Gilded in Cohasset: Recapturing the days when a dress style telegraphed wealth

Sue Scheible, The Patriot Ledger
·5 min read

COHASSET − Just imagine what a dress like this one with its eye-popping embellishments, or that one with incredible jet beadwork, could do for your social standing.

Step into the Pratt Memorial Library in Cohasset Village and enter a different era when women frequently wore evening gowns and strove to "make a grand entrance to the opera or a ball and felt like a queen."

Marie Schlag, of Scituate, sets the scene more than a century later for the Cohasset Historical Society's ambitious new exhibit, "Furbelows, Flounces and Fripperies: The Gilded Age." It will open with a ticketed gala Saturday, Jan. 14.

A ball gown once owned by Maria Barnes Hooper, of Hingham, was made circa 1865 by Paris designer Madame Vignon-Chauvin. It's part of the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.
A ball gown once owned by Maria Barnes Hooper, of Hingham, was made circa 1865 by Paris designer Madame Vignon-Chauvin. It's part of the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.

Schlag, a retired textile conservator, organized and curated the exhibit to serve up stunning visuals and a tasteful look back at an era "known for its excess."

The display was inspired by the HBO historical drama "The Gilded Age," a tale of late 19th-century New York City extravagance beginning its second season sometime this year.

Costume and textile manager Marie Schlag wears a gold and black brocade jacket from the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.
Costume and textile manager Marie Schlag wears a gold and black brocade jacket from the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.

Located in the 1903 Pratt Library, the exhibit presents 35 women’s fashions from 1870 to 1900. Modeled after designer labels from Paris and made by highly skilled American seamstresses, the dresses are described as hallmarks of fashion after the Civil War.

"Women’s clothing was not simply a matter of decently and fashionably covering the body," Schlag writes in the exhibit notes. "It became a lethal weapon and a walking advertisement of status and a husband’s or father’s wealth."

A brown and blue silk brocade dress with black chiffon ruffle trim and beaded embroidery is part of the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.
A brown and blue silk brocade dress with black chiffon ruffle trim and beaded embroidery is part of the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.

"The new American millionaire wives and daughters, each wanting to outdo the other, dressed in opulent styles as money poured into the houses of the rich industrialists and financiers."

Visitors to the exhibit will see a wedding dress, evening gowns, bodices, jackets, a dolman (outerwear) and accessories. Society staff have placed fancy evening shoes, hats, parasols and gloves − many carefully preserved for decades − around the room.

"Cohasset has a fabulous collection," one of the largest on the South Shore, with more than 4,000 items, Schlag said.

Like Newport, Rhode Island, Cohasset attracted wealthy industrialists from Boston. In the 1960s, the historical society put out a request for items to be donated to its costume collection. Staff and volunteers have spent the past year poring through those items, repairing them and preparing for the unveiling.

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In 2020, Schlag was going through the inventory when she came across a beautiful green brocade and velvet coat. It had a velvet bustle and intricate embroidery down the front panel.

"It would be magnificent to build an exhibit" around the society's collection, she thought.

While Schlag's expertise covers several centuries, the 19th stands out for her.

"This is my baby. I really love this century," she said.

She grew up in New York City and watched her mother, Gloria Nelson, "a very good seamstress," make samples for Simplicity patterns. When the company had a new design on paper, her mother would turn it into a dress or suit, to illustrate and help sell the pattern.

Exquisite pearl work is shown on a silk and pleated chiffon wedding dress bodice from 1894 in the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St. The dress was worn by Maude Dickinson Snow.
Exquisite pearl work is shown on a silk and pleated chiffon wedding dress bodice from 1894 in the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St. The dress was worn by Maude Dickinson Snow.

Schlag developed an appreciation for the variety of fabrics and artistry involved in dressmaking and costume design. She majored in textiles and clothing at the City College of New York and began a career as a textile designer and buyer. Soon after, she married, raised three sons and, 18 years later, earned a master's degree in historic textiles and costume conservation at the University of Rhode Island.

In 2010, she opened a private business, The Studio for Textile Conservation, in her home and worked with museums and historical societies, giving advice on preserving gowns, wedding dresses, other clothing and even flags.

Recently retired, she is happy to continue doing what she loves as a volunteer. She had volunteered at the historical societies in Scituate, Hingham and Norwell and is a member of the Costume Society of America.

Cathie McGowan prepares a blue silk faille dress from 1886 for the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.
Cathie McGowan prepares a blue silk faille dress from 1886 for the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.

In a recent preview tour, descriptions like "chenille cuffs," "silk faille" and "soutache braiding" rolled off her tongue as she showed off the dresses. One of my favorite details was the sweeper − extra fabric on the inside bottom of a skirt to protect the silk as the skirt dragged along the street.

Standing beside a dress made from a beautiful blue wheat brocade, she called the material "absolutely stunning on its own" and pointed out the handmade lace sleeve cuffs and a lace Bertha collar. On another, a black 1895 silk velvet cape with jet beads, she said, "The beadwork is incredible."

A blue silk velvet two-piece dress with a gold brocade vest from 1885 is part of the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.
A blue silk velvet two-piece dress with a gold brocade vest from 1885 is part of the exhibit "Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset," which will open Jan. 14 at the Cohasset Historical Society at 104 S. Main St.

Whatever textile project she is working on, she said, she becomes fascinated with what she finds. In a visit to the Middleboro Historical Society, she came across a tiny gown worn by the wife of Gen. Tom Thumb, the American dwarf who performed with circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Lavinia Warren was 32 inches tall.

"Can you imagine?" Schlag said.

The exhibit

"Flounces, Furbelows and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset" runs through May 12, Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Cohasset Historical Society, 106 S. Main St. in Cohasset.

The Jan. 14 gala will include hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. There will also be several private tours in January.

For more information, visit cohassethistoricalsociety.org or call 781-383-1434.

Free lifelong learning on Zoom at UMass-Boston

This winter, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UMass-Boston is offering free classes and social events to all older adults in the Boston region, including the South Shore. The program provides classes, trips and social activities for people over 50.

The winter program begins this week and runs through Feb. 23. Everything is presented via Zoom. Visit the website at www.umb.edu/olli and check the Winter Program Flyer to see what you'd enjoy. Osher members may register online; if you are not a member, email ollireg@gmail.com.

Evelyn Ryan, of Quincy, a retired teacher who is on the board and teaches a course, suggested some virtual possibilities: the Monday morning coffee chats; a tour of Boston's historic theater district, the Boston Common or Dorchester’s Clam Point; a six-week course from the Cleveland Art Museum; the national parks; book reviews; exploring the path to American citizenship; black homesteaders on the Great Plains; Operation Magic Carpet during World War II; sharing accounts of plays shown on Broadway or in London; a trivia contest; tutoring kindergartners; wine and cheese pairings; and a winter film series focused on stories of resilience, which kicks off with Charlie Chaplin in “The Gold Rush.”

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: New Cohasset exhibit captures exquisite dresses of the Gilded Age