Fashion Spotlights are posts that focus on one scene from a specific episode.
This scene from the Rose’s Big Adventure episode in Season 3 is probably one of Rose’s more ridiculous culinary moments. It also reappears in the Season 5 episode, The President’s Coming! The President’s Coming! part 1, as a flashback segment.
First we see Rose at the stove making the Sperheoven Krispies, dressed in a robe that could honestly double for fancy dress. It’s so shimmery! You can see the effect a little better in the last photo of this post. I do think there are shoulder pads, which is a little…frightening. But 1985 was probably the peak era of those things. Their existence continued all throughout the 90s, finally almost completely dying out by Y2K. I suppose they’re still sometimes necessary in certain structured jackets, but I’m pleased that natural selection seems to have occurred with this trend.
I love that the Girls’ choice in nightwear (is that a word?) always reflects their individuality as much as their other outfits. Dorothy’s striped robe here is very menswear inspired, which suits her more than something flowery. The same could be said for Blanche in fuchsia. Again with the shoulder pads, though. Can you imagine sitting around your house watching TV or doing whatever in shoulder pads?! No, thanks. It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.
It was actually Dorothy’s outfit that surprised me the most. I was chuckling along with the episode when suddenly I noticed…is that…is that Battenberg lace on Dorothy’s nightgown??! It is! At first I wouldn’t have thought her the type to like something like Battenberg lace, but then I remembered that she is partial to certain Victorian touches like high neck collars. Plus if there’s any style of lace that Dorothy would be comfortable in it’s that one. Just look at the black lace on Blanche’s nightgown, which is something I could never see Dorothy wearing. Overall, Blanche’s outfit in the scene is the most wearable and up-to-date. Night gowns like that are still easily found in most department stores, and you could probably find a somewhat similar robe without too much hassle.
One thing I did notice upon more careful inspection of the flashback episode is that the table cloth actually changes! I’m not sure exactly how often this happens, but I’ll definitely be looking for this detail now. I think the cruet set disappears or is replaced by something else in later episodes, too. Another detail that someone around the Internet pointed out is that there’s nothing on the plate! I had honestly never noticed that before, I guess, because the Girl’s do such a good job pretending to pick up the krispies. Now that’s good acting!
Sophia is wearing a classic house dress with full length zippeer that’s straight out of the Dr. Leonard’s catalog. The color is fetching at least. Other than her yellow terrycloth robe, though, this type of loungewear is definitely very Sophia. Bonus points for matching the table cloth!
There used to be a website called Back in St. Olaf that was run by somebody who was trying to approximate recipes for Rose’s Scandinavian delights, but it appears to be defunct. I found a few of the recipes on Pinterest, though, including one for the krispies.Who knows how you really spellSperheoven, anyway? Your guess is as good as mine.
Now that I think about it, I bet Rose would’ve owned a set of those Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers cookbook sets. They’re a favorite of the Mid-Century Menu blog, and for good reason. Just check out this horrorfrom the salads book in the series, and tell me if it doesn’t look just like something Rose would serve. With all the Golden Girls merchandise out there right now, whoever started this project should really pick it back up again. Rose’s Favorite Scandinavian Recipes could be a NYT bestseller! It would be so fun to see a compilation of all of her wacky recipes from the show. A book with recipes form all of the Girls would work, too, since I think they each mention cooking something in one episode or another. Sophia definitely has a lot of recipes throughout the series. It could feature suggested recipes from restaurants in the show, too! Hush puppies from Jack’s Seafood Shanty, spicy mixed nuts from the Rusty Anchor… Ok, apparently I need to get in the kitchen and write this book! Now, where’s that recipe for Flugel Kaka….
