"The honors of the evening went to the 200-pound brother-in-law of the young hostess, Joseph Leiter, who appeared in a fascinating little frock modeled after those work by his own two-year-old son."
This one is just odd. In 1912, President Taft’s daughter, Helen, was honored with a slew of society parties in Washington D.C. In order to break up the monotony, everyone was asked to dress like babies at one gathering, including 200-pound wheat speculator Joe Leiter, as the New York Times dutifully noted in its February 18, 1912 issue. An excerpt:
“The cry of textile manufacturers that more material be used in the fashionable frocks of the coming season has been heeded by at least one of Washington’s social leaders, as shown by a recent dinner party in honor of Miss Helen Taft at the home of Col. and Mrs. John R. Williams.
To vary the monotony of the six nights in a week programme that has been offered the President’s daughter all Winter, Miss Dorothy Williams, daughter of the hosts, conceived the idea of making this occasion unique, and requested her friends to make this a baby party, the babies to range from the cradle to the kindergarten class.
The honors of the evening went to the 200-pound brother-in-law of the young hostess, Joseph Leiter, who appeared in a fascinating little frock modeled after those work by his own two-year-old son, but containing something like two pieces of French muslin, five times the usual number of pieces of valenciennes lace and insertion, and nobody knows how many bolts of baby ribbon.
The entire costume, which was complete in every detail from the shoulder knots to the bows on his shoes, was furnished to order and fitted with care by one of the society modistes whose ‘children’s clothes’ have made her a reputation as a business woman as enviable as that she formerly enjoyed as a Washington belle in the navy circle.”
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Tags: Helen Taft, Joe Leiter, William Howard Taft