Clothing and Textile Curatorial Postcard 7-1-20

This beautiful cranberry colored crepe dress is a recent donation with a very interesting and fun history. From a fashion history perspective, it’s silhouette appears to be from the 1930s, but it was actually worn a few years earlier, on June 27, 1927. As the story goes, the wearer, Beatrice Plummer, worked at the Majestic Theatre in Reno, as an usherette, where Rex Hudgens was the projectionist. They both had noticed each other while at work, and finally he asked her out on a date. Beatrice wore this dress on their first date and according to the family, they decided to go the Washoe County courthouse, where they got married that very same day! This dress was her first date dress and her wedding dress.
The label on this dress is also interesting; there was a popular clothing company named Jean Carol Original Model and this label is precisely the same wording, but the first name is Jeau, not Jean, which makes me question, could this dress could been a knockoff, or is the label a misprint or were the two companies completely unrelated?

Photo and Content Credit: Jan Loverin, Curator of Clothing and Textiles, NSM

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