Jessica McClintock, dressmaker who outfitted generations of prom-goers and brides, dies at 90
Emily Langer, The Washington Post
March 15, 2021
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High school students shop for prom dresses at the Jessica McClintock boutique at Tysons Corner Center in Northern Virginia in 2011.Washington Post photo by Sarah L. Voisin.
Jessica McClintock, a fashion designer who outfitted generations of young women for their homecoming dances and proms, supplied their bridesmaid dresses and bridal gowns and thus evoked for many a lace-draped aura of nostalgia, died Feb. 16 at her home in San Francisco. She was 90.
She had congestive heart failure, said a half sister, Mary Santoro.
Lamain
Opening night began with everyone on stage, standing in a circle for the traditional “break a leg” pep talk. It was something I had learned when I had worked at the Red School House, a school for native Indian students in St. Paul.
I had asked “Why do we gather in a circle for our school meetings?”
Porky, the elder of the tribe told me, “It’s because in a circle we are all equally close to the center.”
I again reminded the cast, as I had done so often during rehearsals, that we were all equally important. By way of example, I reminded them that if the person who opens and closes the curtain fails to do their job at the beginning of the show, there would be no show. We were all stars and our ultimate success depended on each of us giving our very best. I reminded them where we had started from and where we now were that night. We held hands, and for a brief moment said our individual prayers, praying for each other and for ourselves, and then it was show ti
For the Gazette
On one of my weekend exploratory trips I went to Calumet, Michigan, 15 miles north of Hancock. The town was a historical treasure. I learned that in its zenith, at the turn of the century, it was a thriving town surrounded by copper mines. At its height there was even some talk in the Michigan legislature to make Calumet the State Capital.
The mines were owned by big money interests from the Boston area. From 1907-1968 daily passenger trains connected the town to the rest of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. In fact, one could get on the “Sleeper” in Chicago in the early evening and arrive in Calumet the next morning. European Immigrants poured into the area seeking and finding work in the copper mines. Calumet was settled in 1864. Its original name was “Red Jacket” named for a Native American Chief of the Seneca tribe.