Beatrice Bangura dressed as Evelyn Hugo from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Bangura said, “I love Evelyn as a character. She’s unapologetic and completely owns who she is.” 2000 people dressed as their favorite characters and packed the Thomas Jefferson building of the LOC for the event which featured caricature artists, a DJ, and a costume contest.
The Library of Congress threw its first literary costume ball Thursday night as part of its “Live at the Library” series, bringing 2000 people to the Thomas Jefferson Building on Independence Ave for a night of dancing, mingling, and literary cosplay.
The ball included a dance party with a DJ, caricature artists, a 360-degree camera for portraits, and a costume contest, and ran from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets were free, but potential attendees had to enter a randomly chosen lottery.
For the first Literary Costume Ball at the Library of Congress, Shauna Chase of Alexandria, VA dressed as Uhura from Star Trek. “She’s one of my favorite characters from pop culture. When I was growing up my mother absolutely loved watching Star Trek…and then I thought it was weird but then I got into it myself and then I just fell in love with the character.”Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Crowds of costumed characters filled the dance floor. One of those was Virginia Davis, who came as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. “It is my favorite book and I really am an evil witch…at midnight I’m sending in the monkeys.”
Davis danced with hundreds of others in the lit-up space, but she was far from the most elaborately dressed. Costumes ranged from detailed Game of Thrones characters, the Queen of Hearts and Mad Hatter, King Azaz from The Phantom Tollbooth, and a couple of elegantly dressed Evelyn Hugo’s from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Virginia Davis said, "My character is the evil witch from "The Wizard of Oz" because it is my favorite book and I really am an evil witch. Yay! And I celebrate my evil...and at midnight I'm sending in the monkeys."Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Darren Cambridge and Nicole Mires went as Wilbur “Some Pig” and The Web from “Charlotte’s Web.” When asked why they chose those characters, Mires said, “Because he looks great in a pig suit.” And they said that they wanted to take a photo with a first edition of the classic book. Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Costumed crowds on the dance floor.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Costumed crowds on the dance floor.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Costumed crowds line dancing on the dance floor.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Brandy Eason, middle, as Cruella De Vil on the dance floor.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
“Everywhere you look in the nation’s library, there is a book character come to life,” said Katie Davidovich, Chief of the Visitor Engagement Office at the Library of Congress. “So I think that’s what’s really exciting about this event, because it’s like things leapt off the page and now they’re here and having a dance party in the middle of the Great Hall.”
The line of people waiting to get into the Literary Costume Ball at the Library of Congress. The special event was Thursday night, and ran from 6-9pm.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUGordon Chase strikes a Doc Brown pose from Back to the Future.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUMaleficent horns were common to a couple of ball attendees. Kimberly Morin was sporting these.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUAliya Kahn dressed as King Azaz from The Phantom Tollbooth. She said that her group of friends all dressed as characters from that book.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUMany different costumes and characters, but everybody loved singing along to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ on the dance floor at the Library of Congress’s Literary Costume Ball.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUEva, who preferred not to give her last name, dressed as the character Wednesday from The Addams Family, complete with Thing on her shoulder.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUCiara Timban, dressed as Juliette from Bad Luhrmann’s 1996 film, Romeo + Juliette, turns the wand on Thomas Chen who was dressed as Harry Potter.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUNora Dahlberg of Arlington, VA, poses for a photo on one of the interior staircases of the Library of Congress. She was dressed as the character Feyre from the A Court of Thorns and Roses adult fantasy novel series.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMUAt the end of the Literary Costume Ball, several categories of prizes were announced. Jillian Smith, dressed as Minny Jackson from The Help, won for Best Contemporary Literature Costume.Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Tyrone Turner
