Civil War dresses coming to Antioch musem

Ainsley Wonderling carefully dressed mannequins in original Civil War dresses Monday in preparation for a 150-year-old fashion show.

The Lakes Region Historical Society will present "Ladies Attire of the Civil War: A Nation Mourns," at its Meeting House Museum, 977 Main St., Antioch, beginning July 16 and running through Sept. 6.

"It will be interesting for people because of the textiles and the colors," said Wonderling, the museum's director. "People always imagine that women wore black and brown and gray because they didn't have any money. So when they see the colors, the hot pinks and the purple polk-a-dots, and the summer shears and the ballgowns, they realize that there was another side of the war besides soldiers and cannons."

The exhibit contains more than 30 original dresses and accessories from the Civil War, and commemorates the end of the war and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Admission for the show is $7, with the proceeds going fund work to paint the exterior of The Meeting House.

The museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (847) 395-4912 or visit the website at www.lakesregionhistory.org.