Summer 1971: Scraps from the Cutting Room Floor
Bits and pieces from here and there relating to costume in Canada
From the Evening Telegram, Toronto, May 6, 1936
“Sixty years ago Miss Ida Romain, a belle of early Toronto, dancing partner of princes and statesmen, created a sensation with a remarkable costume made entirely of newspaper, which she wore to a fancy dress ball given on behalf of the Protestant Orphans’ Home. That costume, yellowed but intact is still in the possession of Miss Romain, now a woman of 86 with a fund of interesting memories … The dress comprises of the Telegraph (predecessor to the Telegram), Glove, and Leader, Toronto papers of that time. Miss Romain made it herself with the aid of a seamstress, sewing the newspapers firmly to stiff buckram, and cleverly fashioning frills for the voluminous skirt and tight bodice … she ever contrived a newspaper bouquet-holder … A Toronto newspaper account of the ball had this to say of Miss Romain’s dress: ‘The attire worn by Miss Romain was remarkable for its novelty. It consisted of a complete dress and overskirt with the panniers made of issues of the city press with the names of the three daily papers published in the city conspicuous on the front of the over-skirt … Miss Romain’s partners could easily read the news of the day while enjoying the whirlings of the gallopade…”