how to dress for halloween

venice bal besteigui photographed by robert doisneau, september 3, 1951

marisa berenson dressed as marchesa luisa casati at le bal proust photographed by cecil beaton, 1971

a group of elves with an elf king, 1909

gala & salvador dali’s “night in a surrealist forest” dinner party, 1941

oscar de la renta (left) and baron alexis de rede (right) at de rede's bal oriental, 5 december 1969

marquise mahaut de chabannes in cléopatra costume for  marchesa casati’s “fete of ancient splendour," at her rose palace photographed by george hoyningen-huene,  ca. 1927 

senhora espírito santo and the duke and duchess of cadaval at the surrealiste ball, 1972

suzy beryl wearing an erté costume in coeurs en folie (la revue des folies bergère), 1924

venice bal besteigui photographed by robert doisneau, 3 september 1951

costume party, ca. 1920s

bal des masques organized by baron de redé at the hôtel lambert, (possibly bal des têtes) photographed by andré ostier, 1956 

 jacques fath as "charles IV", madame fath as "elizabeth of austria" and christian bérard as "henry VIII" atthe bal des rois et reines, paris, 1949

marquisa luisa casati wearing "queen of the night" costume designed by léon bakst, 1922 

mrs. robert l. stevens dressed as greta garbo for the masquerade ball given by muriel maxwell in the crystal room at the ritz, photographed by edward steichen, paris,  9 december, 1929

kids in halloween costumes photographed by arthur tress, ca. 1960s

okay, okay, so most of these are not from halloween....but really, aren't these costumes so much more interesting than a slutty nurse or slutty slut?

roger schall

assia, 1933

coco chanel, 1937

christian berard sketching a model in the offices of paris vogue, ca. 1930s

l'élégance à bicyclette, paris occupé, 1940

vendeur de fromages de chevre, paris, 1935

jean cocteau sketching model elizabeth gibbons in a chanel dress in his hotel bedroom (castille in the rue cambon), 1937

nu, 1933

occupied paris, juin, 1940

hélène adant, séance de pose avec lucienne bernard, villa le rêve, vence, 1946 

marlene dietrich in paris, 1939

diana slip lingerie, ca. 1920s

born in 1904, roger schall was one of the most renowned photographers of the 1930s & 1940s. he worked in all photographic disciplines from fashion, portraits, nudes, still lives & reporting. he began working with his father, a portrait photographer in 1918. 10 years later he would be one of the first reporters to work with a leica or rolleiflex. in 1939, he closed the studio-agency he had opened with his brother .from june 1940 to august 1944 he photographed german occupied paris - hiding the negatives so they would not be seen by the censorship. when the occupation was over his brother, raymond schall, published a book: a paris sous la botte des nazis (paris under the heel of the nazis) that was illustrated with the photographs of roger schall, parry, doisneau, the seeberger brothers and many others. he then continued working in fashion, doing commercial & publicity work instead of news reporting. from 1970 until his death in 1995, he would manage his archive of some 80,000 images.