The Vanderbilt Ball of 1883 and the Dumb Rich People Drama that Caused It

At the end of this vid I mention it being my last of 2022 and saying I'm almost at 300k subs-- two things which have already passed haha. Apologies for this now being out of date, this video was originally going to go up last week. Thanks y'all! <3

The fact that they tore down a castle to build a skyscraper is really sad to me. I know it creates more vertical space, but to lose that level of art is just depressing.

the way I GASPED when you said they didn’t invite Mrs. Astor’s daughter! the cleverness! the low blow! the high quality gossip!

Imagine having such an epic costume that people a century later still remember it...

The Chinese costume was actually pretty well done, I liked it. I am Chinese, by the way

My Great Great grandmother was the Piano teacher for the Vanderbilt's and my Grandmother actually had a collection of photos she donated to their museum. Whenever we went to Biltmore, she loves to tell people there and a lot of the staff are descends themselves. So there's this workingclass solidarity between them

I am a simple woman. I see Kaz Rowe upload a new history video and I will drop everything (including office work) to watch it.

It's, literally a cosplay ball at a convention, right down to everyone taking photos of their expensive costumes

I'm not even a fan of the court jester look, but when Isaac Bell came on screen I gasped and said he looks marvelous and belongs in S tier. His posing, that outfit, it's just so on point, that guy slayed.

Alva Vanderbilt's ball was exactly what I wanted from the gilded glamor met gala. And instead I got disappointment. A modern take on the electric light dress would've been amazing.

Watching the outfit ranking has me realizing they must have had a lot of photographers and background spaces available. Like a museum that's just Instagram bait, rooms and rooms of just backgrounds

John Whipple's costume was emulating a Spanish Toreador (Bull-Fighter). Because of the striking contrast and detail of his garment, I personally thought it was kind of amazing.

I can never ever hear the name "Vanderbilt" without smirking to myself. Not since 10th grade history class when my teacher pointed out, with a completely straight face, that Alva Belmont threw a literal tantrum over the fact that she didn't get invited to Jack Aster's balls.

These costume parties still kind of happen. Once I was on a college shuttle in Rhode Island and I overheard this group of (maybe students? Maybe people from the area catching the bus to the train?) talking about their family histories and how they were from the first families to America. One girl casually mentioned with a chastising tone how her grandma would talk about how many slaves the family used to own. Then they all started talking about the upcoming annual workers party. Basically all these privileged kids would dress up like the working class as a theme. One of the kids sheepishly mentioned how his family was basically nouveau riche and he didn't think it was right for him to participate and pointed out the ick factor or a party like this.

If I am remembering correctly, The 400 was also in reference to how many people Mrs. Astors ballroom could hold. That was how the number of acceptable society came into being, how many people could fit in a ballroom of a specific person.

This subject was so interesting, but I will say that while I don’t agree with anyone mocking another culture in any way, we do have to be mature and realize that these are not our specific choices, they were a product of the group mindset (however poor) of the era. I realize this is your personal costume ranking, but looking specifically at the costuming for what it was, some of them definitely could have scored better on the workmanship and creativity within the chosen theme. No big deal❤

Putting the woman with the Egyptian costume in Dud is sadly revisionist. I mean, at the time, she probably hired an amazing seamstress or costume maker to make something that they both believed looked realistic and she probably loved everything she could find about ancient egypt. She personally had nothing to do with any governmental or industrial policies towards the middle east.

John Whipple was dressed as a Zouave soldier, which were specialized regiments during the American Civil War. They wore Ottoman-inspired costumes, and were famous for their drill-team work (there are some old, early film of their drills on YT, kind of like cheerleaders, but with rifles). They also fought like hell, and were much feared.

i’m glad you mentioned anderson cooper in here. that blew my mind when i first found that out. it’s actually pretty depressing if you go down the wikipedia rabbit hole of either the richest american families or political families because the amount of overlap and how many of the two groups are either married or related is kinda terrifying although i’m not surprised. so many of the mega rich have sway in the government not only by wealth but through blood as well.

I'm a little confused where the ones dressed as 'culturally inappropriate' such as Asian and Egyptian are marked low, yet the Arthurian knights and French 1700s inspired costumes ranked high?