Weekend in Williamsburg
Feb. 11th, 2020 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwWith mah bestie! We went very light on the planning this weekend (what, doesn't "show up with clothes" constitute planning?), but it's a good time of year to just putter around Colonial Williamsburg with no plans, as there isn't a whole lot going on. We saw some old friends, met some new ones in person (waves to penwiper ), and realized just how much the costuming community is in a different place than when we were starting out. Like, Robin's on Instagram much more than I am so she recognized a few more people, but me? It was a whole lot of "well that person over there looks vaguely familiar...?" Objectively I know very well that it's just different now, not better or worse, but in practice I have a hard time not shaking my cane and yelling at these damn kids to get off my lawn, because back in MY DAY we wrote dress diaries, etc etc.
Friday we drove down through some very unpleasant weather - seemed like everyone did, no matter which direction they came from! Thankfully it improved the further south we went, and apart from being very windy Friday night, had nice weather the whole weekend. Til we drove home Monday and it started raining once we got north of DC! Ugh.
The actual programming that CW had for their alleged "Fashion Days" was pretty minimal - we went to a shoe lecture on Friday and a "dressing 18thc people" lecture on Sunday that were enjoyable and well presented but very basic. Like CW was trying to lure in the exact type of people who showed up, but then had programming that was more geared toward Johnny-go-public who has never seen what those people wear under their funny clothes. Most annoying was that the milliner/mantua-making trade shop was closed all weekend! Um...for your Fashion Days weekend? That makes total sense.
Robin and I stayed at the Powhatan Resort, and Jenny-Rose joined us as well. It was a little further out from the historic section than might be considered ideal, but we couldn't argue with the price! ;) (Her in-laws let us use their timeshare, so...free.) We dressed Friday night to go to dinner at Chowning's, which was nice and not super crowded.
Saturday was the market hosted by Burnley & Trowbridge, with Dames a la Mode and Redthreaded and a couple others. They were absolutely SWAMPED when we showed up at 12:30, so we waved hello and peaced out, as neither of us needed anything and we enjoy the feeling of not suffocating. Apparently it cleared out a lot in the evening, but we hadn't realized they were open as late as they were, or we might have stopped back. Ah well.
Gloria coordinated a promenade at 3:00, for everyone who had showed up in costume to come and meet up and get pictures, which was nice (and exactly when I realized I don't know ANYBODY in this hobby any more). After that, we stayed in town because I wanted to see the organ concert at the church, which turned out to be cancelled because "DEATH". That's what they scrawled across the schedule pinned up outside of the church! Cancelled due to death! Ooookay then. So we showed up to Gloria and Maggie's social and were only actually social with Gen and maybe two other people who happened to pass by. Well, I had my seat and didn't want to give it up!
Sunday it kind of seemed like the three of us (Gen, Robin, and moi) were the only ones dressed up, which was funny. Jenny-Rose headed out Sunday after brunch, which Robin and I were invited to, with all the famous successful businesswomen (and I still just feel grateful they tolerate me well enough to not throw me out when they notice I'm tagging along!). We puttered around the historic district for a while, but decided to change before a low-key dinner at Panera (hey, it's a tradition for post-mortems of costume events at this point! and I really just wanted a soup and salad dinner) with Gen.
We did have a bit of a funny little interaction with Zack of Pinsent Tailoring, who CW brought over to be their Local Celebrity For The Weekend (and honestly then didn't seem to know what to do with, as all I know that happened was a meet and greet, that we decided to forego for reasons that will become apparent shortly). We were in the Cheese Shop grabbing lunch on Saturday, and were sitting at the little tables by the door, where some other people were eating as well, when Zack came into the shop, clearly a man on a mission...and one of the women (in civvies mind you) who spotted him literally SQUEALED with excitement, at an octave that probably would have made a dog howl if one had been close by. "OOOOOOOO look look looooook! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!" He looked at Robin and I first, probably since we were the ones in 18thc dress, and as we did not want to be mistaken for any kind of squealers, we shook our heads, raised our eyebrows, and pointed toward the real culprit...whereupon he tipped his hat to the squeaky one and kept going. I would indeed love to meet him, as he's friends with people we know to be Good People (and obviously makes amazing clothing), but after that, it kind of felt like the meet and greet would mostly be populated with that kind of high-pitched squeaking, and he already looked harried, so...maybe next time.
