From Corsets to Combinations: The Fashion Revolution of Women’s Suffrage
Those of you who were able to join us on August 26 at the Park- McCullough House for the premiere of our video will no doubt agree that it was quite an evening! If you weren’t able to attend the event, you can view the excellent video (see end of story)–the culmination of weeks of work by the project team, led by Mary Brady. However, since there was much, much more to the evening than the video, we’d like to give you a window into our Centennial Celebration.
Picture walking into a 1920’s garden party, with lights twinkling and guests circulating. What a place for our film premiere! Scattered among the wicker lawn furniture were mannequins attired in dresses from the Park-McCullough collection posed with props, such as a Susan B. Anthony (see photo below) behind a lectern, and marching signs scattered about. Add guests in vintage clothing, masks, and a bit of social distancing and it’s 2020!
Want a cocktail? Stroll over to our bar and enjoy a temperance cocktail (alcoholic or non-alcoholic). Then find chairs or a table to sit with your friends–at a distance or together if you are in the same household.
Sheila Mullineux, right, sits at one of the many white tables and chairs set apart from one another in the garden.
Or stop at our merchandise table, where Suzanne Kirkpatrick has a display of suffrage cards and masks, and an illustrated book titled We Demand the Right to Vote, by Meneese Wall, the artist featured in our August newsletter.
Julie Mackaman, our Mistress of Ceremonies, captures the essence of the evening’s experience in the words below:
Under the stars in the stately Park-McCullough garden, with more than 80 brave people floating in through the arbor entrance (for many, like me, it was no doubt their first public excursion during the pandemic aside from the grocery store), the evening was magical.
A number of the attendees, including a cadre from the Hoosick Township Historical Society, turned out in elegant vintage dresses.
Julie called everyone together at 7:00 pm and introduced Deb Burns, a musician from Williamstown, who led us in song. Deb had curated a selection of suffrage songs, popular tunes with the text written by suffragists.
Kathy Wagenknecht, Branch President, welcomed the attendees and presented thank-you presents to the producer of the event, Mary Brady, and to the three wonderful women who made the video possible: Jackie Marro, videography; Lynda Meyer, lecture and costumes; and Deb Burns, soundtrack.
Deb Burns invites the audience to sing along.
After a short break, the films began. We started with a short video titled “This is AAUW” to set the context for our own work. Then we showed our own film–with Linda Meyer’s visual explanation of the constraints of corsets versus the freedom combinations allowed. AAUW members modeled the various styles of dress worn by suffragists from the 1890’s to the 1920’s.
The evening truly felt like a culminating event, as it brought together, in spirit if not in person, all the people who made our year of Suffrage Centennial programming so successful.