Nearly forgotten but glorious art, envisionings and historical oddments from the back corners of the internet
Heading out in a hat so huge there are three escorts needed to keep the hats from knocking the blossoms off the sunflowers and passersby into the gutter. The 1957 Los Angeles Headdress Ball was the 19th annual Las Floristas charity event held on April 29, 1957, hosted at the Cocoanut Grove inside the Ambassador Hotel. It featured elaborate, custom floral headpieces modeled by prominent society figures. Two of these images are from 1957 with the other ones being from 1958.
Headdress Ball, 29 April 1957. The ladies were members of Theta Chi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Chi Phi (Kappa Chi), Delta Chi Sigma (Alpha X) where were social (not sure of the name) sororities as opposed to the college student kind. Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California USA. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Under copyright. Fair use license. via https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2A3BXZ6SPK581&PN=4&DocRID=2A3BF1OPQ7UQ5Headdress Ball, 29 April 1957. The ladies were members of Theta Chi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Chi Phi (Kappa Chi), Delta Chi Sigma (Alpha X) where were social (not sure of the name) sororities as opposed to the college student kind. Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California USA. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Under copyright. Fair use license. via https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2A3BXZ6SPKJCB&PN=2&DocRID=2A3BF1OPQILSIThree women in gowns and headdresses at Las Floristas Headdress Ball at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California USA. May 3, 1952. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Daily News newspaper. Los Angeles Daily News Negatives Collection, University of California Los Angeles Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections. Cc0 License 4.0. via https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002pdp8“Las Floristas” Headdress Ball, 1958. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Under copyright. Fair use license. via https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2A3BXZ6SPGUHD&PN=11&DocRID=2A3BF1OPNTB9C“Las Floristas” Headdress Ball, 1958. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Under copyright. Fair use license. via https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2A3BXZ6SPG357&PN=14&DocRID=2A3BF1OPFSPW3
Learn more about the Las Floristas Headdress Ball which raises money to support the health and educational programs for special-needs and disabled children at the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center children’s clinic. here. The article includes a photograph of Lucille Ball dressed to join right in https://thewackytacky.blogspot.com/2016/04/havin-ball-headdress-ball.html
On a voyage to see how much mileage I can get from the creative ability and eye for images that my family thought was useless. On line art curator, fiction writer and now blogger. Historian's daughter. Follow me . . .even I have no idea where I'm going next.
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