River Lea parlor

If you were to take a tour of River Lea, this is the first room that you would see. It is full of interesting memorabilia of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The mannequin is especially interesting, mainly because of her size. She is unusually skinny! The fashion statement that she is sporting would be unwearable by, well, most women. Of course, at that time, corsets were frequently a part of the fashion statement. Some women went a little overboard with these corsets, trying to get their waists to be wasp-like. I can't imagine that could be very comfortable.