'Baby, it's cold outside.' Cohasset exhibit shows how women stayed warm and fashionable
COHASSET − How do you stay warm in an old-fashioned New England winter and still look stylish?
Women have found their way, quite nicely, through the decades.
An exhibit at the Cohasset Historical Society titled "Baby, It’s Cold Outside: Dressing for Winter in Cohasset" has fun showing just how.
The exhibit features 35 garments and accessories and is on view through March 29 at the society's headquarters in the Pratt Historic Building at 106 S. Main St.
The display of mostly women's and some men's winter garments − coats, capes, cloaks and shawls, hats − transports visitors back in time from 1820 through the 1960s.
Most of the items are from the society's costume and textile collection, many donated by former Cohasset residents.
The exhibit was put together by Marie Schlag, of Scituate, the society's collection manager for costumes and textiles, and her assistant, Cathie McGowan.
A retired textile conservator, Schlag especially loves the 19th century. Last year, she and McGowan curated the society's exhibit on Gilded Age fashions, "Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies."
This year's exploration begins with a timeline illustrating how fashion changed rapidly between 1820 and 1965. As the shapes of women's dresses shifted, the coats and jackets worn over them had to accommodate the new silhouettes.
At the beginning of the 20th century, lasting into the 1920s, Schlag explained, several social trends had an impact on outdoor fashions including coats, jackets and hats. Outdoor activities, with their own outfits, became popular. There were new modes of transportation. Women were working outside the home. European designers became popular.
All this affected what people wore, and clothing became less bulky. The designer used more lines and there was a big demand for coats that sometimes mimicked dress designs.
And before the stock market crash of 1929, fur collars and cuffs were a way of expressing both glamour and decadence. The correct outerwear made its own statement of class and wealth.
You'll see much of this at the exhibit.
Schlag, who has also worked with the historical societies in Norwell, Scituate and Hingham, brings her expertise on a wide variety of fabrics. She is responsible not just for knowing what items the society has on its shelves but also how to preserve them.
The Cohasset collection, one of the largest on the South Shore, includes nearly 4,000 artifacts. The exhibit includes four garments on loan from the Hingham Historical Society.
One of them is an 1820 silk pelisse, or long-sleeved, fitted coat styled like contemporary dresses.
Some of the other garments you'll see:
Sporty fashions demonstrating the new outerwear styles of the 1960s-'70s.
A stunning 1890-1910 black silk matlassé evening cape with chiffon-edged yoke and velvet panels with added marabou trim.
Sumptuous silk velvet coats from the 1920s and 1930s.
A child's coat with multiple layers of ermine trim and a dropped waistline.
Two wool coats with ermine trim. (Ermine is the white fur of the stoat, used for trimming ceremonial robes of judges and royals.)
Local residents might be especially interested in a glimpse into lives of the Barron and Bancroft families, heirs to the Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal fortunes, whose summer home was "The Oaks" mansion overlooking Cohasset Harbor.
You can see what The Oaks' third owner, Jessie Bancroft Cox, born in 1908, wore as a child.
The fashionable female shape was a work in progress
Over time, there were many changes in how women dressed and what they were encouraged to pursue. The fashionable female shape or silhouette slimmed down considerably.
Women also began wearing coats with defined sleeves. By the mid-1800s, there were shawls and wraps to accommodate wider skirts.
Then in the mid-to-late 1800s, the bustle (a padded undergarment or wire frame that added fullness or supported a draped garment) was added at the back of dresses.
In the 1920s, cocoon coats had oversized sleeves, similar to wrap coats, with furs, beading and metallic thread decorations.
Field trips for seniors
Cohasset Elder Affairs is planning a field trip to the historical society on Feb. 28 for a tour of the exhibit with Cathie McGowan.
"We have such great resources in our own neighborhood, and very often we don't take advantage," Diane Picot, the senior center's assistant director, said. "We hope to do more of these local programs this year."
The tour, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., will be followed by lunch for $4 at the senior center. Cohasset residents may register online at Cohasset Elder Affairs or call 781-383-9112.
The Cohasset Historical Society donated the tickets. The senior center will provide transportation for people who need a ride.
The Scituate Senior Center is also planning a tour in March.
For the general public, tickets can be purchased online at cohassethistoricalsociety.org or at the society’s headquarters. The cost is $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers.
For more information, visit the website, call 781-383-1434 or email info@cohassethistoricalsociety.
What do your family photos reveal ?
Seeing the exhibit prompted me to dig out an old family photo of my mother holding her first child, my brother Steve, born Feb. 7, 1942, in Rochester, New York. My father, with his new Kodak, snapped a photo of her holding 10-week-old Stevie. She was wearing a stylish Easter hat and a coat with a fur collar. Fashion in the '40s.
Missing Wally Rockwell, a gentleman who loved dogs
His large family and many friends in Marshfield and Norwell are remembering the fine gentleman Wally Rockwell, who died Sunday, Jan. 28, at age 100 of complications after a fall and surgery last week.
Wally was a smiling, welcoming and funny man who loved conversations with others. I wrote about him not once but twice when he adopted rescue dogs to keep him company.
The first was Alice when he was 96 and lived in Norwell; she had leukemia and he tenderly cared for her until she died in 2022. Then at age 99, Wally found Sunny, a Russell terrier, through a friend and gave him a home at his Proprietors Green apartment.
"Our family is heartbroken," his daughter, Liz Rockwell, emailed. "But we were also blessed to have Dad for so long. Dad lived a wonderful life with our beautiful mother, and they had 7 children." There will be a celebration of life for Wally in the spring.
Broadway Favorites Revue is back in Hingham
The gifted and joyful Unicorn Singers, directed by Margo Euler, will be back on Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Hingham Congregational Church, 378 Main St., in Hingham, with solo voices performing favorite numbers from Broadway shows. Admission is $35; donors $50. For more information, call 781-749-7826.
The annual benefit supports Horizons for Homeless Children in Boston, which has programs for homeless children and their families. Unicorn singer Sally Davenport, of Hingham, is a longtime volunteer there.
The charity has created child-centered rooms, called playspaces, in shelters throughout Massachusetts, including North Weymouth, Kingston, Norwell, Marshfield, Brockton and Stoughton.
Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: "Baby, It’s Cold Outside: Dressing for Winter in Cohasset" exhibit
