The Opulence of the Romanov's Royal Costume Ball 1903

[@icebergrose8955]

That was stunning, thank you, the colour was beautiful. It really brings it to life. I think you'll find those weren't beads, they're precious stones.

[@karodora]

I would love to see these costumes up close; the fabrics and workmanship are magnificent. I can’t imagine how long it took to make them. I wonder about the fate of these people. After the deaths of the Tsar and his family, Bolshevik revolutionaries considered members of the aristocracy “Former People.” Their wealth and property were seized and many who were unable or unwilling to leave Russia were imprisoned and/or executed.

[@onitasanders7403]

These ensembles are absolutely timeless. Love them.

[@sooz9433]

What an impressive presentation. This is just incredibly beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your video with us ❤️

[@Vivianemme]

Je pense aux tisserands, brodeuses, tailleurs et couturières qui ont travaillé pour ces splendeurs: en espérant qu’ils ont tous été appréciés à leur juste valeur.

[@siegfried923]

The Ostrich feather Fan carried by GD Xenia is by Faberge and has at its centre a small mirror allowing the carrier to observe what is going on behind her without making it obvious,l Princess Zenaida Yussopova wears the famous Yussopov pearls

[@meelarno]

GD Xenia = Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna at 8:43

[@meelarno]

Princess Zenaida Yussopova = Princess Zinaida Yusupova at 5:58 and at 7:11

[@siegfried923]

@@meelarno Same woman different spelling

[@meelarno]

@@siegfried923 : yes, and that’s very correct. In fact, I was merely aiding anyone else who might go through the similar struggle I endured when trying to connect and identify who the interesting and informative main comment was referring to.

[@andyroo9381]

Just curious what made the Yussopov pearls famous? Were they of great quality and size ? Are these pearls still in existence? The large feather with mirror was an interesting factoid. You have to wonder if things like that were just destroyed after the revolution. It is my understanding heiress Barbara Hutton owned some of the large emeralds worn by Catherine The Great. She had the emeralds placed in a large tiara. Where did all of these things go?

[@dianeruiz0721]

Wow, absolutely magnificent, and stunning clothing that was created for these fine ladies and gentlemen. Truly breathtaking in color! No wonder the working class folks revolted. Poor people didn’t even have bread to eat.

[@cathyholveck4063]

It is unbelievable how beautiful they look

[@YourExcellency]

Their clothes are beyond magnificent. It took my breath away. They just knew they were the cats meow.

[@conningdale8805]

Good video. Very well done. Have seen many of these photographs from an album issued soon after the event. This was the last major party given during the reign of Nicholas II - it certainly wasn't a regular event. Thanks for posting these beautiful photographs.

[@tomadalove5852]

Imagine how much all that weighed...wow...how were they able to dance in all that. Have you ever seen Russian stamps..they are works of art...also Russian Fairy Tale plates are stunning.

[@japankasasagi]

Do you mean the Bradford Exchange plates? I have a few of those!

[@thr33wisemonks]

Love the craftsmanship. Love the designs. I mean the jewelries that were embedded into the costumes. All that hard work.

[@gerardoarenasss]

It's amazing how the royals look, like something out of this world, so much jewels and gold thread, I've read that the costume designer for Star Wars got inspiration from this ball and it's era to desing the clothes that Natalie Portman wore in the first movie and the subsequent queens of naboo also

[@jenn.i5103]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏😇😥😪🤧👑🥂Thankyou you all what a emotional and beautiful videotape. I cried all the way thru this videotape

[@jenn.i5103]

I can’t get enough of this beautiful fashion and time frame. What lovely memories… The winter palace was the last we saw of are handsome royality and friends.

[@dumoulin11]

Costume party nowadays: Batman, sexy nurse, Freddy Kruger, etc. Costume party back then: Just raid the treasure vault and you'll be fine.

[@JewelsthroughHistorybyJaydee]

🤣

[@grammy965]

My grandparents on my dad's side immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900's from Russia .I love this video ❤️

[@buickinvicta288]

As did mine. ❤️

[@Nero_Jero]

My grandfather was born in Russia in 1918. I'm so glad I carry his surname.

