As to how others reacted, we got a lot of questions about what was happening when. I new group, the Louisiana Living History Foundation, has been formed to manage a living history park with reenactments. (There is the Chalmette National Battlefield, but for those who don't know, US National Park Service rules prohibit battle reenactments on park ground, so this alternative site has been found and is being developed.) I don't think the word about events got out as well as it could have, though. The last battle was Sunday morning, so we had to tell people who asked that they missed it, but come next year.
There was also a period ball Saturday night and a victory dinner at Antoine's Sunday night--both with quite a variety of evening wear, of course. I presented a program for about 40 reenactors on Wednesday on dress in New Orleans, 1807-1820. I also led a work bag craft workshop in the reenactor women's salon on Friday morning and we had a tea in the afternoon. Best public reactions for us--my husband, Jim, has a chintz tailored morning gown and waistcoat which he wore with his gray top hat for our second line parade through the French Quarter Friday night. That got a lot of attention. I also wore a day dress, spencer, and bonnet when I went to the Cabildo to see this exhibit on Sunday. http://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/exhibits/battle-of-new-orleans/index Two groups of girls asked about my outfit. The exhibit has one room on the battle itself, with Andrew Jackson's uniform coat and two others from the period. The second room is the battle in popular culture, which includes a Western Costume "British" uniform from the 1957 version of "The Buccaneer." It is Technicolor red with gold cuffs, but otherwise bears little resemblance to an actual uniform. The exhibit is up through Jan. 6, 2016. Ann Wass -----Original Message----- From: Carol Kocian <aqua...@patriot.net> To: Historical Costume <h-cost...@indra.com> Sent: Wed, Jan 14, 2015 9:38 am Subject: [h-cost] New Orleans On Jan 14, 2015, at 6:29 AM, annbw...@aol.com wrote: > Just got back from New Orleans, where we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the last major battle of the War of 1812. In addition to battlefield activities, I attended a ball at the Presbytere and a victory dinner at Antoine's. I think I have actually had enough of wearing period attire for a while! > > Ann Wass I would like to hear more about this! New Orleans is costume-oriented anyway with Mardi Gras, so how did others react to the reenactors? I was there in September on a business trip, and some tour guides, promoters, and shop salespeople tend to dress in historic, fantasy or goth styles. -Carol _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
