1956: Marie Margaret Tanner from St Louis was 19 years old that Christmas, and just engaged to Mr John Owen Rottler. She must have spent a fortune on this celebratory Claudia Young ensemble: an ecru wool dress with ruching on the sides, with a raspberry cotton velvet evening coat. It had good juju: the marriage lasted 54 years, until Marie Rottler’s death in March 2012, and they had seven children, nine grandchildren, and (so far), one great-granddaughter.
Thank you granddaughter number one, Erin Truax, for sending us the fantastic fashion collection of your Grammy, complete with the notes she wrote to commemmorate their notable occasions. Here’s the engagement ensemble today, the dress sadly having fallen victim to the evil tineola bisselliella (clothes moth–sounds eviller in Latin), and preparing for its second life after a spot of judicious and creative visible mending. The coat, however, is as good as new…
