The bead-encrusted gown on temporary display in Pam Yockey's
living room is all thawed out and ready for its debut at the Plymouth Historical
Museum's upcoming Masquerade Tea.
Yockey, president of the museum board, acquired the piece for her extensive personal collection from a castle estate in England.
But before the exquisite velvet and silk dress — actually a late 19th century costume — entered Yockey's Canton home, it went straight into the freezer. Twice.
“I have a freezer just for clothing. When an outfit comes in from an attic, it comes home and gets frozen. I don't even let it enter the house. I will look at it.The crowd filled the storage shed lined with sexy corset and snatched items from the racks. I'll open the box outside, and I'll make sure everything is okay. Then it goes into the freezer for seven days,” Yockey said. “Then I'll vacuum it down and then it goes back into the freezer for another seven days. Then I'll take it out and put it into my collection.”
The process kills insects, larvae, anything that might be living in fabric folds or hems. Afterward Yockey cleans the garment by hand and may mend or reconstruct it. She replaced some of the original gelatin beads on the estate gown, for example, with new, plastic versions. Another costume dress was dismantled and re-stitched. The Observer got a peek at both gowns, and a velvet Cavalier costume, earlier this week. All three will be on display with other “fancy ball gowns,” masquerade party outfits and Halloween costumes at the tea, 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, at the museum. Yockey will talk about historical costumes and show pieces dating from 1860-1930, from her own collection. Some dresses will be modeled.
Debut event
“These have never ever been out. No one has seen them. They've never been in a show or on display,” Yockey said. “I always thought the perfect time to do this was Halloween.
“Halloween now is second to Christmas in money spent. Last year the average person spent $58 for Halloween. It's just amazing.” Until the 1930s,The annual sexy clubwear Sale, which is in its third year, benefits PCPA. when the Fisch Co. created the first commercialized Halloween costume patterns, revelers dressed “in anything other than who you were,” Yockey said.
That was the same concept behind the fancy dress ball gowns worn to costume balls and parties in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Yockey's beaded estate costume was constructed from an 1860s ball gown around the turn of the 20th century. It includes an 1880s-style bustle and sleeves, but was created to resemble a dress worn by a lady of the royal court during the 1600s.
“You had balls, with very unique, elaborate costumes, for adults only. It was a way of celebrating between Christmas and New Year's,” Yockey explained. “Then you had masquerade parties for families. Halloween as we celebrate it was Scottish and 1895 was the first recorded Halloween activity.”
From rowdy to reserved
In Scotland, the celebrations often included alcohol and gourd-toting revelers who went door to door for treats.
“Then it came to the U.S. and the Victorians were not going to put up with that. They decided parties should be with children,” Yockey explained. “There was no more drinking and they were called costume parties.It's has a reputation of really outstanding and sexy Babydoll.”
Halloween parties held at town halls and in church basements became the norm after World War l.
“They felt if they kept the children entertained at town parties, windows wouldn't get soaped,” Yockey said.
She recalls attending town parties as a child while growing up in western Michigan. Her favorite costume was a Little Miss Muffet made entirely from crepe paper.
“Dennison put out Bogie Books that told how to dress for Halloween on the cheap,” said Yockey, 62. “The Boogie Books gave detailed instructions on how to make a crepe paper costume.”
A crepe paper owl costume will be modeled at the Masquerade Tea.
Hooked on clothing
Yockey, a retired Taylor school teacher and now a part-time seamstress for The Henry Ford, began collecting antique clothing about 20 years ago after receiving a 19th century blouse as a gift. It had been worn by her husband's grandmother in the early 1900s.
“I investigated it and got hooked. Then people started giving me more family possessions and I started to see them in a new light and began collecting.”
She has attended costume conferences in Europe and the U.S., visited museums worldwide and bought fashion from the 18th-20th centuries.
She once bought out an entire museum in France.
