Fashion show highlights Waitsburg resident’s collection of 1960s and ‘70s attire

Nearly 150 guests grooved to music during the P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter CN-sponsored The Way We Were Vintage Fashion Show benefit on May 3 at the Walla Walla Country Club.

Delighted smiles filled faces, heads nodded and feet tapped to the beat of popular 1960s rock ’n’ roll oldies that enlivened the steps of event planner Cheryl Hansen of Waitsburg and nine fellow models styling 40 classic ensembles more than a half century old.

“It’s fashion from around the world, a gift from my mother (Mary “Geraine” Hansen’s) closet to our audience,” Cheryl said. “Some of the clothes came out of a cedar chest for the first time in 58 years. Mama was there, too, to relish the day. The Met Gala has met its match.”

“I love that ensembles were found even recently, packed away in trunks in pristine condition. … Digging through all the clothes and finding the treasures again after so much time, was a gift,” Cheryl said.

The first-ever of its kind for CN members, the show raised funds for scholarships and educational opportunities for women. The philanthropic education organization’s sisters sold 143 tickets at $35 apiece, received another $215 in donations and raised more than $5,000.

“After expenses, we have more than $2,500 to be used for PEO projects,” Hansen said.

Proceeds will benefit P.E.O.’s six international and state scholarship and educational support programs, she said. Women can obtain more information at peointernational.org/educational-support or contact Cheryl, a member of the CN Education, Loans and Scholarship Committee, at 509-520-2382.

Geraine collected and lovingly preserved the show’s ensembles for close to six decades. Geraine is a longtime Waitsburg resident, matriarch and retired farmer approaching her 102nd birthday on May 29.

She was feted at the event where many of the models bussed her cheek in homage as they strolled the room.

Guests sipped wine, tea and coffee and enjoyed an array of delicate, sweet petit fours produced by Country Club chefs to help celebrate Geraine’s impending birthday and thank her, Cheryl said.

Over many years, Geraine and Jim, her husband of 68 years, traveled the world in their time away from raising black Angus cattle, farming wheat on North and South Fork Coppei Road and Coppei Mountain and operating Hansen Harvester Inc. for 57 years. Jim died Sept. 9, 2015.

In 1947, the Hansens bought and moved onto the old Denny place just 3 miles from where Jim grew up with his five siblings on his grandparents’ property on top of Coppei Mountain.

Beginning in 1972, the Hansens took extended trips overseas, the first one to many of the cities in Japan, as well as stops in Taiwan, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Bangkok, the Philippines and Hawaii.

They hit Africa, Rio de Janeiro and parts of Europe during a month in 1974 and later that year 15 days in Spain, Morocco, North Africa and Denmark.

Geraine has kept a detailed list of places they visited including the Middle East and Holy Land, Siberia, Central Asia, the Caribbean and Inside Passage to Alaska via ship, Spain, the Panama Canal, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and various places in the U.S.

A slim 5’ 8”, Geraine amassed a broad variety of striking, colorful styles on their trips, from custom-tailored, metallic-thread embellished Indian saris and embroidered Moroccan jackets to brilliant multi-hued designer gowns, kimonos, furs, minidresses and requisite polyester articles such as pantsuits, the latter considered pretty outré in the 1960s for women who mostly wore skirts and dresses.

Geraine also found trendy ensembles at Carl’s clothing shop at Columbia Center Mall, which opened in 1969. Carl’s got several shoutouts as items from there traversed the runway.

Cheryl, who has described her mother as “a fashionista extraordinaire,” created the Hansen House Couture Collection non-fundraising premiere showcase of 45 of Geraine’s local and global evening gowns and classic business garments from the ‘60s and ‘70s. That show attracted 95 attendees on May 20, 2023, at The Royal Block in Waitsburg.

A tremendous amount of planning and organizational effort also led up to the May 3 show.

“Cheryl was the creative genius behind the event,” said fellow CN sister Renée Reep.

A committee of six organized details. As chair, Cheryl was involved in all creative aspects, including choosing models, writing the show’s narrative, selling tickets and helping with operational details,” Reep said.

Cheryl teamed with model Carol Johnson who reworked Cheryl’s original narrative from 2023 to include additional details on the ensembles’ styles, fabrics, features, occasions, colors and silhouettes, Reep said.

