1936 - The Year the Southern Bell Costume Was Born
Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone With the Wind”, the best selling novel was published on June 30th, 1936. The book would also become an award winning movie. After losing her job, due to physical injuries, reporting for the Atlanta Journal, Mitchell began writing the book, using an old Remington typewriter that chronicled the life of an Atlanta southern belle named Scarlett O'Hara. Originally named Pansy she was renamed Scarlett at the suggestion of a MacMillan Publishing editor before the book was published. The book was later adapted for the 1939 blockbuster movie, Gone With the Wind. Mitchell used tales handed down from relatives and from Confederate Civil War veterans she had known as a young girl.
”Gone With the Wind” was a huge success in Atlanta and sold millions of copies in the U.S. and worldwide. Some were critical of the book for it's romanticizing of the South and its slave owing elite. Never the less the sprawling epic of the Civil War captivated a world of readers. For her efforts in writing the fictional book she won the elusive Pulitzer Prize in 1937. By this the time movie adaptation of the book was already in the planning stages. Vivian Leigh was named to play Scarlett and Clark Gable would be her dashing lover Rhett Butler. The movie went on to break box office records and won nine Academy Awards.
”Gone With the Wind” was a huge success in Atlanta and sold millions of copies in the U.S. and worldwide. Some were critical of the book for it's romanticizing of the South and its slave owing elite. Never the less the sprawling epic of the Civil War captivated a world of readers. For her efforts in writing the fictional book she won the elusive Pulitzer Prize in 1937. By this the time movie adaptation of the book was already in the planning stages. Vivian Leigh was named to play Scarlett and Clark Gable would be her dashing lover Rhett Butler. The movie went on to break box office records and won nine Academy Awards.
The book and movie went on to become the inspiration for two of the most popular costumes ever. The Southern Belle Costume and the Civil War Soldiers Costume are still the most sought after costumes for costume balls, school parties and plays, and trick or treating costumes for the little ones. These costumes can be purchased at the online store Civil-War-Costumes.com for unbeatable Internet prices.