She parties like it’s 1899.
Oregon’s Adelaide Beeman-White is winding back the clock on haute couture by dressing like she stepped out of a time machine from the late 19th century.
Instead of the usual suit, the 27-year-old associate attorney wears a handmade long skirt with puffed sleeves, a feathered hat and even a parasol, parroting the style of the 1800s Victorian era, Oregon Live reported.
“I’m stuck very solidly in about 1893 to ‘98,” the Hillsboro resident told the outlet of her Victorian-core style. “I love that period primarily because the clothing is the best.”
Beeman-White, who regularly shares photos of her retro ensembles on Instagram, also rocks leather gloves and a chatelaine, a decorative metal belt outfitted with accessories from fingernail clippers to a coin purse like a wearable Swiss Army Knife.
Unfortunately, the 19th-century cosplayer is not allowed the aforementioned couture in court. Like a super hero with a secret identity, the Oregonian rocks a separate normal outfit for the judge, which comprises a comparatively staid plain, black J. Crew blazer.
Her style could perhaps be compared to Cottagecore — a lifestyle and fashion trend that romanticizes a slower, simpler time, a la “Little Women” or “Little House on the Prairie” — but for the 1800s.
The Victorian lifestyle isn’t just cosmetic — it’s a way of a life. Beeman-White also acts the part by lighting her bedroom with oil lamps and sewing and mending her own clothing from vintage fabrics — a process she documents for her over 20,000 followers on Youtube.
The old-school litigator even wrote to AAA with a dip pen and ink when it came time to renew her membership.
This 19th-century fascination began in the sixth grade, when the Pacific Northwesterner traded in her jeans for a skirt, which kept getting longer and decked out in lace as time went on.
“The speed of modern life has bothered me for as long as I can remember,” said Beeman-White, whose fascination conversely lay with the past.
She was especially fascinated with Queen Elizabeth I.
“I think she just really admired Queen Elizabeth and saw her as a really powerful woman and feminine figure,” recalled her mother Harriet Beeman, a therapist. “She led the military and did all these things that men would’ve done, that women hadn’t really been doing. That was part of it.”
By early high school, Beeman-White dove headfirst into the role and was even a “celebrity” in her neighborhood with local residents comparing her to “Mary Poppins,” per her mother.
Why did she choose to live her life like the 1800s? Beeman-White explained, “The technological discoveries and advancements that are happening from 1890 to 1910, that would’ve been one of the most exciting periods to be alive.”
Although the lawyer clarifies that she loves the reforms of the era — ie. labor unions, woman fighting for the right to vote — and not the “oppressive and repressive and cruel policies and things that were going on at that time.”
But Beeman-White is not just wallowing in the nostalgia and conversely suggests that a Victorian pace of life benefits the mind.
“We need to take our time with things,” she said. “Focus on actually enjoying life. It’s very bad for people psychologically to be rushing around not taking time to smell the flowers.”
