Bonnie Parker: Research

I spent my high school years growing up in Joplin, MO, which was when I first became interested in Bonnie and Clyde. I had a classmate in my French class who was obsessed. She felt connected to Bonnie because they had a lot of similarities. My curiosity was peaked, and I did some research into the two. The phase was short lived as I was going through my Tudor phase which I was pretty much obsessed with from reading a book about Elizabeth I in seventh grade until the end of high school.

My interest was peaked again when the History Channel released their mini series in 2013 and when I discovered the Bonnie and Clyde musical in 2016. As I started doing mild research into the pair and knew I wanted to recreate the Joplin photograph ensemble sometime, but was lacking the opportunity.

Joplin Photograph of Bonnie and Clyde

I have the great pleasure of working part time for a living history ranch, and we decided to do an event that focused on Texas law enforcement and criminal history from 1830 until 1930. And I quickly suggested that for the 1930 section we focus on the Dallas outlaws. Okay, I might have completely suggested the theme with the intention of playing Bonnie Parker but that is beside the point. With my opportunity secured, I want along with proceeding with my research.

The first thing I wanted to do was nail down the color combination as the only photographs we have of the ensemble are in black and white. It has been widely assumed that the outfit was in red because Bonnie did prefer outfits made in red. 

Colorized version of the Joplin Photographs
that show the ensemble in red.

The Bonnie and Clyde musical also followed in with this trend in making the outfit in red. 

Promotional image for Bonnie and Clyde Musical

While lovely, the red never did seem right to be to me. Then I came across this article from the Texas Hideout about the ensemble. In the article, "Boots" Hinton says his father, who knew Bonnie when she was younger and was part of the posse that untimely ended her life, did see the ensemble and said it black with the upper portion having stripes in red, green, and yellow. The History Channel mini series chose to follow Ted Hinton's account when they recreated the ensemble.

Holliday Granger as Bonnie Parker in the
History Channel mini series.

As I really liked how the effect of how the History Channel outfit turned out so elegantly, I decided to follow Ted Hinton's account as well. Without an original garment in existence and no other account to compare it too, I decided to take his as accurate as it was possible he may have seen the ensemble. 

Let me tell you it was extremely difficult to find out any information about this particular outfit. Beside Mr. Hinton's, I was unable to uncover another eyewitness account about it, which just leaves several grainy photographs to gather the details from. And I swear I studied those for hours trying to decipher every little detail. My co-workers thought I got a little obsessive with the project, and perhaps I did between my costume research and the like seven books I read on the couple, but I really wanted this to be perfect. The more I learned about the two I really wanted Bonnie to get some justice in being portrayed how she was instead of who the media has led us to believe she was. 

In the above article by Texas Hideout, it was mentioned that Bonnie was known to be an avid knitter and it is likely that she knitted the famous sweater herself. My original thought had been to sew the sweater by piecing together different sweater knits as Lauren from American Duchess did in her Bonnie inspired sweater project. But the more I uncovered the more I knew I wanted it to be knitted. Unfortunately, I am not a very proficient knitter. I can almost make a scarf, but I reached out to a friend of mine, Kat, who agreed to knit the sweater for me. It was very important to me that the sweater be just right, as I felt that where most attempts to recreate this outfit go wrong is in the creation of the sweater. Because of this Kat and I spent a lot of time researching and creating this sweater. I will go more into detail in covering that in the article that details the sweater. 

I also fussed about which fabric to use when creating the skirt and bolero portion of the ensemble. It was very had to tell from the pictures exactly what it is. To me it did appear to have a rougher weave to it. I did uncover in my research (but I can't tell you where as I did do this research around a year ago) that fabrics made from natural fibers with a rough weave where more popular in the 1930's. I considered using a suiting fabric, but couldn't find the right one. I spent months looking for this fabric. Before uncovering a wool blend fabric hidden in the apparel section of Joann's. It was fairly cheap as I purchased the entire amount needed for $23. I was a little nervous as it does have a wide stripe woven into the fabric, I debated about getting it for a while before deciding to do so afraid I wouldn't find anything else I like. I am very glad I did so too. The stripes aren't very noticeable on camera, but help give the outfit depth and texture. 

That's it for today. I plan to do two more articles on the ensemble. One that breaks down the sweater and bolero, and the other that will cover the skirt and accessories before the final reveal of the outfit. I'd love to hear anything you guys have to say about the outfit so feel free to leave a comment.