{"id":4217,"date":"2026-04-03T08:33:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianregency.com\/blog\/?p=4217"},"modified":"2026-04-03T08:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:33:30","slug":"dressing-up-is-fun-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/03\/dressing-up-is-fun-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Dressing Up is Fun To Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Post by Marisa Deshaies.<\/em><\/p>

\"Fire<\/a><\/div>\n

People love dressing up\u2014masks, costumes, accessories, face paint. There is just something about putting on a creative outfit and possibly even talking in a different accent than normal that makes people giddy.<\/p>\n

\"Kids<\/a>
Kids in costume via wikimedia commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next\u00a0month trick-or-treaters will dress as goblins, princesses, and pirates and greet neighbors with squeals of delight at the candy given out to fill their pillowcases. Those couple of hours of make-believe brings a thrill for children that equates almost with the excitement of opening gifts on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n

Little ones often love wearing play clothes out and about. At five years old, for example, a little girl doesn\u2019t understand why wearing a tutu to the grocery store could elicit some strange looks from passer-by. And at five-years old, she probably wouldn\u2019t get those looks. Why is that?<\/p>\n

Children are not alone in the fun of imagination. Despite that Halloween is meant to be celebrated by children just one day a year, plenty of occasions merit adults dressing up simply for the pleasure of creating a world different from their own.<\/p>\n

Just as little ones enjoy wearing princess gowns or pirate peg-legs, some adults pull costumes out of their closets for some good, old-fashioned make-believe. Chances are, though, a thirty-year-old woman walking down the street in a Victorian ball gown will get more than strange looks from her neighbor\u2026she\u2019ll probably be gossiped about for not living in the real world. Is it a shame or a necessity that adults are expected to resist the pull of make-believe?<\/p>\n

Dressing Like Fanny or Dancing Like Jane<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Laurie<\/a>
Laurie Alice Eakes and Vanessa Riley in their Regency gowns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jane Austen fans are no strangers to playing dress up. More often than not, someone who reads Austen novels desires to travel back to the nineteenth century for a taste of ballroom dances and strolls around the local park.<\/p>\n

Plenty of book clubs<\/a> and blog sites<\/a> exist to captivate these readers, but nothing like wearing a floor-length muslin gown and bonnet bedecked in ribbons makes a lady feel like she belongs in the English countryside.<\/p>\n

Now picture attending the Jane Austen Festival<\/a> in Bath, England\u2014men and women from all over the world travel to Austen\u2019s hometown for a week of living as one of her characters and you can join!<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t dressing up for the fainthearted: be prepared for character role play with no modern amenities allowed. Ladies, if you want to meet your Mr. Darcy, you had best be willing to forgo your cell phone and Facebook.<\/p>\n

Be Yourself\u2014Without the Costume<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The problem with pretending to be a goblin, a priest, a pirate, a princess, or even just a lady of the Regency is that dressing up encourages behavior\u00a0 not always applicable to real world situations.<\/p>\n

Yes, attending balls and visiting family for months on end\u2014practices \u00a0\u00a0common in Austen\u2019s day\u2014are admirable; however, those wishing for society to revert back to nineteenth century behaviors are in for a long fight.<\/p>\n

Technological advances mean people have access to more information than ever before, and with that access comes increased education and independence. That being said, is it fair, Ladies, to hold your husbands to Mr. Darcy\u2019s standards when you want the right to hold a job and wear pants? Can you reasonably expect men to hold open doors for you when sometimes they do so and women snap back at them for old-fashioned habits?<\/p>\n

Bringing Austen to Modern Day<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Popularity of Austen novels continues to grow even with the modernization of society. Readers love old-fashioned stories for originality and universality of characters; fan-fiction<\/a> of all six of Austen\u2019s novels prove that two-hundred year-old tales still apply to an increasingly fast-paced world.<\/p>\n

The challenge today is to find a balance between retaining the behaviors and morals that emphasize propriety while accepting ideals that highlight educational advancement.<\/p>\n

It may be impossible to live at Longbourne with the Bennett family, but once in a while it is alright to live vicariously through a Pride and Prejudice <\/em>movie. Just be sure to leave your muslin dress in the closet for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally posted 2014-09-18 01:00:00. <\/small><\/p>

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Guest Post by Marisa Deshaies. People love dressing up\u2014masks, costumes, accessories, face paint. There is just something about putting on a creative outfit and possibly even talking in a different accent than normal that makes people giddy. Next\u00a0month trick-or-treaters will dress as goblins, princesses, and pirates and greet neighbors with squeals of delight at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4250,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4217\/revisions\/4250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}