(I did accidentally make eye contact with Zack on his way out the door of the Cheese Shop as well, with two bags full of wine bottles, on his way to provide for everybody stuck at the crowded market. He said something like "Well, I've got the supplies," I grinned, held up my beer, and said "Godspeed," and he said, "THANK YOU" and zipped out the door before the squealer at the window could notice he'd appeared again. Really it was the bags of wine for friends that made me sure he's somebody that's cool to hang out with...LOL.)
So, yes, Williamsburg was a fun time. I don't know if I'll want to make the Fashion Days a yearly thing for me unless they do more for the programming, but the price was right and the company was good, and that's all that matters!
Side note: with some reflection, I also think that there was a bit of a split between Robin and I, and a lot of the other people we met in passing, because we've been doing this forever. We've got outfits, we've got accessories (even if someone left her bag of cap ribbons at home, ahem), we didn't put a lot of prep work into this. Robin did make new stays, but she needed new 18thc stays anyway, they weren't just for W'burg. Whereas a lot of the other people made outfits specifically for this event. It was a big exciting thing for them, so they had a lot to talk about and share with each other. Whereas for us it's just like "....well I picked up this stuff and brought it with me?" "I made this in...2017? Details are fuzzy?" Plus out of the costumers we've known for years and been to many events with, only Maggie and Gloria were dressed; the others were busy running businesses or helping to run businesses!
I don't know exactly if these observations have a point, just that they are observations and things change! It's okay, it's what they do. And hey, even if everyone else I know leaves the hobby eventually...I also know where Robin lives and she can't hide from me. ;)
Flickr album here.
penwiper ), and realized just how much the costuming community is in a different place than when we were starting out. Like, Robin's on Instagram much more than I am so she recognized a few more people, but me? It was a whole lot of "well that person over there looks vaguely familiar...?" Objectively I know very well that it's just different now, not better or worse, but in practice I have a hard time not shaking my cane and yelling at these damn kids to get off my lawn, because back in MY DAY we wrote dress diaries, etc etc.Friday we drove down through some very unpleasant weather - seemed like everyone did, no matter which direction they came from! Thankfully it improved the further south we went, and apart from being very windy Friday night, had nice weather the whole weekend. Til we drove home Monday and it started raining once we got north of DC! Ugh.
The actual programming that CW had for their alleged "Fashion Days" was pretty minimal - we went to a shoe lecture on Friday and a "dressing 18thc people" lecture on Sunday that were enjoyable and well presented but very basic. Like CW was trying to lure in the exact type of people who showed up, but then had programming that was more geared toward Johnny-go-public who has never seen what those people wear under their funny clothes. Most annoying was that the milliner/mantua-making trade shop was closed all weekend! Um...for your Fashion Days weekend? That makes total sense.
Robin and I stayed at the Powhatan Resort, and Jenny-Rose joined us as well. It was a little further out from the historic section than might be considered ideal, but we couldn't argue with the price! ;) (Her in-laws let us use their timeshare, so...free.) We dressed Friday night to go to dinner at Chowning's, which was nice and not super crowded.
Saturday was the market hosted by Burnley & Trowbridge, with Dames a la Mode and Redthreaded and a couple others. They were absolutely SWAMPED when we showed up at 12:30, so we waved hello and peaced out, as neither of us needed anything and we enjoy the feeling of not suffocating. Apparently it cleared out a lot in the evening, but we hadn't realized they were open as late as they were, or we might have stopped back. Ah well.
