Costume Balls : 5 Continents Editions : 9791254600719 : 01 Oct 2024 : A century and a half ago, extravagant costume balls and skating carnivals were the pinnacle of society's entertainment, bringing forth a kaleidoscopic array of characters, most drawn from history. The opportunity to reimagine oneself as a noble hero or heroine from the past was no less than the chance of a lifetime. Participants acquired extravagant costumes and flocked to the photographer's studio, as witnessed by the sheer abundance of mementos of these occasions in the McCord Stewart Museum's collections. The book accompanies the exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927 at the McCord Stewart Museum, Montreal. A lead essay presents an overall view of the fancy dress phenomenon, and the major events in Canada with their colonial underpinnings. Other essays look in turn at the commemoration of these balls in art, photography, and publications, a decolonising perspective on the representation of Indig