Speed & Travel is today’s fancy dress theme as we live life in the Fast Lane  as we note that around this date in 1865, the British authorities started to take the perceived rising menace of the new steam-driven ‘horseless carriages’ in hand and decided to impose some speed limits. These limits were 2 mph in towns and built-up areas and 4mph elsewhere. Furthermore, there had to be a pedestrian with a red flag sixty yards in front of the vehicle, with three drivers needing to be aboard at all times. Things lightened up a little thirteen years later when the red flag became optional upon ‘local conditions’ and the flag-bearer only had to be twenty yards in front. In 1895, vehicles under three tonnes became exempt from the red flag rule and the speed limit was raised to 14mph. Such is the speed of progress!

More than a century later those ‘horseless carriages’ are celebrated annually at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which is basically a celebration of all things motoring, featuring classic cars and motorbikes, elite racing drivers and the glitterati of the motorsports world. This event which happened last week has been held at Goodwood since 1993. Although racing drivers may be a popular costume request, more pertinent to us than the Festival of Speed is the Goodwood Revival meeting. This takes place in 2011 from September 16-18. The event is designed to celebrate not only the history of the car, but also other vehicles. It evokes a sense of nostalgia for a more ‘glamorous’ age and the amount of 1940s-1960s costume requests we receive each year sees more and more people entering into the spirit of the occasion. Take a look at our 40s costumes - ideal for the Goodwood Revival meeting, although when I went we opted for 1950s fancy dress

So what costume ideas can we offer you for a Speed & Travel Costume Theme? It’s not the easiest of themes, and if you have any great costume suggestion, we’d love to hear from you

• Airline Pilot – RAF Uniforms – Aviator Costumes – Biggles – check out our pilot costumes & accessories
• Air Steward(ess)
• Astronaut
• Horse rider – Jockey Costume with or without a horse
• Racing Driver
• Chauffeur
• Starlight Express Character
• Steam Train Driver
• Waiter on the Orient Express
• Swimmer
• Tourist
• Skier
• Arab with a camel
• Witch – with broomstick
• Space / Time Traveller
• Star Trek Person – ‘Beam Me Up  Scotty’
• Ship’s Captain
• Superman – he can fly!
• Iron Man – so can he…