueline Kennedy, adjusted her mask at Truman Capote’s legendary Black and White Ball, held in 1966 at the Plaza Hotel in New York.

Vicomtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, who has been a member of the International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame since 1962, wore a costume of her own design at the Oriental Ball in 1969, thrown by Alexis von Rosenberg, the Baron de Réde, in Paris. Other notable guests at the Oriental Ball included Salvador Dali and his muse, Amanda Lear.

Marisa Berenson, then-fiancée of David de Rothschild, posed in her sumptuous costume, "a tribute to the unconventional attire of the eccentric Italian heiress Luisa Casati," for the Rothschilds’s Proust Ball at the Château de Ferrières in 1971.