Nice dress.
That’s what I thought when I saw the first photo inside one of those lovely paper frames from decades ago in a box at the auction house. The woman wearing the dress stood regally, a hat atop her head that was as fancy as the outfit that she wore.
I flipped past her photo and unfolded the frame on the next one.
Another fancy dress.
Then another and another.
That was rather unusual. I go through old photos at auction all the time, and most times I don’t see such lovely clothing in succession. Most usually appear to be folks in their one fine outfit that they had worn for this special picture-taking.
But these seemed different; these folks seemed at ease in their clothes and polished in their demeanor, as if they were used to being dolled up. A few of the photos bore identifying information, and I learned that some were from the same family or were taken by the same studios in Pennsylvania.
Here are photos of the women in particular in their outfits. What do you think of them?