Electric Light dress

The Electric Light dress was a masquerade gown made of gold and silver thread designed by Charles Frederick Worth for Alice Vanderbilt for the 1883 masquerade ball thrown by her sister-in-law on the occasion of her housewarming for the new William K. Vanderbilt House on Fifth Avenue, NY. It was yellow satin decorated with glass pearls and beads in a lightning-bolt pattern. A built-in battery lit a light bulb she carried that she could raise over her head like the Statue of Liberty.

This dress was only one of several spectacular gowns that served to make the event the official start of Alva Vanderbilt's role as a leading socialite of New York. The dress is preserved at Museum of the City of New York.