[@grammy965]

@@Nero_Jero That's how I feel about my maiden name! They were very old when I was little . I remember I couldn't understand a word they said but I remember the joy on their face when I did see them. My grandfather gave me a clock that I've kept to this day. He loved clocks and tinkered around with them . He also washed windows at the empire state building.!

[@Nero_Jero]

@@grammy965 awesome! My grandfather was a fisherman (among several other things) and he left us his fishing rods. I really ought to go fishing again

[@cyndiray8338]

Mine did too

[@stevyd]

If these costumes represent the period dress 290 years previous to 1903, that time period would be about 1620. These costumes show a much more modest or chaste style than what was being worn by French female nobility of that era. French couture more clearly defined the actual waist, highlighted and shaped the bodice, exposed the lower arm, and often showed a very revealed décolleté. In the use of pearls though, the Russian's win by far.

[@SC-gw8np]

The French were always more decadent, I think. That’s why their revolution happened first.

[@siegfried923]

The Huge Emerald from Siberia was set in the Old Russian style by Faberge especially for this ball.

[@healinggrounds19]

That emerald is incredible! What happened to it?

[@NichtWunderkind]

​@@healinggrounds19 the bolsheviks sold most of the jewels

[@jenn.i5103]

Just gorgious gowns and head pieces. I miss them and don’t even know the royality and friends . What pretty music didn’t they fight hard for their people. The head pieces were probably very uncomfortable but they did it for us and posterity. I really believe that, our English royality always puts on a good show. Fashionable even today looks like silks furs and feathers and gems @ beautiful handmade lace. Wouldn’t they be proud of are victorious Ukrainian’s of 2022. They made their own beautiful and handsome statement to the world in this unique and glorious dress code.

[@la7434]

Чего? Украинцы - победители? Губу закатайте.

[@sherrigraves2237]

So elegant was their attire and demeanor

[@thornyback]

and must have been so heavy to wear

[@jameswilson3991]

pity about their people they were treated like shit ...linda in scotland

[@0608jeffrey]

Thanks for the video!!! Their costumes are stunning😍

[@daniel_sc1024]

Stunning, but at the same time I thought the women's dresses made them more matronly looking. All traces of the feminine form were hidden.

[@darkmatter5424]

I love how 19th century Russian nobilities were cosplaying medieval Russian nobilities for their lavish ball. 😅

[@beachgirl1947]

You can see where the costume designer for “Dracula’ (Keane Reeves) took their inspiration. The photo “ball attendee’ (all in white) is identical to the one in the film worn by Sadie Frost.

[@wendystephenson407]

Beautiful & so costly I imagine..a total contrast to the starving masses!!! Enchanting all the same..

[@veronicamorrison193]

How much did these outfits weigh? They look extremely heavy.

[@garryhastings3383]

Beautiful clothing of course but the screams of those outside of the palace walls dying of hunger and disease went largely unheard. When they were it was too late and nothing could save those who flaunted such decadence. The world will never perhaps see this lavish lifestyle played out by the sacrifice of others.

[@leefrankel4191]

So true. I don’t condone the brutality and violence of the Russian Revolution or of the Soviet regime that followed, but seeing the careless aristocracy showing off their wealth in the face of terrible poverty makes the revolution completely understandable.

[@daniel_sc1024]

I think the incompetence of the Imperial regime had more to do with the revolution than anything else. The poverty of the people was just one aspect of that incompetence.

[@СветланаОдинцова-ж1я]

а что, разве сегодня не так происходит во всём мире? Россия исключение?

[@garryhastings3383]

@@СветланаОдинцова-ж1я Have no idea what your message means? 🤔

[@ultron374]

Not only hunger. People working on the fields were still slaves of their masters where western Europe was modernising and supporting consitutional monarchy and Russia was still an absolute monarchy and backwards.

[@whatadollslife]

8:53 Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna {Tsar Nicholas's elder sister},also called Xenia was stunningly beautiful , she traveled to live in London and passed away in 1960 ....its so sad that the British Royal Family did not do everything in their power to save the Tsar's own family ,their own relatives . Even if they didn't deserve to stay in power in Russia because of politics ,they deserved to live

[@karodora]

The British monarchy and their statesmen feared that granting asylum to the Tsar and his family would somehow influence its citizens/subjects to question whether a British monarchy was necessary.

