After Carol finished cleaning up after dinner, Maria asked her to help in the bedroom. “I want to unearth something from my closet, but it’s buried deep in the back, and I don’t think I can get it with just one working arm.”
“No problem.” She followed Maria to her room. “What is it you’re looking for?”
“An old dress...” Maria opened her closet door.
“Oh?”
“For the cotillion.”
Carol studied Maria’s bulky cast. Just helping her aunt into loose clothing was a bit of a challenge. Did she really expect to get into some fancy gown from days gone by?
“I thought you said people went for more casual apparel.” Carol flipped on the closet light.
“Well, yes. We older folks choose comfort over style.”
“That seems sensible.” Carol surveyed the overflowing closet, wondering where to begin.
“I know, I know. My wardrobe needs a good thinning, but life always seems to get in the way. Goodness, I must have forty years’ worth of clothes stuffed in here. Antonia thinks I should sell some of these old things on some vintage website, but honestly, besides not being that clever with technology, I have just never found the time.”
“So ... do you have any idea where this old dress might be?”
“Oh, yes. It’s down on that end.” She pointed to the right. “Behind a lot of decrepit coats that are probably vintage too. It’s a burgundy color. Probably near the wall. I always keep it alongside my wedding dress, and that’s in a black garment bag.”
“Okay.” Carol struggled to push the hangers of clothes to one side, making room to thumb through the remaining hangers. “Since you store it with your wedding dress, I’m guessingit’s pretty special. But do you really think you can get into it? I mean, with your arm and all.”
“Mercy no!” Maria laughed. “It’s not for me, Carol.”
She paused and looked at her aunt. “Oh?”
“I, uh, I thought you might want to borrow it.”
Carol cringed inwardly at the idea of wearing her aunt’s musty old cotillion dress. She could only imagine what it might look like. But, of course, she didn’t want to hurt Maria’s feelings.
“The fabric is a mix of lace and velvet and satin ribbon trim. It was a Gunne Sax dress. You probably never heard of that brand. They were quite the thing back in the seventies. I was in my twenties when I bought my first one. Back then it was pretty spendy for me, but I loved that dress dearly. I wore it on a few dates with Don and even years later, when he took me to our first cotillion.”
Carol spotted something burgundy and tugged it out. She was surprised to see a fairly attractive dress in a Boho-chic style. Like Maria had said, it was a combination of burgundy lace, velvet, and satin ribbon. She held it out so they could both examine it. The tea-length dress had a high waist and full skirt.
Maria eagerly reached for the hanger, taking it with her as she sat down in the nearby chair. “Oh, the good times I had in this dress.”
“It’s very pretty. And seems to have held up okay.” Carol slid her phone from her back pocket and began a quick search. A lot of Gunne Sax dresses immediately popped up on several websites. And they were not cheap.
“Might need a needle and thread here or there ... and could use a good airing out and steaming...” Maria mused. “But some people thought it was rather striking back in the day.”
Still online, Carol found a dress that resembled her aunt’s and blinked at the high price.
“It was such fun to wear it back when I was young ... withmy long dark hair.” Maria looked wistfully up at Carol. “In fact, my hair was a lot like yours.” She smiled. “Anyway, I’ve heard some young women like these vintage dresses.”
“No doubt about that.” Carol held her phone out so Maria could see the online listing that priced dresses like this one just under a thousand dollars. “Look what you could get for it.”
“Oh, my. That’s crazy!” Maria firmly shook her head. “But I could never sell it.”
“No, no, of course not.”
“Do you think ... well, I wouldn’t want to push it on you ... but if you’d like to wear it for the cotillion, I’d be honored.” She held the dress out to Carol.
“Really?” She took the dress from her aunt. “Do you think it’d even fit? That bodice looks small.” She held it up to her, standing in front of the full-length mirror on the closet door. It really was pretty.
“One way to find out.”
