Malvena Pearl’s Emporium

For many years, I was active with my college’s Alumnae Association. I helped to found a group called Fires of Wisdom: the Mills College Alumnae Oral History Project. I had an internship as an undergraduate at Mills College. Our goal was to interview the eldest living alumnae and friends of the college first and to meet women who were returning to campus for their “golden” reunion of 50 years or more. We wanted to make these stories of traditions and memories available at the Mills College Library, so other researchers could have access to what we learned.

Fires of Wisdom 2006

We went about doing interviews with the eldest of our college alumnae and Mills friends. We wrote curriculum and researched training methods for teaching volunteers how to conduct oral history interviews; we drew on the work of other oral history groups like the Regional Oral History Office at University of California at Berkeley. We initially found assistance from professors at Mills and at other schools across the U.S. who were implementing this type of research. This was all done by volunteers like me, with no funding to speak of from the college or the Alumnae Association until many years later when we combined forces to archive our interviews with the Oakland Living History Project.

You can see the archives of the Fires of Wisdom project in the Olin Library here.

Mills College differs from the many colleges in the San Francisco Bay area in that it is — to this day — still a womens’ college for the undergraduate programs. The graduate programs are coeducational. One of the most famous graduates is Dave Brubeck. You may have seen an amazing interview with Mr. Brubeck, a native of California,  in Ken Burns’ jazz documentary.

Through our interviews we learned what campus and off-campus life was like in various decades before the 1990s. We heard  about past traditions at the college, student perspectives on historical events and about the formidable personality, mission and rhetorical skills which comprised the character of one Aurelia Henry Reinhardt, the college president from 1916-1943. During her time at Mills, Aurelia experienced two world wars and addressed issues of these conflicts openly and with a compassion that makes her unique. Her commitment to womens’ education was inspiring. We began dedicating our work to this intriguing past president of the college when our  volunteer group began doing Dramatic Readings at Mills College Reunions, complete with slide shows of our interviewees (also known as narrators) and with our group dressed in vintage dress to represent the decades of women we interviewed.

2009

For this project, we made every effort to locate and interview alumnae of color and find people with diverse economic and cultural backgrounds, not just the famous folks with the most successful careers or those who already had the most written accounts or interviews of their lives. Those had already been done. We wanted to create a kind of mosaic of perspectives on life in the SF Bay Area during the tenure of President Reinhardt.

While I was at Mills College, (1992-1994) as a Resuming Student, I commuted to campus. I was a member of the the Mary Atkins resuming students’ lounge, where nontraditional-aged students could form study groups and support each other as we returned to school. Many of my classmates were over 40 years old, some were in their seventies. Many had children to support and jobs while completing their undergraduate degrees. I was 29 when I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies, after many years of working and attending college part-time.  The Olin Library on Mills campus was a refuge for me as was the Reinhardt Alumnae House, where I did much of my research and met up with advisers, interviewees and volunteers for the project.

During my 11 years of volunteering for the Alumnae Association, I made a lot of friends who were alumnae. I met students and college staff members. To thank volunteers for their time, we had to find a fun way to gather. So we started having tea.

2008

Through Fires of Wisdom, which we named after the college’s anthem or hymn, the core group of volunteers started some  new traditions and reclaimed some others. One is based on stories of Holiday Tea with the President Reinhardt. Several members of our group collect vintage clothing. Many of us just like hats. We all seem to like tea. So, we dress up, with our hats, gloves, shoes, purses and enjoy High Tea at Lovejoy’s Tea in San Francisco..

Although we have since archived all of the interviews we did with Mills College Alumnae and friends at the Olin Library, we still like to get together, dress up and share our stories. Here is this year’s photograph of our participants:

Fires of Wisdom 2011 Tea at Lovejoy's in San Francisco

The other members of the group in the 2011 photo are, left to right: Moya Stone, Erika Young, Beth Woolbright, Jane King, Cecille Caterson, Kathleen McCrae and on the far right, Malvena Pearl’s Emporium proprietor, Suzette Lalime Davidson.

Please note that my dear friend Jane Cudlip King is at the center, here. She graduated from Mills in 1942 and has done decades of volunteer service with the college. She currently prepares young people to take the S.A.T. and has the best memory for the works of Shakespeare quotations that I’ve ever encountered. She also does a great impression of President Aurelia Henry Reinhardt, with all of her vast elocutionary skills.