Johnson also selected the music, coordinated each song with a specific outfit and described the singers, bands, composers, lyrics and historical aspects.

The event venue also featured two long mannequins garbed in evening gowns and two bust mannequins adorned with jackets from China, one with a possum hat from New Zealand, the other with a Mao Zedong hat from China.

Models included CN members Jane Baffney, Elizabeth Harris Matschukat, Susan Matley, Kathy Utschinski and Cheryl Hansen, as well as Johnson, Jolie Welch, Jani Jansen, Karla Scott and Renee Adams.

Emcee Deanna Tipton is a member of Waitsburg P.E.O. Chapter BE.

The models tweaked their period hairstyles and makeup to coordinate with each outfit and brought their own shoes, hair accessories, handbags, sunglasses, rhinestone necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Geraine added such items as a long cigarette holder, cat-eye glasses, hats, long gloves and jewelry.

Val Cochran and Trish Vargas gave great assistance to the models making rapid clothing changes in the backstage dressing room.

First on the catwalk, Harris Matschukat opened the show in an ankle-length, sleek black silk Thai sheath dress with mandarin clasp closures and grooved along the runway to The Hollies’ “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.” Geraine had the dress custom made, assembled in one day by a tailor, while she and Jim were in Southeast Asia in 1972.

Johnson strutted the room to the beat of Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 hit, “These Boots Are Made for Walking’,” while clad in a knee-length hot-pink flower-power “housedress.”

Cheryl said Geraine wore the garment when cooking breakfast, working in the garden, snapping beans, or making homemade applesauce for the family and crew. “What a fun dress and how can you not love the white go-go boots?” queried emcee Tipton.

The narrative included historical commentary about each item and song. When Tipton spoke about the house dress, she added, “Mainstream fashion saw an influx of bold colors and patterns inspired by the era’s countercultural pulse. Notable trends included long hair worn by both men and women as a symbol of rebellion and freedom.

“Clothes featured psychedelic patterns, reflecting the influence of ‘flower power’ and an affinity between peace and love. Fashion icons and everyday individuals alike mixed these elements to create a unique fashion statement that was both a personal and a cultural expression.”

Among the variety of striking outfits model Matley appeared in was a terrific long-sleeved 8/40 minidress in black and white horizontal stripes, black Peter Pan collar, cuffs and patch pockets with a bright red bow at the neck and jaunty cherry red beret. It has a significant story.

La Société des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux/The Society of 40 Men and 8 Horses or 40 & 8 reflects Jim’s World War II combat service. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Engineers in March 1943, served in the European Theater of Operations with the 846th Engineer Aviation Battalion and earned five battle stars for service in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes at the Battle of the Bulge, Rhineland and Central Europe where he landed on Normandy Beach, six days after D-Day, to construct the first landing strip near Bayeux for the 9th Air Force.

The 40 et 8 is an independent, invitation-only honor society of American veterans. Jim was an active member/Chef de Gare or station master with Walla Walla 40/8 Chapter 271 and Geraine belonged to the 8 et 40 women’s auxiliary.

Forty et 8 is derived from World War I-era French boxcars that transported American doughboys to France’s Western Front where fierce fighting took place between Allied nations and Axis powers. Each rail car had the emblem 40/8 stenciled on its sides signifying its carrying capacity of 40 men or 8 horses.

“They were seen as a miserable way to travel and the new organization was thus called the 40 et 8 in an attempt to make light of the common misery the men shared,” Cheryl said.

Chapter 271 met in the Hansens’ basement. The auxiliary women made and wore their striped dresses on occasion.

“She loved looking her best whether in the house, working in the garden, going to town for meetings, or traveling abroad. Even today at almost 102 years of age, she dresses up every day, wears earrings and perfume and takes pride in her life,” Cheryl said.

Her favorite country is Hong Kong where she could shop and enjoy the food. Jim especially enjoyed South Africa where he could see all the farms.

“She would go to a tailor shop, pick out the fabric and design of clothing, do a fitting a few hours later and within 24 hours the outfit was completed and wrapped up for her in her room. The tailors were amazing,” Cheryl said.

“I’m happy to see some of the outfits I wore. I loved them, the two- to three-piece outfits were especially great looking,” Geraine said. “It’s hard to even remember wearing all that many. However, I do remember the places where we were when I saw each one, they bring back memories.”