Book Club · August
A costume guide for Kathryn Stockett's 1933 Mississippi — built from closets, not costume shops.
Our book club read The Calamity Club this August, and we did what any reasonable group of women would do: we got in costume and filmed it. If you saw the video, this is the guide behind it. If you want to do the same with your own club, everything below comes out of a normal closet, an attic, or one husband's side of the wardrobe.
Two rules before you start. First, 1933 is not flapper year — the drop waists are leftovers, the hemlines have come down, and everyone is making do. Faded, mended, and sensible reads more true than fringe. Second, the prop matters more than the dress. A ledger, a ring of keys, a cigarette holder is what turns a vintage dress into a character.
The eight women below are ordered by how easy they are to cast in a real group — the first two can come straight from anyone's own closet.
1.Birdie Calhoun
the practical, principled Delta bookkeeper
Sunday closet
Birdie is a bookkeeper who came to Oxford to save the family home, and she dresses like someone who counts every dime because she does. A plain cotton day dress in a faded calico, a buttoned cardigan, and the most sensible shoes you own. Nothing should look new.
The prop: a ledger, with a pencil behind the ear.
2.Charlie Lefleur
Meg's mother, newly out of Ellisville — all fire and fury
A trip to the attic
Charlie arrives with nothing left to lose and dresses like it anyway. A good coat worn like a statement, a hat, gloves, and a red lip with no apology in it. She is the best-dressed woman on the page and she knows exactly what it cost her.
The prop: an envelope of cash, held tight.
3.Garnett Pittman
the purity crusader who chairs the orphanage
Sunday closet
Every group needs a villain, and Garnett is the easiest costume on this list: a high collar buttoned to the throat, hair scraped back hard, spectacles, and one small cross. The costume is really a posture — disapproval, sustained for the length of the video.
The prop: a ring of keys.
4.Flossy
experienced, weary, protective
Fully committed
Flossy has seen everything and is impressed by none of it. A tight pink dress, men's shoes worn without apology, finger waves, and a dark red lip. The contrast does most of the acting for you.
The prop: a cigarette holder, unlit.
5.Frances "Frannie" Tartt
the sister who married up, hiding it all
A trip to the attic
Frannie wears the nicest dress in the room, gloves, and a brooch, and the whole performance is in how tightly she holds it together. Pick your best pastel and act like nothing whatsoever is wrong at home.
The prop: a pocketbook that stays firmly shut.
6.Mrs. Tartt
the elegant matriarch about to lose the house
A trip to the attic
Dark silk, pearls worn like authority, and a structured hat. Mrs. Tartt dresses as if the money is still there, which is precisely the point. The oldest, most formal pieces you can find are the right ones.
The prop: the deed to the house.
7.Ruby Slipper
volatile, tough, the muscle
Raid his closet
A man's jacket over a slip dress, boots, hair undone. Ruby is the costume for whoever in your group has the best glare. Borrow the jacket from a husband and do not give it back until filming is over.
The prop: a flask she does not share.
8.Meg Lefleur
the 11-year-old "unadoptable" orphan
Best in the group shot
Meg is bright, deadpan, and eleven, which makes her a tricky solo costume for a grown woman. She works best as part of the group shot: a pinafore over a worn dress, braids, scuffed shoes. If your club has a daughter or granddaughter willing to cameo, this is her part.
The prop: a borrowed book, half-read.
Host your own Calamity night
The full host kit — casting guide, menu, and the discussion questions we actually used — is free by email.
1933 · Prohibition never stopped anybody
An independent fan-made guide. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the author or publisher. Character interpretations are our own.