Fancy Dress Party Ideas > 1930s party

1930s fancy dress costume ideas

• Ladies evening wear included metallic lame material, made to shimmer even more by adding sequins and glass beads.
• Dresses - the bias cut was introduced in the 30s, giving women a more feminine look.
• Dresses were often cut of the bias to allow a smoother drape of the fabric.
• Satins, crepes and chiffon dress materials were popular
• Halter neck dresses, lace frocks, negligees, and corsets were in.
• Men wore suits with a matching top hat and over coats.
• Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced on the silver screen in the 30s.
• The 1930s was the time of the great depression - you could dress as someone poor..
• Little orphan Annie and Sandy her dog became a very popular comic strip
• The all-singing, all-dancing Shirley Temple hit the screens.
• Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh sizzled in 'Gone with the Wind' as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara.
• The Wizard of Oz came out in 1939 - Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Lion, Scarecrow, Toto, the Wicked Witches, Glenda the Good witch, and the flying monkeys.
• Albert Einstein was theorizing in the 30s.
• The on-again, off-again, 'planet' Pluto was discovered in 1930.
• Salvador Dali was creating weird and wonderful visual delights.
• Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson the Duchess of Windsor made headlines in the 30s (Edward abdicated in 1936)
• Greta Garbo was at the pinnacle of her career in the 1930s. She also played the Mata Hari in this decade...
• World War II began in 1937. The axis powers were Germany, Italy and Japan. The allies included America, Britain, France, Soviet Union, and China. You could go as a soldier/nurse/commander from the war.
• In the 1930s Mahatma Ghandi was battling for India's independence from British rule.
• Gershwin's Porgy and Bess was a hit on the musical stage ('Summer Time').
• Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937. It was the first animated feature.

1930s Music
- Jazz, Swing

1930 Musicians
Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Glenn Miller, and Count Basie were at the forefront of music in the latter part of the 1930s.

Top of page

Fancy dress home