Royalty Core: A Dive Into Our Ever Persisting Desires to Run Through a Castle in Our Ball Gowns

It is 1812 in London, the Regency period. You wake up on the most important day of the year--the annual ball. This ball is significant for several reasons. First, you are supposed to find the person whom you will marry. Second, the queen will be attending, and you will be introduced by your upper-middle-class family. Lastly, it gives you the opportunity to wear your most perfectly tailored suit/dress. The theme is, in modern-day terms, light academia. You get ready for said ball looking more stunning than ever before. You will be all the talk of London, though you do not know this yet. Even the queen will talk about your elegance. Upon arrival, everyone looks to you. You quickly become the center of attention. Every suitor in London is coming up to talk to you, though none of them suit your fancy. Suddenly, you spot a mysterious figure in the background. You both make eye contact and the rest of history. This plot is similar to many of the period pieces that we know and love today.  

When I scroll through various social media platforms, especially TikTok, I always see point-of-view videos depicting runs through grand hallways wearing a gown or dances with your enemy during a ball. I was reading Ernst Hemmingway, and it really had me thinking about this whole “lost generation.” Though the idea is not necessarily applicable today because many of Hemmingway’s settings were post World War I, I can attempt to form some connections. Throughout the pandemic and with all of the chaos surrounding the election and world politics, our younger generation has been searching for some type of meaning. Amidst seemingly meaningless online classes, we are all striving to have a purpose in life. The idea of period pieces gives us another world to live in. When reading or watching these period pieces, such as Pride and Prejudice or Bridgerton, we can immerse ourselves into the story. This allows us to escape into a world that is vastly different than the twenty-first century. Instead of trying to find meaning in our own chaotic world, we can find it in fantasy and historical worlds. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this--I frequently envision myself in these scenarios. I think that it speaks more to societal standards today.

Another aspect of these period pieces that seem to invoke attention is their fashion. Regency and Victorian period fashion have been emerging, specifically in the rise of corsets. The only difference is that corset wear during the historical period was for shapewear and today more of a fashion statement. However, the bright color platelets and flowing dresses are always appealing to the eye. These dresses helped to define the time periods that they were associated with. The beautiful estates that these balls were held at also contribute to our longing to run through them. Typically, these estates featured beautiful commissioned artwork depicting stunningly intricate Renaissance scenes. Additionally, the outlines of these estates are covered in gold in order to promote the idea of wealth within these properties. Even the middle-class houses have a sort of dark academia aspect to them. 

If we do choose to envision ourselves in these historic worlds, it is important to recognize that life during the Victorian and Regency periods was not as glamorous as it seems. Eating disorders were often promoted to appeal to the beauty standard of the time. Additionally, due to the industrial revolution in Britain, middle-class working life was extremely difficult, and often people would marry for financial stability rather than for love. This privilege of maying for love was often reserved for the wealthy, not for the upper-middle class. However, when it comes to escapism, using these periods as a way to feel comfort and longing, our young generation should take full advantage of this. 

The idea of creating our own worlds also relates back to the romantic period in the eighteenth century in Britain. Poets like William Wordsworth began to re-define societal constructs and materialism. Today, I feel like we as a young generation in society have taken up romantic ideas of poetry and transcendentalism. These ideas revolve around focusing on natural beauty such as nature and artwork and finding a deeper meaning. I believe that this directly correlates to our longing to run through dark or light academia castles because we are all searching for this deeper meaning that transcendentalism typically brings. I, along with the rest of my generation, feel safe in these worlds, and hopefully, we can continue to search for a deeper meaning in life and experience our fairytale romances, just like these period pieces depict.