Gloria coordinated a promenade at 3:00, for everyone who had showed up in costume to come and meet up and get pictures, which was nice (and exactly when I realized I don't know ANYBODY in this hobby any more). After that, we stayed in town because I wanted to see the organ concert at the church, which turned out to be cancelled because "DEATH". That's what they scrawled across the schedule pinned up outside of the church! Cancelled due to death! Ooookay then. So we showed up to Gloria and Maggie's social and were only actually social with Gen and maybe two other people who happened to pass by. Well, I had my seat and didn't want to give it up!
Sunday it kind of seemed like the three of us (Gen, Robin, and moi) were the only ones dressed up, which was funny. Jenny-Rose headed out Sunday after brunch, which Robin and I were invited to, with all the famous successful businesswomen (and I still just feel grateful they tolerate me well enough to not throw me out when they notice I'm tagging along!). We puttered around the historic district for a while, but decided to change before a low-key dinner at Panera (hey, it's a tradition for post-mortems of costume events at this point! and I really just wanted a soup and salad dinner) with Gen.
We did have a bit of a funny little interaction with Zack of Pinsent Tailoring, who CW brought over to be their Local Celebrity For The Weekend (and honestly then didn't seem to know what to do with, as all I know that happened was a meet and greet, that we decided to forego for reasons that will become apparent shortly). We were in the Cheese Shop grabbing lunch on Saturday, and were sitting at the little tables by the door, where some other people were eating as well, when Zack came into the shop, clearly a man on a mission...and one of the women (in civvies mind you) who spotted him literally SQUEALED with excitement, at an octave that probably would have made a dog howl if one had been close by. "OOOOOOOO look look looooook! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!" He looked at Robin and I first, probably since we were the ones in 18thc dress, and as we did not want to be mistaken for any kind of squealers, we shook our heads, raised our eyebrows, and pointed toward the real culprit...whereupon he tipped his hat to the squeaky one and kept going. I would indeed love to meet him, as he's friends with people we know to be Good People (and obviously makes amazing clothing), but after that, it kind of felt like the meet and greet would mostly be populated with that kind of high-pitched squeaking, and he already looked harried, so...maybe next time.
(I did accidentally make eye contact with Zack on his way out the door of the Cheese Shop as well, with two bags full of wine bottles, on his way to provide for everybody stuck at the crowded market. He said something like "Well, I've got the supplies," I grinned, held up my beer, and said "Godspeed," and he said, "THANK YOU" and zipped out the door before the squealer at the window could notice he'd appeared again. Really it was the bags of wine for friends that made me sure he's somebody that's cool to hang out with...LOL.)
So, yes, Williamsburg was a fun time. I don't know if I'll want to make the Fashion Days a yearly thing for me unless they do more for the programming, but the price was right and the company was good, and that's all that matters!
Side note: with some reflection, I also think that there was a bit of a split between Robin and I, and a lot of the other people we met in passing, because we've been doing this forever. We've got outfits, we've got accessories (even if someone left her bag of cap ribbons at home, ahem), we didn't put a lot of prep work into this. Robin did make new stays, but she needed new 18thc stays anyway, they weren't just for W'burg. Whereas a lot of the other people made outfits specifically for this event. It was a big exciting thing for them, so they had a lot to talk about and share with each other. Whereas for us it's just like "....well I picked up this stuff and brought it with me?" "I made this in...2017? Details are fuzzy?" Plus out of the costumers we've known for years and been to many events with, only Maggie and Gloria were dressed; the others were busy running businesses or helping to run businesses!
I don't know exactly if these observations have a point, just that they are observations and things change! It's okay, it's what they do. And hey, even if everyone else I know leaves the hobby eventually...I also know where Robin lives and she can't hide from me. ;)
Flickr album here.
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Date: 2020-02-12 08:40 pm (UTC)