My year began not so much sewing something new but wearing what I had already. And they weren’t necessarily costume events but rather presentations I was in or did myself.
My group of ladies in the Historical Dressers had our first fashion show of the year at a new location: the New Frontier Senior Community. I was excited about doing yet another senior community and one of our models, Jeanette, lives there. She pretty much was a major part in making this a perfect event and having our fashion show as the entertainment for an afternoon tea for the residents there. She found beautiful garden backdrops to hang that showed us off on the stage to our best advantage. She also modeled in the show.
Since this was a new location for us, some of the ladies were able to wear one of their favorite dresses again and some of us wore new dresses. This was my first time wearing my 1887 Autumn Plaid bustle because I “thought” the weather would be cool or cold in January, since my dress was pretty warm. Hah! Mother Nature had other plans, and it was 86d that day. Fortunately they had good air conditioning in the community room we were in.
Our theme for this show was the standard historical
timeline, “One Hundred Years of the Fashionable Woman: 1750-1920”. Although I
need to change that next time because we had two gentlemen who participated
with us, although one was helping seat everyone at the tables, and the other
escorted each of us off the stage. But they got to walk the runaway and be
described too.
Because the community room was pretty long, and the stage
not very wide, I decided to have us step down from the stage and walk the
length of the room to the back, giving those seated in back a chance to get a
good look at us. Because of this I had to make sure the narratives were longer,
so the models weren’t walking in dead silence. This calls for really pulling
details of their outfits from the pictures I have of them and adding historical details I either
know or pull from the internet. Each location has its own requirements for the
narratives, depending on how long the entire show can be, how many models I
have, and again, the size of the stage area. Fortunately this community room
was perfect for a long runway-type show, and we had the time. Also it was a bit
younger crowd so our longer descriptions didn’t put them to sleep.
We began the show with our first model, “Nelly”, a dress form in the center of the stage that we demonstrated all the underpinnings and different skirt supports worn in all the eras. We even demonstrated how a lady would use the “facilities” using an antique chamber pot with it. I was seated to the side with a small table where I could read the narratives for everyone until it was my turn to walk the runway.
We were lucky this time to have someone who was taking photos of us on stage, and then while we were walking the floor.
Afterwards we were all invited to join the afternoon tea at our own tables.
As I mentioned, this was the first time I got to wear my new dress and seeing it on me. Note to self: make that front apron shorter and more appropriate for my height. But I loved how all the colors worked out. Since it looks like our “winter” is over and done with in SoCal, I guess this one will be going back into the closet until next year.
I love this! it looks like so much fun, everyone looks as if they are having such a good time. I know this means a lot to the residents of the senior community. I wish we had things like this in my area. thank you so much for putting the effort into doing things like this. and your dress is really pretty.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I've just been lucky to find these locations. Their entertainment coordinator is the one to contact at them. And they're happy that we do this for free, and it makes the residents lives more interesting. ~~Val
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