Two people who I meant to have in this photo were the other founders of the project: Kristen B. Caven and Penny Peak. I have also lost touch with a young alum named Valerie who is in light green dress in the 2006 photo, at the top. We trained more than 30 volunteers for this project and only a handful are as enthusiastic about “dressing up” as we are.

We are grateful to Nancy MacKay, formerly of the Mills College Library, for assisting with the archive of all the interviews;  Professor Marianne Sheldon, Professor Andy Workman and Professor Sherry Katz.

My friend Laura is an inspirational seamstress with a great sense of humor. This photo above was taken at Costume College in 2009, when we first met. She’s on the right.

The Costume College experience was overwhelming to me. It was the first time I’d attended and the folks I knew there were all caught up in different aspects of it: the classes, the events, preparing for the events and taking day trips to local museums and schools around Los Angeles. I didn’t know I was going until the last minute and most of the classes were filled by then, so I sat in on several workshops and presentations and met lots of new people.

I met Laura in a board room in the hotel that was set aside for Costume College attendees who needed to complete a sewing project. We needed space outside of the room we were sleeping in to “make it work,” as they say on Project Runway. It was also a place to show up and get help, if you needed help. It turned out that we spent hours in that room and stayed up very late. There were many people sitting around the table. I was assisting a young woman who had talked her mother into flying in from Canada to go to this weekend-long event. She needed help with a lovely 1870s-era dress (a la Anne of Green Gables) for the Gala the next night.

Meanwhile, Laura was sitting down the table from us, making very funny remarks and completing a truly amazing outfit. Laura’s outfit was a Tudor era woman’s costume made in modern fabrics out of camoflage-patterned parachute silk trimmed in reflective tape.  She said she had a posse back home that usually offered a lot of help and I think she was missing them. I would have been missing them, if I were her.  So we ended up in this room, working side by side with other costumers.  I really liked her approach and her friendliness. That feeling of “we are all in this together.”  If it isn’t fun, let’s find a way to make it fun, or heck, just move along. Let’s remember why we are here. She looked great at the event the next night. But the best part was the process: making something and sharing that experience with someone who laughs with you, is willing to help and share stories while you sew.

We kept talking all weekend, into the wee hours. She even let me crash in her room and we found that we shared a love of science fiction. It turns out that Laura had been making costumes with –and for– her friends for many years. They had a regular “Day of Wrong” tradition at their Renaissance Fair:

Laura said her group also attended the Dickens Fair in their area and were active in organizing costume events. She said she’d been making a living sewing Santa Claus outfits and called herself the “accidental seamstress.” I met a lot of people that weekend but Laura and I kept up our dialogue.

After Costume College we kept in touch via e-mail, shared our stories and tales of what was happening in our costuming and creative lives. She made me an “honorary member” of her posse, even though I live several states away. She and her husband came to visit California and we got to have dinner and enjoy a great visit. Her blog is called the Eleanora Project and she’s documenting her birthday and all the creative hoopla leading up to it,  as well as her ongoing costume projects.

Here’s the latest photo of one of Laura’s recent creations for a holiday Steampunk event:

Now that I no longer have a Feline Overlord named Roo, I am an official Minion of the Wench Posse. We have found that we have a lot of fun talking, planning projects, sharing materials by mail and just egging each other on. Through Laura, I’ve gotten to know several other incredibly creative, weird, fun-loving and fabric-obsessed people. In 2012, we have plans to meet up at two different costume conventions where I will get to meet several of Laura’s Wench Posse in person. I plan to assist them them with the assembly of a project or two. I am so looking forward to that!

Laura is a kindred spirit. And I am very grateful for her friendship. Happy Birthday, Laura!

In the past few years, I’ve made an effort to either volunteer at the Dickens Fair in Daly City, California, or to spread my enthusiasm about going to the Dickens Fair to other folks.  I’ve made a bonnet or two for this occasion and assisted a number of friends with their outfits. Here’s a photograph from 2005, one of the first years I went to Dickens Fair with pals Beth (on the left) and Aimee (on the right). I made Beth’s gray and plum-colored outfit, my outfit, helped Aimee embellish her jacket and skirt; and I made both my bonnet and Aimee’s bonnet.

If you like live music, live theatrical performances, dancing, games and general holiday fun set in the time of Charles Dickens’ city of London, then you may want to go to the Dickens Fair.  Happy Christmas!

