Here is my delayed report on the Victorian Festival fashion
show in Port Townsend, WA, on March 23. I’m still packing for us to move to our
new house at the end of April.
The Festival is held every year to celebrate the Victorian
history of this small town along the Puget Sound. When the plans for a train
coming through fell through in the 1890s, commerce died and the city was almost
abandoned. But the remaining Victorian-style buildings along Water Street, and
many Victorian homes in the area were left behind.
The Port Townsend Historical Society began this Festival in
an effort to bring its Victorian heritage back to life. In the past the events
have mainly been indoors, due to inclement weather, and focused on lectures and
demonstrations of the town’s history. Over the years, in a change of hands,
these events have evolved but one has remained, the fashion show. I have been
proud to participate in the fashion show since 2012, and was requested to take
it over in 2017 when the previous director retired. With my contacts in the
various costume groups in the area, and with the help of Mara Perry, Agnes
Gawne, Patricia Francisco, and Julie & Terry Cheetham, of the Puget Sound Costume Guild, we helped raise the bar on the
show, and are now considered the biggest draw of the Festival. This year
the Festival’s director, Jason Pageau, even tried something different instead
of lectures and demonstrations. He set it up as a meet and greet: a social hour
the night before, and a garden party the next day. This was due to feedback
where people wanted more interaction and less lectures.
The Festival’s theme this year was “The Social Season”, which
gave me the inspiration for our fashion show theme, “Victorians in High Society”.
My ideas were to show all the fancy dresses and clothing of high society.
Except with losing some models in the week preceding, we had to add in some day
wear, and a wonderful tea gown.
On Friday night, we attended the Social Hour and
were introduced to the “Governor” (Jason Pageau) and his wife, using calling
cards we were each given. Beverages and snacks were provided.
The
next day was supposed to be a Garden Party in the grass area next to the
American Legion Hall, but the weather was being iffy, so they moved it indoors to be a
Conservatory Party. Mostly this was just chatting with everyone and a lively
introduction to the Language of the Fan was given by Tracy Wirta and Agnes
Gawne, which turned into kind of a comedy.
One of the complaints from the visitors was that the busy
schedule gave them no time to visit the town, or have lunch and shop. So, there
was a break after this until the fashion show at 4pm. So, we all took off to do
just that, and our photos were taken as we did that.
See the papered up windows on the right of this photo? That’s
the new location of District Fabrics that has just moved to Port Townsend. It’s
next to Pippa’s Real Tea shop on Water Street. Sadly, the grand opening was
delayed so I didn’t get to visit before I left Washington.
I took advantage of this time and visited the Port Townsend
Antique Mall, and afterwards had lunch at my favorite, the Khuh Larb Thai
restaurant. I did find one treasure at the antique mall, a piece of silk
fabric. I spotted this bright fuchsia silky fabric draped around the shoulders
of a mannequin and asked the clerk if it was for sale. She took it off and
found a tag for $20, labeled silk. It was even printed on the selvage as silk. SOLD! There were 4 yards and my mind was
already circling around what Edwardian dress I could make using it combined
with a solid fabric. This dress from 1912 was suggested to me. Now there’s
another reason for me to finish my corset for this time period.
Then I headed back to my room at The Swan Hotel to change
into my dress for the fashion show. I had a wonderful cozy room on the bottom
floor, which I have marked on my calendar to reserve next year. No more lugging
suitcases up 2 or 3 flights of steep stairs! It had a nice outside deck with seating where I could sit and watch the harbor.
Our “stage” for the fashion show at the American Legion Hall
was again on floor level, which I must say is THE BEST way to do one. We have a
much larger area to walk and can get much closer to the audience so they can
see us better. This works especially well, as we had a very large audience and
everyone had a good view of us. We’re always hoping for better photos of us in
action, and this year we were lucky because my friend, Marilyn Miller, and a
member of the Puget Sound Costume Guild, Robert Bergstrom, were both in the
audience and took some of the best photos of us.
These are my backstage photos I took as we were waiting to
go on.
Agnes Gawne was again our narrator, and we have her model
her beautiful dresses too. She wore her copy of an 1820s dress in black velvet from
a museum collection. The details were amazing up close.
First out was Mara Perry, in a fabulous 1890s green Artistic
Reform tea gown. A few of us are now drooling to make our own.
Rebecca Maiten first wore her evening version of her 1870s dress,
with short sleeves and a lower neckline, which she copied from a museum dress.
She wore a daytime bodice later in the show.
Cristal Bailey’s late 1880s evening dress, in a beautiful
emerald green dotted fabric, topped off with a fur cape.
Our newest member to our troupe, Francis Classe, was a
welcome addition as we like including the gentlemen in the show too. We love
men who like to dress up with us and can show off their accessories.
Another pair of new models were Tracy Wirta and Scott
Rovanpera, new residents of Port Townsend. Both wore coordinating outfits from
the 1870s but we pointed out that men’s clothing didn’t change much so it was
good to the 1900s.
I wore my 1837 Pumpkin evening dress with my striped turban.
I also gave the audience a peek at my multi-tiered petticoat and quilted
petticoat under it, which of course the newspaper, The Leader, chose to take
that as my photo in the newspaper.
Patricia Francisco wore her 1904 evening dress of red silk
with a exquisite black sequined lace overdress.
Mara
Perry came out again wearing her 1890s evening dress. She loves her big puffy
sleeves. We both are fans of those.
Rebecca Maiten was our finale, wearing her daytime version
of her copy of the early 1870s museum dress. We didn’t get a photo of it during
the show but this one was taken outside, and shows her long sleeves of the
daytime bodice. It also showed off the true color of her dress.
Every year I hope to have a nice group shot of us but I
realize that with our size group, that’s a bit hard. So, sections is all we can
hope for.
Tracy
Wirta let us know the Port Townsend newspaper, The Leader, had taken photos and
our show made the front page with a full page inside of more photos. They were
really cute and made us look like paper dolls. She sent us copies of the paper
to keep.
My thanks to photographers Marilyn Miller, Robert Bergstrom,
and Svetlana Saitova for these photos I was able to include in my blog.
******************************
The next day a bunch of us met in the Fort Worden park for
our annual photo shoot at the barracks and along the water front. I only
brought two costumes with me this year and wore my 1870s Red Plaid polonaise
but added a new hat for it that I made the week before I flew up to Washington.
I used a straw-hat base that I bent up the back, covered the crown in black silk
taffeta, and added black lace and ribbons I had. Then basted on some sprigs of white antique berries on both sides from my stash.
Later along the beach we all took photos of each other. I
like doing candid ones. I love how these look like paintings.
We had to do a goofy photo.
All that worked up an appetite, and we headed over to the
Commander’s Beach House for our afternoon tea. This has been our favorite but
after 3 years, we’re going to give others a chance to try it since we usually
take over the whole room. Next year we’re going to the Old Consulate Inn for
their tea.
I fell in love with these adorable salt & pepper shakers
and they’re lucky they didn’t end up in my reticule.
We already have an idea we’re working on for next year’s
fashion show to add a surprise to the whole festival. I love it when these
inspirations strike.
~~~VAL~~~
