West Dressed Women

The MClub held its first event of 2019 at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum (SBHM) with Richard and Amanda Payatt speaking and touring us through the exhibit, West Dressed Women. The Payatts have interesting credentials. Richard has the largest collection of British military uniforms in private hands in the United States. He was one of the founders of the International Costumer’s Guild West and has lectured extensively on costumes. Richard and Amanda have forty plus years of publishing experience between them and decades in the food and wine industries. They write weekly for The Voice paper.

As director Dacia Harwood explained, “This small exhibit is a part of the 5,000 costumes that are in the vault under the Museum.” One of the beauties of the collection is the wedding gown of Anita de la Guerra for her marriage to Alfred Robinson in 1836. Another highlight was a seven-foot tall painting by Huguette Clark (the mysterious mansion on the hill above East beach was her home) of a Japanese woman in traditional dress. We ended a splendid afternoon with a wine talk and tasting.

You can still see the exhibit at the SBHM at 136 East De la Guerra. If you’d like to know more about the MClub, call Maria McCall at 805.722.0144.