Listening to the Tea Party talk about the founding of America, you would never believe that masked balls were popular in Colonial America. In fact, they were prominent in our great nation, just like in Europe.

Naturally, there were anti-masquerade writers like Samuel Richardson, who argued that the events encouraged immorality and “foreign influence”. In reality, the battle over American morality and purity has a long tradition, and it’s not the case that modern living, secularism and feminism have spawned the death of purity and morality in the nation.

At last week’s Vogue Paris masked ball celebration, Natalia Vodianova caused a hush over the proceedings, in her daring lace dress. Had Vodianova appeared during negotiations around the words of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps Jefferson’s anti-slavery statement would have made the final cut. Men tend to lose their powers of concentration in the presence of black lace.

Bal Masque | Josh Olins | Sharif Hamza | Vogue Paris 90th Anniversary Issue | October 2010