The maids were all along the route of the Azalea Trail run. I imagine they are, or were, called out for a number of trademark events. Even though I was running, I noticed them and thought they were a hoot. Guess lots of cities have, or had, outlets for the debs. Of course in New Orleans it is the queen of the crewe of Rex and her court who are the creme de la creme of society. St. Louis has the Veiled Prophet Ball. (My mother once rather cynically told me that it was the girl whose father put up the most money that was chosen queen of that--she is called the Queen of Love and Beauty.) That was one of my earliest exposures to such things. Queen and her court have the fancy white gowns and long trains, and there are other debs who also take their bows. An unusual feature of that, though, is that the queen carries a HUGE bouquet of orchids from Shaw's Garden, a local botanical garden. I only saw the queens in pictures but I did get to see one of the bouquets on display when I went to the garden. And I got to see some of the gowns in the collection of the Missouri Historical Society. Ann Wass In a message dated 6/17/2011 1:19:14 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Ann, We lived in Gulfport until 1980. Maybe that was when they changed. Previously it was to represent the antebellum period. Mobile, Natchez, and I believe Vicksburg do the trail maids. Am I leaving out any other cities? I believe Albert Cat said that they did them in his area of North Carolina. We discussed this topic on the h-costume a long time ago. Ann were the trail maids at Bellingrath Gardens? That is just a little way up from the Fowl River from the rental house that we were staying at last week. Funny, that I have never been there. I didn't realize until reading the newspaper last week that this is something society's debs did. Penny Ladnier, owner The Costume Gallery Websites www.costumegallery.com 15 websites of fashion, costume, and textile history One year Library subscription sale for $45 until June 30 FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Costume-Gallery-Websites/107498415961579 _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
