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Clothing
: Millinery Shop
: The Millinery Shop
by Edward R. Crews
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This spirit reflects an expanded view of the millinery shop's role at Colonial Williamsburg.
For many years, the shop focused its interpretation of fashion on women's hats
and shopkeeping. The atmosphere was closer to the classroom and museum than
that of a Colonial shop. In recent years, however, interpreters have broadened
their approach, tackling topics like the English garment industry in the 1700s,
women in business, finance, international commerce, apprenticeships, trade technologies
and techniques, economic history and the ebb and flow of 18th Century fashion
for men, women and children.
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| Interpreters Robert Trio (left), portraying a soldier, and Mark Hutter (center), portraying
tailor James Slate, join two women from the military encampment to sew haversacks and shirts for
the Virginia Army of 1775. |
This effort has found a
comfortable niche and respect among other Colonial Williamsburg crafts. In 1995,
the Colonial Williamsburg Trade Council approved creation of an apprenticeship
at the shop. This 6-year program ensures that a candidate spends three year
mastering basic 18th Century sewing skills and an additional three more years
learning either tailoring or gown making, referred to as mantua making 200 years
ago.
The millinery shop also
has established itself as a popular stop for thousands of visitors who come
to Colonial Williamsburg every year. The shop's acceptance is due mainly to
the serious commitment of its three interpreters - Whitacre, Hutter and Doris
Warren - to sharing with visitors their knowledge about 18th Century fashion.
They do this most of the time by trying to make the shop look and sound like
it might have in the 1700s. For example, items in the shop are displayed as
if for sale. Paper patterns hang in the front window. Straw hats line the counter.
Stays hang on a line above.
And, all three interpreters
busy themselves with shop-related activities. Hutter stuffs an infant's mattress
with horsehair. Warren, portraying Elizabeth Carlos from the 1700s, sews in
a corner, showing visitors the finer points of 18th Century hand stitching.
Whitacre greets "customers" at the door, welcoming them to the shop and, usually,
the world of 1774.
Like all parts of Colonial
Williamsburg, the millinery shop takes special efforts to tie its activities
to wider themes. When a recent theme dealt with the Revolutionary War, the shop
demonstrated how the fashion trades would support the army. Shop personnel lately
have worked with the theme of family, showing how the shop catered to 18th Century
parents shopping for a new baby.
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Historic Triangle