18th Century Fashion in Venice

Attending Carnevale in Venice

Danielle & Pahl in front of Cafe Florian in St. Mark's Square

After a three-year hiatus from international travel, in February 2026, Pahl and I embarked on a new fashion journey across the Atlantic Ocean to Venice, Italy to wear historical 18th-century fashions during one of the biggest cultural events in the world. Carnevale di Venezia, is famous for its elaborate costumes and masks. The event lasts roughly two weeks and concludes on Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday (the day before the Catholic season of Lent starts). The Carnival traces its origins to the Middle Ages, existing for several centuries until it was abolished in 1797. The tradition was revived in 1979, and the modern event now attracts approximately 3 million visitors annually. 

It has always been Pahl's dream to wear 18th century historical fashion in such a big way, and luckily last year he reconnected with his college friend Helen, who is heavily involved in the 18th century historical fashion scene within Europe. She is very dedicated to this fashion and has commissioned several outfits and accessories to wear at various events. She met small groups of people organically by attending prior years of Carnivale and hanging out in full costume in St. Mark's Square. As long as you are wearing a full costume, you are considered a "mask", someone who has dressed up for the festival. All sorts of people, from other tourists to professional photographers will ask for your photograph. And it's a great way to meet other people from all over the world just as passionate about the fashion. 

This lovely couple with matching costumes took a group photo with us in St. Mark's Square. Unfortunately, we did not get their contact information as they didn't speak much English and we didn't speak any Italian. It is important to have a common language outside of just the fashion.

Helen was able to connect us with Flavia, a wonderful woman fluent in many languages who happened to be hosting a series of private themed parties requiring 18th century historical fashion nearly every day of Carnevale. We managed to get into one of her events, the Ciocco Barocco, and was waitlisted for a second. Helen also took us as her guests to a private welcome event at Ca'Sagredo, which we also wore our costumes for. 

Pahl & Danielle inside L'Atelier La Bauta

You might be wondering where and or how we acquired our costumes and if we rented them or not. Pahl purchased his custom tailored fit on Etsy from TheClassicNine, which is a shop in Florida, USA (so he didn't have to worry about import tariffs and fees). His pants, waistcoat, and tailcoat were all made of silk with embroidered floral designs. The seller included the neck jabot. He is wearing a wig that was custom styled by Tamara A.M. In this photo, the black shoes with the heavy gold buckles he sourced from The Historical Emporium. His cane, silver mask, and tricorn hat were all purchased from La Bauta that day. 

Atelier La Bauta is the quintessential location for all of your 18th century and beyond needs. They have costumes you can rent or purchase, all kinds of accessories, as well as a separate mask shop. Everything is hand made and all masks come with a certificate of production. Atelier La Bauta is also widely known as a Historical Costume Maker and has had their designs featured in Netflix, Red Notice, and House of Gucci. We wanted to do the best job we could with historical accuracy, so most of my costume is from La Bauta.

It is a handmade reproduction of an 18th-century historical costume made of damask fabric. It includes a decorated skirt, a dress with a fully lined cotton bodice reinforced with stiffened stays, a pannier with stiffened stays to hold the dress, a choker, and a handbag. It laces up the back. The total cost of this gown was about $2500.00. We had purchased the gown in December from them, as we did not know what events at that point we would be able to get tickets for and could not figure out how many days we would need to rent it for at the time. (If you rent it for 3 days, it nearly pays for the entire cost of the gown). Plus time was running out at that point to book a high quality rental in my size. (I suppose my size needs are somewhat medium in America, but I'm basically a Large/XL in Italy sizing, and there were only 2 dresses left to rent in my size at the time).

My cape was also purchased from La Bauta. It is a turquoise blue velvet cape that has a hood and ties around the neck.  I am also wearing historical embroidered pockets just above the pannier under the skirt. They are somewhat accessible in slits behind the velour green section of the front of the skirt. My wig was also designed and styled by Tamara A.M, who also made the green chandelier earrings. I had brought off white cloth embroidered shoes with me for the trip, but it rained so much everyday and the streets were flooded to the point that I was actually wearing beige leather oxfords under everything. (How scandalous!). You can't see them anyway, and they soaked completely through so I have an interesting design on my silk stockings now as well as a permanent darkened patina on my oxfords.

We know that Tamara did our wigs, but who did the makeup? I did! I had purchased the second from the lightest matte foundation from Revolution Cosmetics as my base. I studied portraits of Marie Antoinette to see which colors to apply for the eye makeup. My friend Barbara let me borrow a very pigmented coral blush from Nude Stix. The lipstick is a combination of a coral lipstick from Urban Decay and a pink lipstick from M.A.C., both discontinued colors. I darkened my eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil and drew a beauty mark on my upper left cheek with a eye pencil first, and then one of those liquid eye liners that has a brush type head. 

Waiting for Helen at Ca'Sagredo

My outfit from the side

My outfit from the back

The completed outfit with the fur stole we purchased from Helen. It is actually a combination of two stoles that she commissioned someone to join at one point.

I had also brought with me a linen shift, early 18th century stays, and a cotton petticoat to wear with this gown, but I could only get the linen shift on under it, and nothing else would fit. The dress has some boning in it, but it did not lift me like my stays would have. I love all the details of this gown, but it did not fit me comfortably as a result. It kind of pushed hard on my hips and tummy and the full weight of the fit was around 14.5 pounds (6.5 kilos). I am still figuring out how to modify it. It could use a good hemming so it doesn't drag on the ground (you can see the subtle waterline from the streets at the bottom), and at the very least a longer and stronger cord up the back to make room for my other undergarments.  I honestly think that the main problem is that it is not a Custom fit gown, and was made to be a general M/L. Whoever they modeled it after was likely a little taller and a lot less busty. 

