The second ball was even more brilliant than the first, though the guests were less numerous they were more select. All the ladies were in coloured wigs -- it was the first introduction in Petrograd of this new fashion, and the effect created was marvellous.
The Schouvalov mansion was graced by numerous members of the Imperial Family, eager to witness the novel sight of elegant women in evening attire wearing their hair in all the colours of the rainbow.
The Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna was not present -- the Countess had omitted to invite her.
I am reminded by this ball of an incident which occurred recently to a very smart rnember of Petrograd society. Last season she went to a fancy-dress ball in a costume designed by Mr. Bakhst the painter à la mode and the arbiter of ladies' fashions. No one ever understood what the costume was intended to represent; it was a costly and amazing mixture of myrtle-green and cobalt-blue. The lady had the shape of a turnip, pointed at the top and getting very wide at the hem of the short skirt, from under which peeped two daintily shod feet, the legs being clothed in silk bladder-shaped trousers. A blue wig, green gloves and costly gems completed the costume. Green roses were painted by M. Bakhst on the higher part of the lady's arms, but truth compels one to add that the heat of the ballroom sadly affected this over-modern art production, the paint melted on the warm skin and trickled down in ugly green streaks.
Russian Court Memoirs by B. Wood. [1917?]. Pages 262-3.
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