Saying yes to the dress

When Caroline Bagwell first saw a Hoover Belle, she was only 4 years old. Her mother, Donna Bagwell, remembers how Caroline and her two older sisters would admire the Belles.

“It was wonderful,” Donna Bagwell said. “One of the things that they looked at when they were little, they would always look at the girls in the big dresses. When they finally got to be the age to be a Belle, it was really cool to see it all come full circle.”

Caroline Bagwell, who is in her second year as a Belle, said seeing her older sisters serve was inspiring and solidified her desire to apply. Over the last year, Caroline Bagwell said she has grown in confidence and enjoyed interacting with the community as a Belle.

“Being a Hoover Belle, it’s an honor because there are so many girls that try out, and a lot of them unfortunately don’t make it because it is very prestigious,” Caroline Bagwell said. 

Each event offers a new opportunity, she said, and she has especially enjoyed working with children. In addition to events, however, she said the clothing is another favorite aspect.

“The dress, that’s one of my favorite parts, too,” Caroline Bagwell said. “The little girls look at you, and they think of you like a princess.”

While serving as a Belle helped each of her daughters grow into confident and poised young women, Hoover Belles also offered a chance to bond, Donna Bagwell said. While mothers are typically involved in dress making decisions, Donna Bagwell said she enjoyed an extra level of involvement — she made the dresses for all three of her daughters. 

“My girls just loved the hoop, the bigger the better, getting to walk around in hoop skirts,” Donna Bagwell said.

The process included shopping for fabric together and selecting a style of dress, which Donna Bagwell said was enjoyable because each daughter selected a different style. An average dress requires about 15 yards of fabric and between 10 to 40 yards of lace and ribbon, but the variety of styles means these numbers easily can change. The time that goes into a dress varies, and Donna Bagwell admitted she lost count over the years, but said each hour was one of joy.

“When they would put it on, when it was almost complete, just the look on their face when they saw themselves in the mirror — they would seriously dance,” Donna Bagwell said. “It’s special regardless of who makes it, but it really just made me so happy to know they felt beautiful in their dresses.”

Linda McIntosh also made her daughter’s Hoover Belles dress nearly 20 years ago, and she has continued to work with the Hoover, Vestavia and Birmingham Belles since.

“I made her dress and two of her friends’ dresses,” McIntosh said. “It just kind of started spreading by word of mouth.”

For a few months out of the year, Belle dresses are McIntosh’s focus, as are the girls who will wear them.

“I really look at is as a mission,” McIntosh said. “For the girls who I sew the dresses for, I pray for them while I’m sewing for them because that’s such a hard age, and I don’t know what they’re going through.”

Each dress starts with a consultation, where McIntosh will show different dresses she has made and allow the Belle to select the style she wants. It is hard to put a timeline on the dressmaking process, McIntosh said, but most girls can come in for a first fitting after a few days.

“When they come here, at least for me, I have the dress pretty much completed except for putting the zipper in and putting the final touches in,” she said.

Mothers typically accompany their daughters to each fitting, and McIntosh said she can see the excitement on both of their faces when a dress is finished.

Those looks, she said, remind her of her daughter’s time as a Belle.

“It meant a lot,” she said. “It was fun to see her getting ready, and the excitement that she had. If she was excited, that always makes the mama excited.”