Clothing
: Costume Design
: Dressing for the Occasion
By Mary Miley Theobald
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 When Franklin D. Roosevelt
paid a visit to Colonial Williamsburg in October of 1934, he had good
reason to keep his eye on the ladies. Welcoming the President that autumn
day were six costumed hostesses splendidly dressed for the occasion in
colonial style gowns. Yards of colorful, crisp fabric draped over wide
hoops rustled softly as the ladies watched the President's touring car
motor down the Duke of Gloucester. The height of fashion from two centuries
past had returned to the colonial capital. FDR was charmed.
He wasn't the only one. On
the strength of that visit, Colonial Williamsburg's Vice-President Kenneth
Chorley approved the manufacture of costumes for all hostesses, beginning
what was-- then and now--the largest museum costuming operation in the
country.
It could only have been
a matter of weeks before the romance faded and cold reality set in. How
were the lovely costumes to be maintained? Who would launder them properly?
A local dry cleaner cleaned the first ones "so badly that it was still doubtful whether the collars
and cuffs could ever be used again," lamented one report.
Who would repair that torn hem? Who would alter them when one hostess left the job and another was
hired? And what about comfort? The warm winter gowns would not be suitable when summer arrived.
What were the ladies to wear to work in cold or rainy weather--their own coats or rain gear atop
their colonial attire?
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Historic Triangle