[@daniel_sc1024]

I hear that a lot, and I get it, but at the end of the day the British Royal Family was not responsible for the Russian Imperial family. What about the other countries? Nobody points a finger at Denmark; Nicholas' mother was a Danish princess. And what about France? Russia was more closely allied to France than she was to Britain. The Russian Second Army was sacrificed at the Battle of Tannenberg so the Germans would have to divert troops from the Western Front, and save Paris. Ironically, it appears the one to have tried the most to save the family was Kaiser Wilhelm II, Nicholas' enemy in WWI.

[@julijagreidane1317]

@@karodora no, they refuse to give them money back.

[@salem8753]

Of course, Great Britain murdered the Romanovs , the Bolsheviks specifically asked the British government to take them and refused.

[@ultron374]

All the comments show that u guys seem to not understand certain thing. Russia was the last absolute monarchy ( people suffered hunger, some of agricultural workers were still slaves of their masters in Nicholas II time, so before 1920s where most of Europe was modernising) in Europe and it wasn't seen well by many European monarchies. It was a time when the monarchies were threatened. Uk's George V wanted to save Nicholas but the goverment didn't agree because they didn't want to risk monarchy in the UK. The government didn't want to be seen as supporters of absolute monarchy. So Romanovs couldn't be saved so easily. Their kids were innocent but not Nicholas and his wife. When people were suffering hunger, Nicholas organised those huge parties, he and his wife were very detached from reality (weak rulers- Nicholas made a lot military mistakes that got the country even poorer). They didn't deserve this fate but also without it people believed that Russia couldn't move forward. Maybe people just didn't have any other and better option than revolution to improve their lives.

[@daniel_sc1024]

Tsar Nicholas II wanted to at least briefly harken back to another era, to escape the contemporary problems he was facing, to a time when he thought the people and their tsar were closer; the time chosen was the reign of his ancestor Tsar Alexis (second Romanov ruler, and father of Peter the Great). For some reason Nicholas had an affinity for him, and would name his son after him. For a (very brief) time after the ball he toyed with the idea of replacing Imperial Court dress with those costumes, but had to drop it when presented with the enormous cost it would entail. The video is a little bit misleading when mentioning the sumptuous parties. Although the extended family gave parties and lived gaily, after 1905 the Tsar and his wife retreated to seclusion at Tsarskoe Selo and other country palaces, they very rarely visited St. Petersburg or the Winter Palace, and the lavish court balls and receptions ceased to take place. They still lived rather lavishly (they were rulers of one of the most powerful empires, after all, and the Tsar was probably the richest man in the world), but the extravagant court life ceased to exist.

[@tomadalove5852]

His brother would have been a better ruler in my opinion.

[@daniel_sc1024]

@@tomadalove5852 His brother saw the handwriting on the wall; at the start of the revolution he tried to get Nicholas to concede to forming a responsible ministry. But then, so did so many others. That is one of the frustrating things about the history of the time - so many people tried to warn Nicholas and Alexandra that they were heading to calamity, but the tsar and his wife wouldn't heed them. And the few times Nicholas did, at the last minute he would veer back to the course leading to ruin.

[@ianpeddle6818]

Stunning

[@claudiamazza7231]

Qué artistas.

[@neusaugustgalobardes5507]

The opulence of the Rulers ( . ) , the misery of the citizens . What a pity , No doubt great artistans of jewelery.

[@auapplemac1976]

also literature and music

[@makelimonada9426]

Celebration of 300 years of Romanov Dinasty. Make vídeos of Maria Feodorovna, mother this Nicolau. Thanks for video.

[@siegfried923]

Unfortunately we now know none of the Children survived the whole family and their immediate servants Dr Botkin Maid Demidova etc all perished in a hail of bullets in the Cellars of Ipatiev House (The House of Special purpose) Some members buried in the main site at the Four Brothers the others en route as the wagon got bogged down, and dawn was approaching.

