It’s described as the “pinnacle of fashion.” New York Fashion Week draws models, celebrities, critics and designers for a week of cutting-edge couture, highlighting the intersection of fashion and passion. The excitement around the runway reminds us that fashion is more than garments—it’s an artform that helps us express our personality, display the ideal form of ourselves and, in some cases, connect us to a special time or place.
Many of us have something in our closet that we keep both for its beauty and for its sentimental value. For Bea Crumbine, a resident at Edgehill, it’s a tea dress.
Bea has lived all over the world and sung before audiences at the White House, the Vatican, and Carnegie Hall before settling in Greenwich. Her style is impeccable, but the piece that stands out for her doesn’t bear a designer label. It was given to her through the estate of a late friend, long-time Greenwich community leader Nancy Standard.
The 19th century dress is floor length and made of exquisite white lace. Nancy collected and preserved historic clothing and Bea honors the heritage of this dress by wearing it at events like historic garden parties and functions at the Greenwich Historical Society.
Bea says each time she wears it, “I always feel as if the clock stopped before 1870.” She is both caretaker and model, honoring her friend and displaying a piece of American fashion history.