August 23, 2011

By Cathryn Westra

The popular bustle silhouette of the 1880s presented skirts that ballooned out from the wearer's back waistline and flowed gently to the lower hemline. The bustle effect was often created using steel frameworks or horsehair pads.

After years of storage in a dark closet, an 1880s dress for afternoon outings is again seeing the light of day. The dress, once part of the Davidson College Theatre Department's costume collection, was recently donated to the Mint Museum of Charlotte and is now on display in its galleries.

The well-preserved dress, formally known as an "Afternoon Visiting Ensemble" consists of a hat, skirt, bodice and muff, all hand-stitched from silk and velvet.

Davidson inherited the apparel from the estate of Florence Clift Horton, who left her home and everything in it to the college when she passed away in the 1980s. Horton's son, the late Gordon Horton' 40, was a classmate of Davidson College President Emeritus Samuel Spencer. The clothing that came with the gift was passed along to the college's Theatre Department, but the dress was never worn in productions. Theatre personnel had for a long time sought a better way to preserve it.

Professional costume designer Donna Conrad, who has frequently created historically accurate costumes for Davidson theatre productions, was aware of the dress and kept her eyes out for a good home for it.

An opportunity arose with expansion of the Mint Museum, which opened up more exhibit space. Conrad invited Charles Mo, director of fine arts at the museum, to view the ensemble and other costumes. He accepted three, and put the visiting ensemble on display.

Mo says it is the museum's best piece of women's clothing from that era.

The Theatre Department hopes to find safe keeping for at least one other historically valuable costume in its wardrobe-a military uniform from the Napoleonic Era that appears to have belonged to a soldier in the New York Militia in 1814.

"These pieces are useful for us as models for costumes we make," said Professor of Theatre Joe Gardner, "but they ought to be placed under the custody of someone who can preserve them properly."

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,900 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.