The exhibit, mounted by the Preservation Society of Newport County's curatorial staff, is dedicated to Marguerite Almy Allyn (1885-1985), who assembled a collection of ancestral clothing from various family branches.

The collection descended in the Almy, Ballou and Granbery families of Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.  Marguerite was a descendant of Maturin Ballou, a French Huguenot who fled to America in search of religious liberty in 1685, and was among the earliest settlers of the Narragansett Bay region in Rhode Island.  She was also a descendant of Christopher (1632-1713) and Elizabeth (1642-1708) Almy of nearby Portsmouth, Rhode Island.  The Almy family has maintained a presence in the Newport area ever since. 

Marguerite's daughter, Diana Allyn, married E. Carleton Granbery, Jr.  She carried on the preservation of family artifacts, expanding the clothing into the Granbery family line.  The Granberys were prominent in New York's political, social and financial scenes.  The expanded collection was inherited by Marguerite's granddaughters, Joya Granbery Hoyt and Pamela Granbery, who, following the family tradition of preservation, donated the majority of the collection to the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1997.

The exhibit features several pieces from this evocative collection, interspersed with family mementoes and related vintage photographs.  Among the highlights on display is a vibrant blue ball gown (circa 1865) worn by Lydia Ballou (1823-1894).  According to family tradition, the fabric was purchased in Europe by her husband John Young, one of the founders of Tiffany, Young & Ellis, a supplier of luxury goods in New York which later became the high-end retailer Tiffany's.

Several children's fashion ensembles are displayed, including a French silk/satin "Marie Antoinette" fancy dress costume (circa 1890) worn by Miss Mary Godfrey Barr, a sister of Julia Barr (later Mrs. E. Carleton Granbery 1879-1941).  Fancy dress costume parties were very popular among the New York social set during the Gilded Age, and Marie Antoinette, an icon for the late 19^th century elite, was one of the most popular costume choices for adults and children.

Representing the 1930s is a silk/satin debutante dress worn by Lydia Ballou Allyn to her debut in Washington in 1935, a period known to American Society as the "Age of the Debutante." The dress is a perfect representation of the glamour and pre-Hollywood celebrity of many of the debutantes of this era.  Following the tradition of  peers such as Doris Duke and Alletta McBean, Lydia Allyn went on to be a model and was well-known as one of Oleg Cassini's muses in Florence, Italy following her debut. 

Another piece from the first half of the 20^th century is a stylish silk chiffon evening dress (French, circa 1925) worn by Lydia Ballou Almy (1881-1961), the wife of Admiral Wilson Brown and a Washington society hostess renowned for her Oriental theme parties during the 1920s.  Mrs. Brown traveled the Pacific extensively and was influenced by an Oriental sense of fashion as seen in her evening clothes.

The exhibit, included as part of the Rosecliff mansion tour, will be on display in the Lesley Bogert Crawford Costume Gallery on the second floor of Rosecliff through October.  Rosecliff is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.

The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island is a non-profit educational organization accredited by the American Association of Museums and dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area's historic architecture, landscapes and decorative arts.  Its 11 historic properties—seven of them National Historic Landmarks—span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.