# @newport.mansions on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CqQM-f_skBI
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71766693-newportmansions-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b8633c867f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-03-26T13:05:34.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Newport Mansions (@newport.mansions) — https://gondola.cc/newport.mansions

## Caption

Today is the 140th anniversary of one of the most sensational social events of the Gilded Age: Alva and William Vanderbilt’s 1883 Fancy Dress Ball, held to celebrate the opening of their “Petit Chateau" at 660 Fifth Avenue, New York.

For Alva, it was the event that launched her into the top stratum of New York society. She masterfully used the press to build excitement until on the evening of the ball, crowds of onlookers had to be held back by police as the costumed guests arrived by carriage. There were 1,200 of them. Joan of Arc rubbed elbows with Mme. Le Diable, King Lear with Louis XVI.

Perhaps most spectacular was sister-in-law Alice Vanderbilt’s “Spirit of Electric Light” costume, which included an electric torch – only a few years after Edison demonstrated his light bulb. Strangest was surely Kate Fearing Strong’s “Puss” getup that incorporated a taxidermied cat head and seven cat tails.

Most contemporary sources put the cost of the ball at $250,000, the equivalent of $7.4 million today – not counting what the guests spent on their costumes. The New York Sun protested against the extravagance in its March 29 issue: "The festivity represents nothing but the accumulation of immense masses of money by the few out of the labor of the many."

Photos: Alva Vanderbilt as a Venetian Princess, and Cornelius and Alice Vanderbilt as Louis XVI and the Spirit of Electric Light.

#gildedage #vanderbilt #electric #alva #newyork

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## Tags

vanderbilt, gildedage, alva, electric, newyork

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