[@claudspencer1465]

Russian people starved while this lot dressed up like a Punch and Judy show. The designs and needlework are immaculate.

[@dianav8576]

Starvation accrued in years 1902 and 1907 do to loss of crops for various of reasons The ball was in 1903 Stop these irrelevent comments

[@terrywade3696]

As lovely as all of these costumes were, I’m thinking the winter palace must’ve been very drafty and cold. Everyone was dressed in several layers of very heavy fabrics! I’m surprised if anyone could dance at all.

[@mylesgarcia4625]

Where is Grand Duchess Olga Tschikabomskaya? She had a very revealing ostume at the ball!!

[@harshanid3636]

This was the problem with the Romanovs. Pomp & pageantly took center stage, leaving the door wide open for the Bolsheviks. Unfortunately, Nicolas II was inept as a leader and strategist. It was surprising to me, his dad's top advisors and military aides did not step in to restore authority. They all knew, including the Empress that Nicolas II did not have the straightforward qualities of a Head of Statesman. The British Monarchs certainly learned from the Romanovs tragic end.

[@gwendolyn9626]

Lovely.

[@lukasmiller486]

Xenia’s dress and headset is like Turandot. I wonder if Puccini had it in mind when he wrote the opera?

[@elfedowen6452]

Me shopping at Walmart........ I always look absolutely fabulous darls. 💋

[@stephanebelizaire3627]

BRAVO !

[@meeeka]

It was said that Nicholas II toyed with the idea of changing Russian Court Dress back to that of the 1600s, in order to honor the first Romanovs, especially Tsar Alexis, his favorite but gave up that notion once he understood what it would cost to adequately ornament the clothes with jewels, as in the past. The cost of the jewels alone required would break the bank of even the richest families!

[@corinatudor9765]

Wonderfule !

[@lukasmiller486]

Perchik: Congratulations… on getting a rich man. Tevye: Again with the rich. What’s wrong with being rich? Perchik: It’s no reason to marry. Money is the world’s curse. Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it…And may I never recover!!!

[@josephaquigley9640]

How could they possibly dance in this attire

[@JorgeRodriguez-po7kx]

They Used these Clothes Only because the Cold Climate that was in Russia back in the day but in Summer in a Country with a Hot Climate is Just impossible is an Exageration IMO

[@gagagaggagaga9659]

Tchenks. O Mein God. Tchenks. Super..

[@ultron374]

Russia was the last absolute monarchy at that time in Europe ( people in Russia suffered hunger, some of agricultural workers were still slaves of their masters in Nicholas II time, so before 1920s where most of Europe was modernising) and it wasn't seen well by many European monarchies. It was a time when the monarchies were threatened. Uk's George V wanted to save Nicholas but the goverment didn't agree because they didn't want to risk monarchy in the UK. The government didn't want to be seen as supporters of absolute monarchy and citizen opressor. So Romanovs couldn't be saved so easily. Their kids were innocent but not Nicholas and his wife. When people were suffering hunger, Nicholas organised those huge parties, he and his wife were very detached from reality (weak rulers- Nicholas made a lot military mistakes that got the country even poorer). They didn't deserve this fate but also without it people believed that Russia couldn't move forward. Maybe people just didn't have any other and better option than revolution to improve their lives - at least that what they could have believed at the time.

[@antiminer2422]

Legaly there was no slavery in Russia since 1864

[@michaeljarosz4062]

I recall reading somewhere that the guests were notified of their invitation well in advance so that they would have the time to create these costumes. It must have taken quite a while to make them. One complaint: Mostly all women, only one man at the very end. Did the original photos show mostly women?

[@dianav8576]

There are plenty men photos

[@crisf69]

its is beautiful but can't over look the thousands if not millions that lived in abject poverty in russia at that time...

[@auapplemac1976]

A deadly combination of entitlement and ignorance.

[@donnasherwood283]

exquisite odd how we all think the present is such an improvement on past

[@johanna2059]

All that wealth for one family to wallow in, while people were starving to death on the streets. It's still happening today, only not as blatantly perhaps. There's enough in the world for everyone but not enough for everyone's greed.

