Fashion Show at Riverside Dickens Fair 2012

January 7 & 8, 2012

This was my 5^th year as a model in the Dickens fashion show, and it seems each year to get better. This year’s theme for the show was famous women, and we were supposed to wear a costume that would match the character and year if possible.

I proposed doing Amelia Bloomer and wear the 1851 green Bloomer gown I had made. I had a lot of really nice compliments on my gown, and afterwards people kept coming up to me to ask me more about it.

 I was also asked by the coordinator if I would be able to do one of two famous female murderesses. One of them, Adelaide Bartlett, had an interesting history & was accused in 1886 of poisoning her husband with chlorine. They were never able to find evidence of how he was poisoned so she was acquitted. I chose to wear my 1885 Best Black bustle gown. I call it Best Black because it’s very fancy with trims, and is appropriate to a wealthy woman. It’s also black so I would appear to be in mourning. At the end of the description of my gown and the story of Adelaide, the speaker said after the trial, Adelaide received 17 marriage proposals.  I flirted with the audience and had a lot of fun with it.

 

After the fashion show, I wandered around the fair with my friends, and was often stopped for photos. I chose to change back into my Bloomer gown just because it was more comfortable, and much cooler than my black dress.

 I think I made an impression on quite a few people with my Bloomer gown and I hope to see others popping up at events soon. I still have another gown in the works, in a brown patterned cotton, but I have others with more priority at the moment.

Photos were provided by my friends, Jerry, and Marcee.