Move over, Mrs. Russell. Peggy Scott is serving looks and truths on ‘The Gilded Age!’
[ATTENTION FABULOUS SUBSCRIBERS: I’ve decided to expand The Awakening beyond food and beverage. I’d love to highlight happenings in pop culture, too, after my “Sinners” post resonated with so many readers. Food and beverages are still my favorite things to write about, so continue to look for my unique takes. Please join me on this fun new journey!]
When it comes to keeping it real on “The Gilded Age,” one person you can thank is Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a Rutgers University–New Brunswick history professor. She is the co-executive producer of HBO’s “The Gilded Age” and when it comes to the Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) storyline, you’d better believe she’s going to get the details historically accurate.
“The parallel story in Black America is that there is a Black elite: a Black middle-class community that has managed—one, two, or three generations removed from slavery—to amass status and wealth,” said Dunbar, the Charles and Mary Beard Distinguished Professor of History at the School of Arts and Sciences, in an interview with Rutgers University’s magazine. “The fragility of that status and wealth is palpable, and that narrative has to be referenced in one way or another if we are going to talk about wealth, progression, and oppression in New York at that time.”
One of my favorite storylines of “The Gilded Age” is the fashions. THE FASHIONS. I love that the show’s Black characters dress as luxurious and well tailored as their white counterparts. That includes the many Black couples used as extras in scenes in Brooklyn as well as walking up 5th Avenue.
History will tell us that during this post-Reconstruction period that the Black community dressed to not bring too much attention to themselves. Nevertheless, when Peggy and Timothy Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones), the publisher of The New York Age, visited Tuskegee College in Alabama, her bold choices of bustling dresses and hats in bright colors stood apart from everyone else’s. There was a stark contrast of their stylish, New York attire compared to the Southern Black residents, who wore muted tones and head wraps on the women.
For the past two seasons, Peggy has been absolutely killing it, and as far as I’m concerned, she dresses better than anyone else on the show. And that includes Mrs. Russell. Her choices in hats and mixing colors and textures are indeed statements, politically charged, too. It’s like she’s proclaiming, “I’m not going to remain in the shadows!” Her parents dress a bit more conservatively, yet still very expensive.
In the end, I’m looking forward to seeing all that Peggy’s going to give us in looks this season!
Excited to read your takes on pop culture!