ANOTHER FASHION SHOW AT A SENIOR COMMUNITY

My Historical Dressers and I just finished presenting our fifth fashion show at a local senior community last weekend. I was disappointed that our March weather wasn’t nice and cool, as I’d hoped it would be when we were asked to do it again that month, instead of the usual November date. It was always hot in November. Nowadays you can’t win no matter what time of year it is anymore.  (I’m not responsible for the flyer’s artwork from them. It’s done by the Coordinator there.)

We actually had a bigger turnout of residents for this time of the year, and with many of us being so busy during the end of the year holidays, this wasn’t a bad choice all around.  If the other models are agreeable, I think we might keep it to that month.

I didn’t write this show’s narrative as detailed as I do sometimes. Our audience is older, not costumers, and so my thoughts are for it to be a pretty fashion show with some historical information thrown in, which in turn makes them curious, and yes, asks lots of questions. The audience participation at the end is one of my favorite parts.  Many times they ask where we wear them, do we make them ourselves, and mostly things that aren’t usually included in the individual descriptions. I keep forgetting to poll who used safety pins. The stage we were on isn’t very wide, so I time the descriptions so we aren’t walking back and forth too long.

Our theme this time was just a chronological history, starting in the 1500s with a Cranach dress, then moving forward to late 1700s, then 1850s, ‘60s, ‘70s, 90s, and ending with 1910-1914. I had twelve models, with one gentleman, and we even had the debut of a 7-year-old in an 1860s dress her grandmother made her. She was delightful and had a lot of fun. She loved showing off her hoop and undies. The audience really enjoys the young girls we include.

I’m waiting to see if I can get some photos from one of the employees there who was taking them, but I have some I can share that one of my models and I were taking prior to the show, and then of the models in front of us as they walked. I wore my 1855 Green Floral tiered dress, and it was nice and cool for the 85d temperature we had that day. Of course the room was air conditioned. I made a new straw hat decorated with yellow flowers rather than the bonnet I'd worn in the past. I think it looked much better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are photos we took during the show from our seats in back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now after a couple days’ rest, I’ll begin this all over again, this time writing the narratives for 19 models at the Port Townsend (WA) Victorian Festival fashion show at the end of April.  I’m also working on a reproduction dress for myself from a photo of one of the city’s former residents from 1877. I’m about half-done so I need to focus on it too. I found out they’ll have a tintype photographer there this year, so I hope to have one taken in this dress. It’ll be interesting to see what “color” it looks like in it, especially since we don’t know what the color the original dress was.