comanche moon

Here is the journal entry I wrote shortly after going for the wardrobe fittings...

" Yesterday I was excited to go to a dress fitting for a mini series called Comanche Moon, the prequel to Lonesome Dove. It was to be an enlightening experience, for sure.  I was to be dressed in the fashion of an 1865 Austin woman. Who knew I'd get a fun story out of this?
     Shortly after I arrived, I sat before the hairdresser to get a sample hairstyle. She moved the curling iron around, expertly making soft curls around my face.  After pulling my hair back into a bun, she attached  a hairpiece of cascading ringlets to the back of my head.  It reminded me of a show I used to love watching.  Maybe youve heard of Nellie Olsen in Little house on the Prairie?  That was all pleasant enough.  After snapping a couple of shots with a Polaroid, I was off to be dressed , or rather undressed.
    Little did I know that this process  would take me nearly two hours.  But hey, I'm all for trying new things in the spirit of adventure.  The wardrobe woman took me into the dressing room, and instructed me to take off everything but the underwear, and put on a small white shirt.  Then I remembered I was wearing barely any, if you know what I mean. I don't think mine would be classified as underwear!  Well, I am pretty confident about my body, and  I exercise, but still I couldn't help  thinking -I just met her like 2 minutes ago!  Shouldn't we at least talk first?  I made a quick mental note to myself for future fittings on what not to wear. The shirt I put on was so tiny I had to turn into a contortionist to get it off.  That was a workout in itself ( I must have burned at least a hundred calories).  After requesting a new shirt, she came back into the dressing room, and  proceeded to grab a corset.  I, however, was standing demurely, looking as confident and nonchalant as possible.  This was a good time to start acting!  She seemed unfazed, and asked me if I'd ever worn a real corset before. I told her I had worn a current fashion, but no, not a real one.  How neat, I thought.  Another new thing tried!  I stood up on the podium, my back to her as she put the corset around me, as she started to cinch up the laces.  (I tried not to think about my birthmark- surely she couldn't help observing, probably winking at her.)  I also was surprised at how comfortable the corset was.  I'd read that many a woman would faint as a result of wearing the constricting corsets.  Evidently, I got ahead of myself.  The corset was too big for me. She proceeded to return with another one, much smaller.  So the same procedure all over again.  She instructed me that under no circumstances was I to unloosen any of the corset while working on the set. Fine I thought, no problem.  As she pulled the laces again, THIS time I felt the air being sucked out of me.  Oh, this is what they're talking about!  But my, how tiny my waist looked. I'm thinking.. I can do this.... and that was the last thing I remembered. Not really.. I'm saving the passing out until I can fall into some handsome cowboys arms! 
    I was then able to put on the long cotton drawers, and then the hooped underskirt frame. And then another petticoat on top of that. ( I'd always wanted to try one of those on as a little girl,  to look like a princess.)  Then I am told that the dress I am about to have put on me is an original; old and costly.  I'm not used to having anyone dress me, not since I was 4, and since I was not raised up as royalty, I'm accustomed to dressing myself.  I'm not sure about what exactly to do when someone is trying to dress you.  Do I  help, move my arms here, there, bend, or stand stiff? Even after she told me to put my arms up and make a motion like you are diving when putting the dress over my head, it still felt incredibly awkward. I cringed when I heard a slight rip as she put it over me. Oops. " Put your arms behind you and one at a time put your arms in the sleeves",  she instructed. She proceeded to come around to the front of me and button the endless buttons on the bodice.  She came up to right about my chin, and was very close to me.  I tried carefully not to exhale in her face, which wasn't too difficult considering I couldn't breathe at all!
    We go out to get an approval, and get told by her superior that the waist is too high, and I look like a lampshade, since the dress is not long enough!  (I'm thinking more along the lines of a domed beehive!)  Then comes dress 2, which will not button around my waist,  then 3, (don't remember what was off with that one), 4 works but let's try 5 just in case.  5 doesn't button, and so back to 4 with different hooped underskirts! Changing from one dress to another was not a simple matter.  Lots of buttons, and diving motions, which is even harder when your waist and ribcage are bound so tightly that it renders you  basically inflexible. They finally decided to add 6"  of material to the bottom of the dress, and put me in flats, not boots with heels.
    Honestly, I have never had that much trouble fitting into anything before in my life.  They snapped a picture, and I was good to go.  I felt relieved, especially when the corset came off and realized how easy we all have it, to just breathe freely  without too much constraint.  I will never take breathing for granted again!  I had to smile to myself as the next girl walked out in her dress and they said "It's too long", as she was lifting up the pooling fabric off the floor.

Here's to life and new experiences."