Happy belated Bastille Day to one and all!

I wanted to share some photos of a unique gathering of costume enthusiasts that was recently held at the Bellevue Club in Oakland, CA. It was An Evening at the Petit Trianon, set in 1789. There is a large group of photographs via the Guild’s Flickr Photo Pool and they have a Facebook page.

The lovely and talented Claudine de Montigny brings us some great information about how she constructed her beautiful and detailed outfit for this event on her blog, Idle Hands. Lady Heather offered me a her ticket and I was able to attend the event. (I was poised to sit outside the event, on my historically correct wooden crate, wearing peasant garb, knitting) It was wonderful to see so many enthusiastic party goers and craftspeople enjoying themselves.

Vive La France!

This bonnet is for a dancer who is doing workshops to perform in Fezziwig’s at the Great Dickens Fair in San Francisco.  I built it from buckram, millinery wire and cotton fabric. I’m sewing it  by hand. For inspiration, I used several sources. The Dickens Fair folk provide guidelines for costuming for their event here. I also found  many books to inspire me at Costume College, two years ago. One is a British publication entitled, “Hats and Bonnets” by Althea Mackenzie with photography by Richard Blakey, published by The National Trust, London, UK, 2004. The photos and descriptions of hats and bonnets are wonderful.  I’m looking forward to embellishing this bonnet with ribbon, trim and lace, to match the dancer’s dress, that I embellished for her earlier this year.

And it was fun!

Here are some photographic highlights

Wow, a lot of events have been happening and business is certainly picking up since Jacque and I found the studio!

The Beeper Egg Hunt (and Mad Hatter’s tea party) for Blind Babies Foundation is tomorrow. I’ve had some generous help from members of the House Elf Committee, Ms. Dawn-0 and Ms. Helena, in getting the outfits made for Queen Alice, Red Queen and White Queen.  We based the designs on the original Tenniel illustrations from Alice Through the Looking Glass, since that is the theme of this year’s Beeper Egg Hunt. We also found a Mad Hatter this week, Mr. KC3.  Our kind supporter and inspiring pattern and costume-maker Lynn McMasters is loaning us a gorgeous Mad Hatter Top Hat!

Our feline Zac “assisted” with the construction of the White Queen’s dress. We have photographic evidence. 

Now on to the crowns, sleeves, collars for the Red and White Queens, several pairs of bunny ears for the Foggy Gulch Band members and some top hats to cover for them, as well!

I found a studio to share with the lovely and talented Jacqueline Palacios! Yippee! It’s located at the Fruitvale Presbyterian Church on MacArthur Boulevard, in Oakland. More updates to follow as we settle in and set up. We started moving in and I can finally see the floor of my spare bedroom.

A client came by Casa Roo for a fitting/hemming of a pre-bought 1850s-style, cotton dress that she has asked me to embellish. Yay! She came by during the rainstorm, so that’s motivation for you.

Ms. Sahrye Cohen expertly helped us put together an entry for inclusion  in the exhibit at the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition in Emeryville  March 12 - March 14, 2010.

On March 20, 2010, Malvena Pearl will have a table and display set up at the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild Costume Academy.

I’m also working on the White Queen outfit, the Red Queen outfit and Queen Alice’s outfit for the  9th Annual Blind Babies Foundation Annual Beeper Egg Hunt in San Francisco.  I’m organizing the first-annual Tea and Raffle with the theme of Alice through the Looking Glass. Come join us!

Sunday morning, I ventured forth with pastries and will-call tickets to meet several of the costume pals, the other hunter/gatherers of our little group. We met in line for what I call the Annual Department Store of Used Stuff in a huge warehouse in Oakland. All the proceeds go to support the Oakland Museum.

Throngs of people were in line, but (unlike the SF Opera Costume Shop Sale) there was much organization — volunteers handing out pre-purchased tickets in line to those who had pre-paid and answering questions. The line was moving quickly, right at 10 am, when the doors opened. (we didn’t have to get there to hold a place at 8 am, only to meet several other groups who had been there hours before, sleeping in tents on the sidewalk, as if we were waiting for the new Star Wars film to start.)

The selling floor covers an entire warehouse and is organized all year round by diligent veteran volunteers. Each area of merchandise has its own section and they have a system for writing up your purchases and bringing the bag to the entrance of each “department”, like at a real department store. At least that is what Macy’s was like last time I went there. This warehouse accepts donations All Year Round but is only open to the public on specific days. You never know what you will find.

