Historical Costuming Adds to Trial & Tribulations

What to wear? We each deal with this question everyday, but Gretchen Phillips is tackling it for fourteen people. She has volunteered to clothe the actors and interpreters for Trial & Tribulations: The Story of the 1847 Matson Slave Trial program on Sept 18 and 19 in Oakland.

Ticket holders to the program will meet seven of the main characters in the story: Dr. Rutherford, Matt Ashmore, Mary Corbin, Lincoln, the Bryants and Lucy Dupee at the Rutherford Complex and Independence Pioneer Village. These interpreters will be working under the premise that they are from the 1870s and are reflecting back on their involvement with the trial. After conversing with these folks, and enjoying an 1840s dinner, the visitors will watch a play where the younger version of these characters portray the events of the 1847 trial in a play, Three Fifths of a Man.

Hence, Phillips is challenged to costume from two time periods. “The men’s styles don’t change much over these thirty years, but the ladies style is dramatically different,” notes Phillips. The 1840s style is elegant and simple compared to the excesses of the periods before and after. The sleeves are moderate in size; the fit is flattering and feminine. Since the 1840s costumes are for a play, they have to help convey the character to the audience, so our costumes for the three women Interlocutors or narrators are more neutral than those typical of the period, explains Phillips. We will use more beiges and less of the “poison green,” magentas and teals that were popular at the time of the trial.

The 1870s style on the other hand is a time of transition from hoops to outlandish bustles. The interpreters will be wearing the early, less prominent bustle. “Luckily, the Freetown Village interpreters have costumes from this period, so we won’t have to worry about them,” mentions Phillips.

The biggest challenge for the men is the amount of clothing. “The actors and interpreters are hoping that this cooling weather sticks around,” jokes Phillips. They will wear long–sleeved shirts, vests and a frock coat in most instances. Back then, suspenders were considered underwear, never to be seen, so if you took off your coat to get comfortable, you would still have your vest on. In fact, a volunteer will be needed to wash the shirts late Friday night so that they are fresh for Saturday.

Phillips is making two of the 1840 dresses and Katrina Bohn, one of the actresses, is making her own costume. Phillips points out, “There are lots of interesting sewing techniques in these dresses: piping, boning, seams in different places and cartridge pleating.” The latter is a method of gathering fullness that must be done by hand and will allow more fabric to be used than today’s methods. But she quickly adds, “We aren’t doing it all by hand, or we wouldn’t have them ready until next September.”

The program is renting the remaining women and men’s costumes from Grand Ball Costumes in Charleston. In fact, Phillips is looking forward to choosing the costumes tomorrow so that there is time for altering them if necessary.

Phillips has always loved history, and finds that manifesting itself in creating dresses from various eras for herself. She was home schooled and when they studied the Revolutionary War, she made a dress to wear to the Feast of the Hunters Moon in Lafayette, Indiana. Unfortunately, when she arrived she discovered that the zipper wasn’t accurate and the fact that her elbows showed meant that she was being immodest. Phillips wasn’t daunted, she just decided to learn more and make the gown more accurate. She now owns clothing of her own making from the 1820s, 1830s, Civil War era, the time of Titanic and the 1930s. “This is the first time I have made something from the 1840s and it is lots of fun,” she enthuses.