In Celebration of Victorian Charm

Last Saturday I was a vendor at a “High Tea” held at St Thomas Episcipal Church in Berea, and i was so very impressed with the amount of detail some women put into wearing and owning beautiful victorian and edwardian hats.  A majority of the women attending this tea came dressed “to the nines”… vintage dress, hat and gloves that could easily have transported you to another era.

Almost as if to say this age we live in is far too casual, this group of women embrace the beauty of a hat, lacey gloves, and vintage reproduction dresses that evoke the virtuous victorian era.

If you know me, you know that my education is in the social sciences, with Sociology as a primary interest, so that said i am fascinated with why people choose to find and form groups that want to live in an era long gone.  It was clear from these women that there is a friendship, a “sisterhood” hidden under flowers and lace.  In a hurried world of being far too busy, and far too disjointed from one another these women take time to fuel their friendships, with harp music and scones served warm with Earl Gray Tea.  I would still love to ask each of those who attended the tea what drew them there, and how did they find interest in such activity.

And then you meet women that are locked in a time period and a frame of mind that keeps them going in only one focus.  This woman was a vendor selling her hat embellishments (feathers, rosettes, etc).  Click the picture to see a recent video of her:

So what am i saying?  I am curious why certain times in history appeal so much to people that they make it either a hobby or a life’s focus.  I think history is very fascinating, however find it difficult to be so focused on one era and miss the life we have right now…