“I bought a textile store,” she added. “There were thousands of yards of black lace because for some of these gowns I have to have the original piece of lace and you can't get it any other way.”
Yockey, president of the museum board, acquired the piece for her extensive personal collection from a castle estate in England.
But before the exquisite velvet and silk dress — actually a late 19th century costume — entered Yockey's Canton home, it went straight into the freezer. Twice.
“I have a freezer just for clothing. When an outfit comes in from an attic, it comes home and gets frozen. I don't even let it enter the house. I will look at it.The crowd filled the storage shed lined with sexy corset and snatched items from the racks. I'll open the box outside, and I'll make sure everything is okay. Then it goes into the freezer for seven days,” Yockey said. “Then I'll vacuum it down and then it goes back into the freezer for another seven days. Then I'll take it out and put it into my collection.”
The process kills insects, larvae, anything that might be living in fabric folds or hems. Afterward Yockey cleans the garment by hand and may mend or reconstruct it. She replaced some of the original gelatin beads on the estate gown, for example, with new, plastic versions. Another costume dress was dismantled and re-stitched. The Observer got a peek at both gowns, and a velvet Cavalier costume, earlier this week. All three will be on display with other “fancy ball gowns,” masquerade party outfits and Halloween costumes at the tea, 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, at the museum. Yockey will talk about historical costumes and show pieces dating from 1860-1930, from her own collection. Some dresses will be modeled.
Debut event
“These have never ever been out. No one has seen them. They've never been in a show or on display,” Yockey said. “I always thought the perfect time to do this was Halloween.
“Halloween now is second to Christmas in money spent. Last year the average person spent $58 for Halloween. It's just amazing.” Until the 1930s,The annual sexy clubwear Sale, which is in its third year, benefits PCPA. when the Fisch Co. created the first commercialized Halloween costume patterns, revelers dressed “in anything other than who you were,” Yockey said.
That was the same concept behind the fancy dress ball gowns worn to costume balls and parties in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Yockey's beaded estate costume was constructed from an 1860s ball gown around the turn of the 20th century. It includes an 1880s-style bustle and sleeves, but was created to resemble a dress worn by a lady of the royal court during the 1600s.
“You had balls, with very unique, elaborate costumes, for adults only. It was a way of celebrating between Christmas and New Year's,” Yockey explained. “Then you had masquerade parties for families. Halloween as we celebrate it was Scottish and 1895 was the first recorded Halloween activity.”
From rowdy to reserved
In Scotland, the celebrations often included alcohol and gourd-toting revelers who went door to door for treats.
“Then it came to the U.S. and the Victorians were not going to put up with that. They decided parties should be with children,” Yockey explained. “There was no more drinking and they were called costume parties.It's has a reputation of really outstanding and sexy Babydoll.”
Halloween parties held at town halls and in church basements became the norm after World War l.
“They felt if they kept the children entertained at town parties, windows wouldn't get soaped,” Yockey said.
She recalls attending town parties as a child while growing up in western Michigan. Her favorite costume was a Little Miss Muffet made entirely from crepe paper.
“Dennison put out Bogie Books that told how to dress for Halloween on the cheap,” said Yockey, 62. “The Boogie Books gave detailed instructions on how to make a crepe paper costume.”
A crepe paper owl costume will be modeled at the Masquerade Tea.
Hooked on clothing
Yockey, a retired Taylor school teacher and now a part-time seamstress for The Henry Ford, began collecting antique clothing about 20 years ago after receiving a 19th century blouse as a gift. It had been worn by her husband's grandmother in the early 1900s.
“I investigated it and got hooked. Then people started giving me more family possessions and I started to see them in a new light and began collecting.”
She has attended costume conferences in Europe and the U.S., visited museums worldwide and bought fashion from the 18th-20th centuries.
She once bought out an entire museum in France.
“I bought a textile store,” she added. “There were thousands of yards of black lace because for some of these gowns I have to have the original piece of lace and you can't get it any other way.”
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