“Glamour on Board”—Gilded Age fashion…on the Titanic…in the movie…at Biltmore
Pop culture has a way of worming its way into all corners of life. Paraphrasing actor and comedian Dana Carvey: “If you put an orange on the sidewalk, people will walk by. If you put the orange on TV first, then put it on the sidewalk, people will stop and exclaim ‘Hey, look, it’s that orange that was on TV!” In recent years, several TV shows and films have led to increased pop culture tourism on one form or another.
Shows such as Downton Abbey, set at Highclere Castle in England, and Outlander, which utilizes to great effect historic sites across Scotland, have led to dramatic increases in tourism (see “Ancestral Tourism and the Outlander Effect”). But if you are not able to travel to these historic—pop culture—heritage sites, you might be able to experience some of the grandeur of Downton Abbey through an on-going exhibit titled “Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times” in St. Augustine, Florida.
Taking this further, an impending exhibit will present costumes that were worn in a movie that re-enacted (fictionally with much focus on historical detail) a tragic and famous historic event in the early 20th century. Biltmore Estate—itself an extremely popular historic house museum from the Gilded Age—is set to open a new exhibit “Glamour on Board: Fashion from Titanic the Movie,” on view beginning February 9, 2018. This former private home of George Vanderbilt and his wife Edith. The exhibit will explore the Vanderbilt’s lifestyle and wardrobe typical of the early 20th century for those who were wealthy enough to perhaps sail on the Titanic. Located in Asheville, North Carolina, the exhibit will be on view until May 13, 2018. (The composite photo above is of Biltmore Estate by JPollock, shared here under CC BY-SA 3.) and the Titanic, which is in the public domain).
See
Glamour on Board: Fashion from Titanic the Movie
Biltmore Estate
Titanic (1997 movie)
Also see
By International Heritage News Network
October 4, 2017