Racy Spring Racing!

To kick off the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, here's a photo of my mother, circa 1955 dressed as a horse "off her rocker". Hahahaha (very apropos if you knew my mum)! This wouldn't have been for Halloween, since this is probably in my grandparents Evanston, Illinois backyard and everything is lush and green.  The trees are in full leaf, the irisis are coming up (my grandmother was an avid gardener - I think I got my green thumb from her) and the grass is dark green, so I'm guessing late Spring, early summer, N. hemisphere. I seem to remember my mother saying this was for a fancy dress ball at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied for a semester or two before life got in the way (ie - husband number one)! It's a great outfit and you can see there was definately a girdle under there! Very 1950s. I would imagine that my grandmother probably made this for her. I have a photo of my grandmother dressed in costume at about age 3 (c. 1912) that I'll post soon for Halloween.