A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

Originally, I was going to write about lingerie dresses in general, as they make up a large portion of heirlooms everywhere, and especially of my small collection of antique clothing. But then I remembered - I can do better! A long time ago, I posted some photos of ancestors of mine, including one of the following portraits: This is my great-grandmother, Ardis Burdick Allen Luce, in 1919 - although at the time, she was just Ardis Burdick. Like pretty much all young women in the late 19th and early 20th century, when she graduated high school, she wore a white cotton commencement dress. It's not exactly cutting edge, but it is  fashionable for the time - raised waistlines could be found even in the Gazette du Bon Ton through 1921 - and it was probably made for the occasion, perhaps by someone in her family. (Her maternal grandmother worked in the clothing industry for most of her life, as a dressmaker and then as a saleslady/merchant.) Ardis kept this dress and passed it...

New York History Blog gave Great, Strange, and Rarely Seen a nice promo !  If you're in or near the area, please drop in at the opening reception on Thursday or at least come by to see it, it's wonderful. When I went to my grandmother's for Easter, I picked up a couple of boxes of family photos to scan so that everyone can have them, they'll be recorded if anything happens to them, etc.  And of course that also means that I can post them to the internet!  I'm in the process of putting them on Ancestry.com on the off-chance that anyone related to us will come across them, but let me take a few minutes (procrastinating from editing!) and share some with you all.