Mom And Dad Go To The Opera
Or, Why Are We Dressed Up Like It's 1899?
Quick, follow us on Instagram @momanddadwritearomance!
This post is for all the people we hope to meet on Saturday, March 28th when we’re attending La Traviata at the Met, strolling through Central Park, or eating at Keen’s Steakhouse. While wearing clothes that look like this:
Yep, we’re going to turn heads and we hope it’s in a good way. And we hope that people smile, even point, and wonder what we’re up to. We’ll hand them “calling cards” with our names on them and a QR code that will lead here. So, for you new friends, here’s our FAQ:
What are you doing?
We are writing a period romance novel together! And to get it right, we have to do the hard research of partying like it’s 1899. That means attending the opera — the Saturday matinee performance of La Traviata featuring Lisette Oropesa in the role of Violetta, to be precise.
This research trip also means we’re staying in a hotel that existed in 1899 — the Lotte New York Palace (@newyorkpalace) and dining at Keen’s Steakhouse (@keenssteakhouse) which was already delivering its famous mutton leg to diners (albeit only males) in 1899 as well. To get from one place to another we hope to take a carriage through Central Park. If we met you at any of those places, we hope we made your day a bit brighter! By the time you met us we have probably posted a ton of photos on Instagram, check us out there (and follow!) at @momanddadwritearomance.
Who are you?
Look, just between us, we’re not authors and we’re not influencers. I mean, we know how to use Instagram and build a Substack to host our little project. But there’s no money, no sponsors, we’re just a cute old couple (approaching our 60s now, gulp!) who believe that to remain a happy couple into our twilight years we have to take imaginative, creative, and romantic leaps together. Writing a romance novel is part of that, so is dressing up and going to the opera. And wait until we go to the Winter Ball at the Breakers in Newport this December! We hope to drag some friends along to that one. Maybe you’ll come, too and meet us there? Who says we want to hog all this romance and joy to ourselves?
But what about the historical accuracy of your book, your outfits, your…
Wait, did we plant you in the audience to ask that exact question? James might have, actually, because he’s the one obsessed with the history here. Take our opera outfits, for example. We’re dressed in Saturday matinee clothes appropriate to 1899 — not the fabulous evening opera outfits that would have been worn on a Tuesday night. The tiaras, the jewelry, the low-cut tops — all of that was evening attire. Matinee performances were preferred by many of the wealthiest because they had plenty of time after 3-4 hours of opera to attend a dinner and a ball afterward, dancing until the wee hours of the morning. But because the dinner and ball would require evening wear, the matinee attire was more typical of what are called Walking Suits for the ladies and Morning Suits for the men. We’ve sourced some spot-on items of clothing, including all the accessories. Here’s just a short list. For Megan: flowered hat, wrist-length gloves (elbow length were for evening wear!), buttoned walking boots (see below), an opera clutch, opera glasses, and so much more! For James: top hat, cravat (which he made himself), jeweled cravat pin, sterling silver cufflinks, gloves, cane (we’ll see if the Met lets us bring that in), and a lapel pin with some personal meaning.
We grew up listening to Cyndi Lauper tell us that Girls Just Want To Have Fun, but why should girls be the only ones? And won’t you come along? We’d love to have you follow, contribute, share ideas with us (so many of you are sending us private emails about your favorite Gilded Age items and locations, go ahead and post those on here!). Basically, it would be nice in this otherwise topsy-turvy world to share some moment of pure joy and frivolity together. And maybe a reminder that there are people you and us out there, people who believe in love (and, James insists on adding, historical accuracy). If you know someone who would enjoy that with us, please share this with them!