[@jospiese7864]

Some of the Czar family jewels found it way to the British Royal family

[@annickbrennen8779]

All of this splendor, opulence, magnificence while the peasants lived in abject poverty with no hope of their lives being improved! There were enough gems in these costumes to help millions!

[@Kelly19217]

My thoughts too, people were dying of hunger while these people revelled in their finery and partying for days, somehow doesn’t feel right!

[@maxlinder5262]

WHERE ARE THE CLOTHES NOW ???????????/

[@carolempluckrose4188]

Ask the Revolutionaries who looted, destroyed and just plain disposed of it all, where they put it all😂. Seriously, much was 'lost' in whichever way 'lost' was achieved. The young Grand Duchesses and Czarina actually survived the first salvos of gunfire. They were saved by their jewels having been see into their under garments. They actually met their deaths via bludgeoning via rifle butts, through being stabbed etc. Many jewels, although not as many as originally supposed, were got out with those who were able to flee Russia in 1917. The rest met an undocumented and unknown history. Many were looted. That alone gets the question, what happened to those who stole the great riches of the Romanovs etc, did those thieves also meet a sticky end when they started showing off their spoils of 'war'? There's always someone who wants what you have, no matter how you got it.

[@susanjaeger5645]

I liked that.

[@janetmackinnon3411]

"prior to the familys deaths, the Romanovs were known for..." How could it be after their deaths?

[@jameswilson3991]

they did nor care about their people linda in scotland

[@JD-ku6vd]

@@jameswilson3991 You couldn’t be more wrong.

[@maximhollandnederlandthene7640]

Wonderful 🤗 They should made a celebration with the whole country and not play the show themselves but actors and volunteers. If they had been more socialiced with the normal people they probably had continue the royal Romanov imperium.

[@juliettechristian3132]

Dommage qu'il n'y ait pas plus de costumes masculins....

[@harveypost7799]

Didn't learn from MARIE ANTENETTE FRANCE.

[@jameswilson3991]

too right

[@claudiamazza7231]

Se guardan los trajes?

[@susanbrown2909]

What’s this music..anyone ?

[@meeeka]

How is it possible for the Imperial family to be known for its extravagant balls and entertainments when theTsarina concentrated on deliving an heir, not accomplished u til 1905, and then, spent the greater part of the life left her as an invalid. Not to mention she was a very shy woman who found such affairs and entertainments as running counter to her deeper religious feelings? There are letters from the Dowager Empress, as well as from Ella, the Empress' older sister, AND from Victoria R.I. all chiding her for not fulfilling her duties as the tsarina because she hated attending and giving balls, going to the opera, ballet, and visiting foreign dignitaries? This 1903 ball was famous and infamous as it was the largest ball they gave and even still, they left their own party early because Alix "had a headache."

[@antonromano2152]

Almost 300 yrs of Dynasty. We should transfer the power through Democratic to avoid a drastic loss of life

[@carolempluckrose4188]

Romano, not even England was democratic way back then. Rulers ruled holding a belief in the Divine Right of Kings. Charles 1 lost his head because of his belief in it. England, for 11 years became a 'democratic' society. The only problem there was that Parliament actually offered Oliver Cromwell the throne. He refused. His son followed in his footsteps, was that democratic? Parliament 11 years later asked Charles 2 to return as Monarch. Guess what he believed in. Yes, the very same principle that cost his father his head. The Russias were ruled autocratically, democracy didn't exist, including in the run up to 1917 and the Russian Revolution. Getting rid of the Czars of Russia only saw another form of autocracy taking its place, its called Communism.

[@jenn.i5103]

Someone said very slow in comments The sewing , knitting , ect..went on forever

[@kepler-442b4]

Mujeres bellas y opulentamente ridiculas, tanta seda, brocados, perlas, piedras preciosas todo puesto a la vez?, pero podían andar o moverse?^^

[@juliatrecet1740]

No hay nada extravagante.era las costumbres de los Zares y era muy normal la ropa preciosa de Rusia bella como Rusia y espléndida así también la forma de vestir.

