The Historical Dressers just held our 3rd fashion show for the Lantern Crest Retirement Community a week ago. The theme I wrote was Historical Dressing for the Holidays. My first idea was to wear Christmasy dresses but then a couple models started suggesting other holidays, like Easter and St Patrick’s Day. And it went from there. This gave us a wider variety of colors and time periods to include, which I wanted it to be bright and shiny. It also gave me an idea for writing my narrative for them.
In telling
each story behind the holiday, I included questions, like, “Do you remember
your mother buying or making your Easter dress?” Or “Who doesn’t love to go out
to dinner for Valentine’s Day in a beautiful dress?” My idea to was make them
think back on their own memories. Instead of my usual chronological order
of models, we started with the earliest month of the year’s February holiday,
and ended on New Year’s Eve. And each model’s introduction included a tiny bit
of history about the holiday.
At this
point while these stage photos were taken by a friend in the audience, I wasn’t
in them because I was at the podium in anticipation of having to be the
narrator, when our narrator, Nancy, seemed not to be making it. But she did
arrive just in time.
The 2nd
model was Birda, in an 1860s green plaid dress for St Patrick’s Day. A very popular celebration for even those not
Irish, is St Patrick’s Day. On this day, everyone is Irish, or so the saying
goes.
Kathleen was
wearing her 1912 mint green embroidered dress for Easter. Who doesn’t remember their first Easter dress
that your mother made or bought for you? It was pastel and white, or lacy, and
was always a special dress to wear, along with its special hat and shoes.
Moving into Spring, Cindy wore her 1903 lavender polka dot with lace applique dress for May Day. I heard an “oh wow!” comment from the audience. May Day, on the first day of May, celebrates the return of spring. Springtime festivities could include children dancing around the maypole, and holding onto colorful ribbons. Do you remember hanging a small paper cone of flowers on someone's front door knob?
Our
youngest, but not newest, model Maya, in her pink rosebud striped dress, and
her mother Shannon, in her white & pink blouse and black skirt, were
dressed for a Summer Holiday in their 1890s dresses. As the days became warmer, thoughts turned to
taking long summer holidays, that would include picnics or bathing at the beach
and resorts.
Our narrator
and model, Nancy, wore her 1880s Autumn color dress of toast and plaid fabric
for Thanksgiving. The colors of
Autumn remind us of the smells of home fires burning, cinnamon & cloves
baking, and more importantly, our Thanksgiving dinner, and gathering of friends
and family.
For the
Christmas holidays, we had three versions of red and green in plaids and stripes.
Shelley was wearing her 1860s red & black plaid. Xmas time would often bring the families together to gather around a gaily decorated tree and enjoy a dinner together after singing Xmas carols.
Kathleen stepped in as a last-minute
model, wearing an 1875 red & black tartan dress, and bringing a gift when attending Xmas parties would be the highlight of many people’s holiday
celebrations.
I ended the showing wearing my 1898 aqua and lace covered dress when traditionally we celebrate the end of the year, and the beginning of the new year, which would include fireworks and sparkling parties, and a bit of champagne.
I want to include one of our newest models, Marion, who wasn’t able to make it at the last minute but was ready to wear this lovely 1770s dress.
These were a couple photos taken prior to and after the show by the models.
