King's May Ball, Cambridge University, UK - 19 Jun 2024

Picture dated June 19th shows Cambridge University students going to the King's College May Ball on Wednesday evening. Elite students at prestigious Cambridge University dressed in daring and flamboyant costumes for their annual May Ball event last night (Wed). Many of the undergraduates wore revealing costumes for the King's College ball, which saw 1,500 partying the night away. Unlike the other May Balls where students wear black ties and ball gowns, the King's Affair sees guests don fancy dress and many entered into the fantasy "Falselore" theme with risqué and semi-naked outfits. One male student wore a very short skirt made out of leaves, with hand paint marks on his naked chest, whilst another had black shorts and a cloak to cover his bare chest. One of the most standout costumes was a male student in a white tutu, with a pink gimp mask and sunglasses. Another male student wore a long sparkly gold dress and horns. One female student wore extremely revealing shorts, with a corset top, whilst another male student dressed in pink tights, a purple wig and very elaborate make up. Many of the students accessorised with headdresses, wigs and wings and a lot of the girls wore bras and tutus. Organisers wrote: "Falselore" is a concept that challenges the barriers of storytelling. It is the creation of new fiction with the illusion of retelling." They added: "Falselore" tells entirely fictional stories without any previous tradition, while embracing the rich history and universality of human storytelling. "It is about the storytelling itself, rather than the stories we tell. It celebrates similarities with folklore: it employs methods like puppetry, theatre, spoken word, art and film to tell tales infused with themes of romance, nostalgia, childhood, fantasy, horror, and the suggestion of a once-real history." Tickets for the sell-out ball cost £99 and there was music from Yung Singh and Girls Don't Sync as well as a silent disco, dodgems, a bouncy slide and tarot readings.