Did I mention that all proceeds go to the Oakland Museum? Well, it’s worth repeating. Their volunteers are either teenagers or 50+ and are really helpful folks. The volunteers told me that this was the largest turnout they had ever had. It was jam packed with hardly any room to move in the fabric section with lines everywhere. And still, I didn’t have to wait 3 hours to get in, and another 3 to check out, like at the last big warehouse sale I attended. Phew.

One woman in line said she and her sister go to garage sales, thrift stores and flea markets everywhere they travel. They’ve been to sales like this in England, France, Italy and in other states in the U.S. They’ve come every year of their adult lives to this sale, in Oakland, though.

I spent just a little over $40 of my hard-earned money; that is equivalent to four hours, one half of one shift at my Saturday job. Here is my haul.

Thanks go to HH for giving me a ride home with this bag o stuff:

6 yards of gorgeous, flower-patterned turquoise/light blue and white cotton to make a 1960s Mad Men dress (inspired by Dress a Day blog) with my vintage 1960s sewing pattern

2 pieces of white fake fur with a pattern of black and brown and gray - for $1.00 each  (more than a yard each) - I got these for LaRue who was bemoaning the lack of fake ermine when she was making a ‘Wives of Henry the 8th’ project least year

at least 4 remnant bundles of 1 - 2 yards of “masculine” patterned/colored flannel for Hank’s doggie outfits - his parents are designers who are very discerning about what he wears!

1 bundle of cotton velvet in a delicate moss-green color that is just screaming to become a Victorian bonnet

6 sewing patterns @ $0.25 each: children’s (for sizing Halloween costumes - never again will I “eyeball it” from an existing garment when a 3 year old grew two sizes in two weeks, know what I mean?); a men’s 1960s pajama/robe pattern with a festive drawing on the front; a women’s bathrobe pattern, and a set of Closet Accessories patterns!  I’ve been getting organized!

2 -1960s dress patterns at $3.00 each - they are SO CUTE! Mad Men event, here we come!

Several $1.00 pieces of either leather or faux suede - I don’t care if it’s real or not, it’s a gorgeous color of pale blue/gray and will work well for linings or bodices or belts or hats or trimming corsets. I also got a $1.00 piece of ivory faux-or-real suede

2 pair of pink gloves from the Accessories section — one pair is real leather and it FITS ME - a rarity in the glove world; the other is just cute and has teensy buttons at the cuff (I think these were $3 and $4)

A 1930s/40s asymmetrical hat in gray tweed wool — this was going to be my big splurge of $15. I has to find out if Ms. S was going to “steal” or “borrow” it, it since it went home with her and and her partner, H. They ended up buying it for me in exchange for my providing H. with a ticket. I also helped H. pick out a parasol and an umbrella for his partner, S, who was late arriving. That was fun. HH and I helped him find an appropriate 1960s style hat and a different, yet matching purse. S. was very pleased with our “consulting” him. Again with the preparations for the Mad Men event!

And finally, I got a copy of Reader’s Digest Guide to Sewing that Ms. S recommended as she had used it for a sewing class. This item was purchased for a mere $5.00. It made my bag heavy but it’s like having a collection of Threads Magazine’s best instruction articles in one hardcover book - a deal by my standards.

We only had about two hours to hunt and gather, since this was the same day as the now-bi-monthly gathering of Mills gals in San Francisco for me, and the same day as the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild Open House, for the other costumers.

There will be photos at some point soon. Promise.

I have volunteered my services as Minion to the folks running the Dickens Faire costuming shop. We’re starting with some hats for a dramatic production set in the Cavalier period. (The little theaters throughout the Faire put on different productions each season and the costume shop supports all the actors at the whole Faire.)  I like working with other costumers and learning new things. I’ve wanted to work this event for some years and I’m glad I have this opportunity.

I also have an assignment from one of my day- job supervisors to make several aprons with a “prom” theme for a catering . ( frilly, colorful, fake flowers or Very Bright fabric - whee!)  A couple of gals from my informal costuming group are venturing forth to a new-to-us discount fabrics place tomorrow afternoon. I hope to get suitable fabric for said aprons.

Meanwhile, her majesty Roo continues to be under the weather. I hope she will soon be willing to deal with her medication for her kidney/bladder problems. She’s quarantined to her room /my sewing room.