Cynthia said,
> Oh, yeah, I've had those, but it's not all fairies and magic dust,
> bizarre speech patterns, and bosoms.
I've heard eough bizarre speech patterns at 18thC events, and there
are definitely bosoms! It seems like for both 18thC and Ren Faires,
many people want to show more bosom than was fashionable at the time.
Fran said,
> True, most of the current US was, in the 18th century, not a place for
> silks and satins. But, as people are commenting, the SCA does all kinds
> of eras and places remote from US history. So, why not have more groups
> that do the "fancy" 18th century, even in parts of the US where that
> part of history didn't happen to speak of? Granted, there won't be the
> existing organizations, the historic houses and such, to build it
> around. But the SCA has done very well in the absence of medieval
> castles . . . .
Isn't that what PEERS does? I'm not on the west coast, but I thought
they had balls of various periods, beyond the eras when California
was well-populated.
There are places in the States where silks & satins are appropriate -
Williamsburg, Alexandria, Philadelphia and Boston come to mind. For
those who could afford it, fashion was no more than a couple months
behind London, as long as it takes a ship to cross with the latest
Lady's Magazine. As I understand it, there were no masqued balls,
really huge court panniers, or the extreme make-up that was seen in
Europe. But there are still fine silk gowns and velvet coats,
minuets and parties.
I know Gadsby's Tavern museum in Alexandria holds a ball every year,
sometimes several in a year. Because they want to be open to the
museum members, dress is 18th century or 21stC formalwear. There are
other events, sometimes private parties and sometimes as part of a
larger reenactment, where people dress in very fine clothes.
Perhaps it seems like upper class 18thC activities do not exist in
the US because people know about them through word of mouth or other
reenactments. If it weren't for the Lumieres list (a Yahoo group), I
would not know it was happening in Europe, either.
-Carol
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