Vintage fashion show preserves history

The Perry Area Historical Society hosted its fourth annual vintage fashion show and Tea event at the Perry Arts Center. The event was held as a part of the 2019 Dogwood Festival held on Saturday. 

President Ellie Loudermilk introduced guests to volunteers dressed as historical members of the Houston County community, all modeling vintage clothing from their respective time periods. Loudermilk says the historical society researched the names of individuals listed in the event by using the genealogy resources at the Perry Historical Museum, of which she is the director. ”we’ve got a whole resource room of information on the different people who have lived here,” Loudermilk said. “When we’re looking for a theme or an interesting person, we’ve got everything that we need.”

Volunteers from local high schools and the historical society modeled for the event. Loudermilk says she reaches out to surrounding high school drama departments to find models to wear more form fitting outfits and she’s very appreciative of the great help.”When people are interested in something, you know you can believe in them [and] you know you can trust them,” she said.

Loudermilk creates detailed scripts based on the information collected and presents them as monologues at the event. The costumes are donated from local organizations, hand sewn by a seamstress or are the property of the museum. Although the fashion show is four years old, Loudermilk says the society has held events celebrating the county’s history for over a decade.

Before they decided to put on a fashion show, Loudermilk says the society held cemetary tours for 10 years. “This is the fourth year of the fashion show but this is the 14th year of preserving the history through monologues,” Loudermilk said.

Events like the fashion show are important to the historical society because they bring awareness to the new generation. “We like passing on the history, we like making people aware of the beauty of this little town,” Loudermilk said.”The children don’t stand a chance if they don’t get to see it.”

The event featured 17 models and door prizes for guests. Some of the monologues are recycled from previous shows but Loudermilk says new scripts are added every three years. “Every third year it’s all new from what it was three years ago,” she said. The 17 scripts used were 17 out of 50 according to Loudermilk. “If something happened to me, anybody could do this,” she said.

Loudermilk can always find an interesting story when she researches names for the event which is why she writes scripts to cover a range of topics. She enjoys seeing new faces every year and most importantly, she enjoys providing historical information to the Houston County community.