The desire to engage in a lavish party wearing extravagant costumes and being spoiled with no less excessive delicacies grows stronger by the day as the pandemic keeps forcing everyone to stay isolated from each other.
Still, then again, such craving has long been in existence since before the current time of quarantine and mask mandate.
Now and then, the news tells stories of how the irresponsible breaks the rules and arranges for secretive yet exorbitant parties with no regard for both new and old normal.
However, no matter what they do, it is unlikely to match the level of evil that the old-school surrealist parties once boasted.
If you think 21st century Halloween affairs are as elaborate as they come, well then you are in for an introspectively humbling history lesson of the infamous Marie-Hélène de Rothschild’s surrealist ball held at Château de Ferrières in 1972, several years before the manor was donated to the University of Paris.
Everything about the ball, from the invitation to the costume, from the meals to the servants, was so ostentatious it harbored conspiracy theories.
10 /10 Château De Ferrières
Baroness Marie-Hélène de Rothschild and her third-cousin/husband Baron Guy de Rothschild, threw a party called “Diner de Têtes Surrealistes” on December 12, 1972, at the fabulous Château de Ferrières, the largest and most luxurious 19th-century manor in France.
It was the house where Guy and his sisters grew up. During World War II, the estate was seized by the Nazis and remained empty until 1959, when Guy and his wife decided to reopen it.
Since then, the property became a regular venue for themed parties attended mainly by aristocrats before it was donated to the University of Paris.
9 /10 A Party On Fire
Every guest invited to Diner de Têtes Surrealistes was instructed to wear black tie and long gowns – which at first seemed nothing out of the extraordinary – but then the directive continued with “surrealist head.”
The invitation was printed in reverse, so the invitees might need a mirror to decipher the message.
Many of the guests were members of royal families throughout Europe, in addition to the couple’s personal friends, including Audrey Hepburn and Salvador Dali.
The venue, Château de Ferrières, was bathed in orange floodlights as if it was on fire.