Dresses Considered by Scarlett O’Hara for the Twelve Oaks Barbecue
The troublesome question was: what dress should she wear to the barbecue? What dress would best set off her charms and make her most irresistible to Ashley? Since eight o’clock she had been trying on and rejecting dresses, and now she stood dejected and irritable in lace pantalets, linen corset cover and three billowing lace and linen petticoats. Discarded garments lay about her on the floor, the bed, the chairs, in bright heaps of color and straying ribbons.
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The dress: “the rose organdy with long pink sash”
Pros: “becoming”
Cons: “she had worn it last summer when Melanie visited Twelve Oaks”
Jealousy factor: “[Melanie] would be sure to remember it. And might be catty enough to mention it”
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The dress: “the black bombazine”
Pros: “set off her white skin superbly”
Cons: “it did make her look a trifle elderly”
Jealousy factor: “Scarlett peered anxiously in the mirror at her sixteen-year-old-face as if expecting to see wrinkles and sagging chin muscles. It would never do to appear sedate and elderly before Melanie’s sweet youthfulness”
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The dress: “the lavender barred muslin”
Pros: “beautiful with those wide insets of lace and net about the hem”
Cons: “it had never suited her type”
Jealousy factor: “Scarlett felt that it made her look like a schoolgirl. It would never do to appear schoolgirlish beside Melanie’s poised self”
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The dress: “the green plaid taffeta, frothing with flounces and each flounce edged in green velvet ribbon”
Pros: “in fact her favorite dress, for it darkened her eyes to emerald”
Cons: “unmistakably a grease spot on the front of the basque”
Jealousy factor: “Her brooch could be pinned over the spot, but perhaps Melanie had sharp eyes”
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The dress: “the green sprigged muslin she had worn yesterday”
Pros/Cons/Jealousy factor: “It was not suitable for a barbecue, for it had only tiny puffed sleeves and the neck was low enough for a dancing dress. But there was nothing else to do but wear it. After all she was not ashamed of her neck and arms and bosom, even if it was not correct to show them in the morning.”
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The winner: “the green sprigged muslin she had worn yesterday”
Mammy’s reaction: “No, you ain’. It ain’ fittin’ fer mawnin’. You kain show yo’ buzzum befo’ three o’clock an’ dat dress ain’ got no neck an’ no sleeves. An you’ll git freckled sho as you born, an’ Ah ain’ figgerin’ on you gittin’ freckled affer all de buttermilk Ah been puttin’ oh you all dis winter… Ah sho gwine speak ter yo’ Ma ‘bout you.”
Scarlett’s rejoinder: “If you say one word to her before I’m dressed I won’t eat a bite.”
How the issue is ultimately settled: “Mammy sighed resignedly, beholding herself outguessed. Between the two evils, it was better to have Scarlett wear an afternoon dress at a morning barbecue than to have her gobble like a hog.”
All excerpts from Chapter 5 of Gone with the Wind.