Thriving Revival

Hannah Betts celebrates a glorious Goodwood festival

FANCY DRESS — is there any more benighted phrase, conjuring rag weeks, the Sealed Knot, Morris Dancers, and dismal straight transvestism? Admittedly, the best party I have ever attended was a Feast of Bacchus bash. However, this was as much a directive regarding behaviour; as to dress, its assorted nymphs and satyrs rendering as the norm rather than some crashing novelty act. Naturally, I did Titian’s take: all vine wreath, brilliant blue bodice, and sixteenth-century undress. As dawn rose, a fellow maenad was discovered, naked, still gently rocking astride the statue of a bull. Evidently, this was the exception that proves the rule. One of the most tedious aspects of Cecil Beaton’s Bright Young People was their penchant for peacocking theatricals. Compare his foe Waugh’s account in Vile Bodies (1930)…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August - September 2023

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