European Nobility and French High Society gathered as Elsie de Wolfee, Lady Mendl hosted her legendary Circus Ball at the Villa Trianon in Versailles on this day in 1939, 85 years ago, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.
On an unseasonably chilly evening in July 1939, upwards of 700 men and women in white tie and gowns gathered on the grounds of Villa Trianon in Versailles. The occasion was the second annual Circus Ball given by the storied decorator and society figure Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl. For her final ball before the war, Villa Trianon’s great lawn became the setting for a circus ring and a circus tent bar was built around one of the garden’s enormous oak trees.
Cecil Beaton; Coco Chanel; Clare Boothe Luce and her husband, Henry Luce; several members of the Rothschild family; and no shortage of titled aristocrats. Among the night’s bedazzlements were a team of white Lipizzaner horses in jeweled harnesses and a mini-parade of trained ponies and dogs led around a ring by de Wolfe herself, who was dressed in Mainbocher and still nimble at age 81. Just two months later, Adolf Hitler would invade Poland, making de Wolfe’s over-the-top fete the very last such legendary ball of that era.
The guest list was expectedly controversial in true Elsie style: left wing, right wing, exiled royals, Hollywood stars were dazzled by tightrope walkers, acrobats and circus ponies. Alongside German ambassadors and future Vichy collaborationists, the Rothschild heirs and masses of American expats drank “Pink Lady” cocktails (Elsie’s recipe of course) until dawn.
The summer ball was “the last grand gesture of gaiety and frivolity before the storm.” Two months later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The villa was occupied by Germans during the war, but Elsie returned in the late 1940’s and, in her final years, revived some of the glitter and gaiety that marked the years between the wars.
Famed interior decorator Lady Mendl, wife of Sir Charles Mendl, press attache to the British Embassy, being kissed by Oliver Messel as Lady Jersey, former Virginia Cherril looks on, during dinner/dance party hosted by Mendl at the British Embassy.
Countess Madeleine de Montgomery, Princess Hedwige de Bourbon-Parma and the Duchess of Gramont
Famed interior decorator Lady Mendl, wife of Sir Charles Mendl, press attache to the British Embassy, chatting with Oliver Messel and Princess Jean-Louis Faucigny-Lucinge during dinner/dance party she hosted at the British Embassy.
Coco Chanel arrives at de Wolfe’s Circus Ball with writer Paul Morand (left) and Paris Opéra Ballet master Serge Lifar.
For the balls, de Wolfe turned Villa Trianon’s former loggia into a semi-permanent summer ballroom, complete with green-and-white-striped tented walls and a spring-supported portable dance floor.
Famed interior decorator Lady Mendl, wife of Sir Charles Mendl, press attache to the British Embassy, clad in organza gown designed by Mainbocher as she chats w. movie star Mary Pickford during dinner/dance party she hosted.
Guests at the 1939 Circus Ball included María Cristina Patiño, who wore a sleeveless Mainbocher gown, and Cécile de Rothschild
Circus Ball guests on lawn for performance: Daryl Zanuck, Marquise Nina de Polignac, Virginia Fox Zanuck, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Sylvia Fairbanks, Elsa Maxwell, Christian Bérard, and Marie-Louise Bousquet.
Circus Ball, 1939 Guests dancing in the summer ballroom to Willie Lewis jazz orchestra from Paris’s Chez Florence nightclub.
Actor Douglas Fairbanks Sr. w. wife, the former Lady Sylvia Ashley, chatting w. Henry Luce founder of Time Inc. & his wife Clare Boothe Luce (2R) at party hosted by Lady Mendl, wife of the British press attache.
Devonshire Tiara
Devonshire Diamond Rivière
Ruby Clasp
Wellington Tiara
Diamond Earrings
Diamond Tassel Earrings
Buccleuch Diamond Belt Tiara
Buccleuch Emerald Tiara
Buccleuch Mayflower Tiara
Buccleuch Turquoise Tiara
Buccleuch Pearl and Diamond Tiara
Bagration Spinel Tiara
Rosebery Tiara
Diamond Necklace
Westminster Myrtle Wreath Tiara
Diamond Fringe Tiara
Westminster Halo Tiara
Northumberland Tiara
Duchess of Sutherland’s Tiara
Duchess of Bedford’s Tiaras
Marlborough Tiara
Portland Tiara
Duchess of Norfolk’s Sapphire Necklace
Rutland Tiara
Argyll Tiara
Manchester Tiara
Dufferin Tiara
Bath Tiara
Milford Haven Ruby Kokoshnik
Duchess of Devonshire’s Tiaras
Devonshire Parure
Ruby Clasp
Craven Brooch
Insect Brooches