[@jameswilson3991]

they should all have been held accountable awful people starving and they display there weaith horrible

[@donnaeturner]

Like Nancy Pelosi?

[@melindadouglas1673]

They were all murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. They paid with their lives for their opulent lifestyle.

[@carolempluckrose4188]

James, you cannot impose today's standards onto any period in history, in any way. It just doesn't work like that. Today there are people who have incredible wealth, there are too those who live with abject poverty. Would you punish today's wealthy just because they have wealth? The Romanov Court was an incredibly wealthy place to be. Mostly those there were there simply be an accident of birth. There were also some who became wealthy due to their service to the family, to Russia itself. Others simply earnt their wealth. Had you been born to wealth, especially great wealth by accident of birth, would you feel the same way? Quite possibly not. It's not the wealth by accident of birth that should be the question, it's what was done with that wealth that we should think about. This was a time in Russia when serfdom, otherwise called slavery, was still prevalent. The rich were very rich, the poor incredibly poor. Inbetween were those who just got by. Not so different from today's society globally. Today, there are still slaves, globally. Today, there are the incredibly wealthy. Many in the Romanov Court paid the ultimate price for their wealth in 1905 and 1917. They paid with their lives. I think you might need to do a little hard reading to really understand the backgrounds of the wealthy, the poor and those who just got by. Some of those with incredible wealth did some pretty amazing things with it. True, they were in the minority. However, they too paid with their lives. Should they too have been punished? Was that fair? As I began this with it's not possible nor moral, to apply modern standards into any period in history. The saddest thing of all is often how little we have learnt from that history. Punishing the wealthy never helps the poor, it just makes them poorer in the long run.

[@JD-ku6vd]

We are holding you accountable for your very poor grammar and lack of punctuation.

[@jameswilson3991]

@@JD-ku6vd ok headmaster

[@melbabowen4389]

Did these costume’s survive?

[@Jamal-ib2kk]

Of more than 400 costumes, only 12 have been preserved to one degree or another: the costume of Emperor Nicholas II in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin, the costume of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg, and ten costumes in the State Hermitage Museum.

[@bealiberatore845]

I read a book by Julia grant, granddaughter of president Grant, married to a Russian prince and lived 20 years in Russia, describing the the life of the aristocracy before the revolution l Amazing !

[@こぼんたん]

現在のロシアの方は、結婚式などで民族衣装は着ないのでしょうか

[@brucemarsico6]

Too bad these aristos did not consider the conditions of their subjects before enjoying such an extravagant bash. In a mere time span of fourteen years (1917) all would be swept away through war and revolution.....

[@mairwaugus5203]

How is 1905 17th Century?

[@sharonharris9782]

It's 1903 and 17th century Russia was the inspiration for the costume ball.

[@CatManCatClan]

Millions of people were dying from starvation just within a mile of their LUSH palaces. So pretty!

[@oltedders]

Excruciatingly slow presentation.

[@RevLeigh55]

Looking at these out of touch royal people flaunt this opulence should give better understanding as to why their people rose up against them. Their subjects were literally going hungry while these selfish people wore gold and jewels.

[@graceontheyork1424]

You may use the word medival costumes but they are really representative of the tartarian empire.

[@παυροεπής]

Tartarian ?

[@Sammy_019]

Very slow

[@reinadegrillos]

They don't look very happy. I think most of them ended their lives in a very different way.

[@daniel_sc1024]

Back then people didn't smile for the camera.

[@РозаРябошапка-г6ф]

Какая ерунда, костюмы, конечно, красивы, но это костюмы 16 века, в 19 семейство Романовых в таких бывало только на балах-маскарадах. Европейское платье носили, при чем по последней парижской моде.

[@teddybarli752]

Zar Nikolaus wear the Coronation Regalia und Alexandra too,this was not an Custume Ball Dress!!!

[@daniel_sc1024]

No, he isn't. This was a famous ball, very well documented. You can do an internet search for "Nicholas II coronation" and see that he didn't wear anything like this.

[@patriciamorellarrain5404]

Que estilos más exagerados, uno entiende la época pero hoy se ve ridículo; menos es más