ANTIQUE CLOTHING WOOS 20TH CENTURY BUYERS

Jabot and cuffs and beaded evening purses were must fashion accessories.

Rhinestone jewelry was the rage in the '20s and '30s along with silk hosiery and pastel leather gloves.

It takes some time and effort to complete a collection, but it's become a fun and fashionable hobby for vintage clothing collectors.

Cape Girardeau's antique dealers and shops don't have a huge collection to select from but do offer a variety of different eras and styles.

Some of the clothes, especially lingerie, are a bit risque.

"It's almost to the point of being naughty," said Evelyn Alberson, an employee of Another Time Another Place antique shop.

The shop has antique lingerie -- a handmade bra and panty set with a pattern, several slips, teddies and a crepe pajama set -- on display.

Most of the clothing collection comes from estate sales and auctions, Alberson said.

"It takes a true collector to buy the clothes," she said, adding that photographers and drama groups often rent vintage clothing for special occasions.

Many people are also using the antique clothing as decoration in their homes.

"How many people make their own lingerie now?" she asked, adding that many of the items appear to be handmade.

Paula King, chairman of the Human Environmental Studies department at Southeast Missouri State University, said vintage clothing is not necessarily valuable.

"If it's special in some way, it's valuable," Kings said. "Usually it is if it has the name of the designer or dressmaker or if it's associated with someone famous."

Jan McKernan's vintage clothing is special to her. She has been collecting vintage clothing for about 20 years. Many of the items were bought through friends or estate sales.

"I pick up things I like," she said. Most of her collection is from the 1920s or Victorian era.

She has several dresses, jewelry and accessories from the '20s. She also has a Victorian wedding dress that dates back to 1870.

"I have two or three dresses that I've worn and all the accessories," McKernan said. "I think I should have lived then."

McKernan said it is often difficult to find vintage clothing from the earlier periods.

"There's not a big market," she said. "So much is from the forties that it's hard to get the twenties and Victorian and Edwardian clothing."

When vintage clothing is found, it is often fragile. Special care must be taken to clean and restore the clothing, McKernan said.

Vintage clothing at the Glenn House has to be stored in special acid-free tissue paper and kept away from sunlight, said Lynette Shirrell, president of the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau.

The Glenn House collection includes undergarments, silk stockings, men's shirts, corsets, wedding dresses, cloaks and shoes. There are also some children's christening gowns.

Shirrell said there are two different photographs of people wearing some of the clothing that was later donated to the historical association.

Many visitors are often amazed at the extent of the collection. Sometimes they are surprised at the intricate embroidery work on silk stockings or that the pantaloons were split in the crotch, she said.

"It amazes people and it did me too," Shirrell said.

People are often amazed at Trisha Wischmann's collection of antique lingerie and period clothing.

"They get a real charge out of it," she said.

Wischmann owns pieces from the 1800s as well as clothing from the 1950s and '60s. Most of her antique lingerie is on display.

She began collecting about 20 years ago, but became more involved during the last eight years when she opened a bed and breakfast in Jackson.

Her antique clothing collection started by accident. At a yard sale of a friend's parents, she found some corsets and hats that she used in decorating a sewing room.

Later she used the corsets and hats in rooms at the bed and breakfast and eventually added more pieces. Now the second floor is full of hats, she said.

"It was not a deliberate hobby but evolved because of the bed and breakfast," Wischmann said. She also participates in a vintage clothing fashion show each year.