Welcome Event at Ca'Sagredo

Photo of Pahl and I just outside of Ca'Sagredo taken by Marisa D'Alessandro

The first event we attended in costume was held at Ca'Sagredo, a five star luxury hotel  located between Ca'D'Oro and the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal. This location was just a few stops away from where our hotel was on the Rialto side of the vaporetto line (water bus), so it was an easy ride and walk in costume to the venue. As I understand it, just a decade ago Ca'Sagredo was a crumbling 15-Century palace, and then some developers came in and fixed it up, a lot. The welcome event was held by a cultural group in the region and the only way you could attend was to have a sponsor and cash at the door. 

The elaborate staircase to the main room

Restored Tintoretto's on the wall and ceiling

Delicious Hot Chocolate they serve at this event. It's thick enough to drink with a spoon!

Ceiling of the Main Reception Room

I really enjoyed this welcome event. Helen introduced us to some of her friends and then let us enjoy the party at our own pace. I didn't know what to expect except for the special hot chocolate, so we ate before hand, but they had lots of food as well as prosecco available as part of our ticket. Seats were few and far between, so I mostly stood around and complimented others on their costumes. Sometimes it would lead to a conversation and other times that would be it, as there did seem to be a certain level of language barrier. I realized that people from all over the world came to Venice to celebrate Carnevale, and English was no longer the default common language. I studied French in high school, but I believe Italian would be the best language of choice, in this circumstance. 

Ciocco Barocco at Hotel Monaco

Danielle & Pahl at Hotel Monaco

A few days later after the welcome event, we donned our costumes again for a dance focused event held at Hotel Monaco on the Grand Canal. Hotel Monaco is also a palace that was originally owned by the Dandolo family and was the location of the first public 'Ridotto' established in 1638. A Ridotto is a place where nobles along with adventurers, swindlers, travelers, etc gathered to gamble, enjoy the company of courtesans and develop their social and political contacts. Casanova himself considered it the ideal place for his conquests. Nowadays they've updated the place to show a nod to the its origins along with a stark minimalism, especially on the first floor.

We all look like time travelers waiting for something

Helen (in red and black) stopped by to say hello (even though she did not purchase a ticket for the event)

Luckily, they did not update the second floor, which led to an elaborate and beautiful ballroom with side rooms and furniture. 

Danielle in the ballroom

I was having a hard time at this event, not because of the event itself, but a series of circumstances that led up to it. I was nursing an intense lower lid eye infection in one eye, and we decided to walk to the hotel rather than taking the vaporetto.  We got a lost a bunch of times and the bottom of my gown and shoes and socks got soaked through again because of that.

At the event we presented ourselves to the hostess and host as a couple in a court would, and then we were instructed in a series of court dances from the 18th-Century. The dance mistress had initially addressed everyone in about 5 different languages, but again, the primary default was Italian. Eventually all the instruction was in Italian only, and I was having a hard time keeping up trying to understand the directions and learn the moves, despite them being tremendously easier than anything from the Regency era or our Dances of Bridgerton class.

During a few of the earlier dances, I somehow ended up without a partner at all to dance with right away. I don't know if it was my fault or if some folks had just bailed unevenly on the dance, but I was very sad to be left out. I stood out and watched the dancing for awhile and tried one more time to join a dance that involved two stationary partners and one traveling partner. I did okay, but it was more vigorous and I felt that my wig was going to fall off at almost any moment.  We ended up calling it quits early, and I felt bad about leaving, but I also just needed to rest to help heal my eyelid infection. 

Pahl's slightly changed outfit with different waist coat and shoes in our Hotel Al Codega before leaving for Hotel Monaco

The whole experience for me was a bit like being a sparkle pony at a burning man event. I had my costume in order for the most part, but I didn't know anything about the location and was definitely not prepared for the local weather. I'd been to Rome and Florence before, but Venice is a completely different way of life. There are no cars and even though it's a little pricy, you should just use the vaporetto (water bus) to get anywhere because if you think you can walk somewhere, it's probably not as direct as you or Google maps thinks it is. There is the main canal but also a bunch of other smaller canals that connect to it, so where logically you would expect a road, there's a canal and a staircase bridge that leads you to the other side of something, not necessarily connected to the immediate area you were trying to get to. Even native Italians get lost in Venice, it's just something that happens. But it was very frustrating as a first timer getting soaked in costume trying to get to an event on time. 

In fact, the waterproof boots I had brought with me to wear on the trip outside of my costume, the heel had self-destructed upon arrival and we spent half a day finding new boots for me as well as new luggage for Pahl. Not to say that I'm complaining about fine Italian leather goods because they truly have some of the best craftsmanship in the world, but it was not something that I had initially budgeted for in my trip. I also knew wearing 18th-century fashion for women was going to be a lot of cloth, accessories, and investment, but I didn't know how much. 

I would like to do Carnevale again, but differently. I now have waterproof boots to wear and a lot of wonderful accessories, but I either need to get the dress I have modified or a gown that is a custom fit so that I am not in pain to wear it. Also, I'll definitely refrain from bringing any eye palette that might be nearing its expiration. And maybe it would help if we stayed in an Air BnB or a larger hotel room.  Our hotel bathroom was thankfully huge, but that was the extent and I had to walk sideways in my costume to get anywhere else in our room.

This however is not the final story of our Italy trip. Stay tuned for Part 2: Fashion and Family in Napoli!!!