Vintage Costume Gallery 1980s
Vintage baton twirling and majorette costumes tell the story of how performance, fashion, and pageantry evolved over the past century. From military-inspired parade uniforms and circus costumes to sequined body suits and high school majorette uniforms featuring shorts and band jackets, these garments reflect the changing styles, traditions, and craftsmanship of their era.
The Vintage Twirler archives and documents baton twirling costumes from every decade, including uniforms worn by majorettes, drum majors, feature twirlers, collegiate twirling lines, drum and bugle corps, baton schools, and professional performers. Whether hand-sewn by local seamstresses or designed by well-known manufacturers, each costume represents a unique piece of baton twirling history.
Many vintage uniforms survive only because families carefully preserved them in closets, attics, and trunks. These garments often provide valuable clues about regional styles, school traditions, competitive organizations, and the evolution of materials, embellishments, and construction techniques. By documenting these costumes, we help preserve an important visual history that might otherwise be lost.
Donate Vintage Costumes, Memorabilia
If you own vintage baton twirling or majorette costumes, we would love to hear from you. Whether you have a single uniform, an entire collection, or photographs showing costumes in use, your contribution helps expand the historical record for future generations. We do accept donations of vintage costumes, ephemera, photographs, scrapbooks and some equipment. Depending on the era and quality, we do purchase some items. Click here for more details or contact us at info@vintage-baton-twirler.org. Thank you!
Please Note: This page is a work in progress and regularly updated.
Vintage Costume Gallery 1980s
Jester-Style Majorette Costume
Vintage Costume Gallery 1970s
Miss Devilette Ensemble, 1970s
This is a Miss Devilette (Old Forge, Pennsylvania) costume ensemble including horned cap, cape, skirt and body suit. Someone made a doll to match. I believe it’s a Dramatic Living Barbie from 1970.
It’s hard to believe someone would part with such a wonderful piece of family history, however, you never know the circumstances that lead people to part with vintage treasures. Eventually, I’ll figure out which Miss Devilette wrote this set. Here is a blog post about the first Miss Devilette and one of her beautiful successors.
Vintage Costume Gallery 1960s
Vintage Costume Gallery 1950s
1950s Majorette Costume
Broughton High School | Raleigh, N.C.
Vintage Costume Gallery 1940s
Blog Posts Highlighting Vintage Costumes
Dimmitt HS Majorettes in Purple Plaid, 1980
Twirling Photo of the Day Dimmitt HS Majorettes in Plaid and Tams Dimmitt High School Majorettes, Dimmitt, Texas, 1980. The Dimmitt High School majorette line posed for this formal studio portrait during the 1980 school year. The photograph captures several design...
ISO Vintage Majorette Costumes by Taffy’s
The Vintage Twirler is seeking to purchase a small number of high-quality vintage majorette costumes manufactured by Taffy's for an exhibit we are curating. We're especially interested in well-preserved uniforms with original labels, hats, boots, accessories, or...
Eastern Kentucky University Majorette Marches in Christmas Parade, 1970s
An unidentified Eastern Kentucky University majorette marches in a Christmas parade, 1970s. We love the old fur-trimmed majorette costumes, which have remained popular over the years. Click here to see a few more via past posts.
Winters Blizzards Baton Twirler, 1952
Patsy Bedford Kaufman was a Winters, Texas Blizzards Baton Twirler in 1952. This was reportedly the first year the twirlers wore these short costumes, which featured fur trim. Where is Winters, Texas? Winters, Texas is located south of Abilene, Texas and northeast of...
Tarboro Majorettes at Christmastime
Milton Steele Brown (1884-1967) moved to Edgecombe County, North Carolina in 1912, to build a Coca-Cola bottling plant. An avid photographer, he photographed many subjects throughout the county between 1912 and the late 1950s. Many of his pictures feature Tarboro...
Pastel Rainbow of Baton Twirlers (1974)
How glorious is this stairstepped pastel rainbow of baton twirlers? Honestly, some of the faces in this photo look very familiar. We're pretty sure at least two of these twirlers are still around, coaching and judging. If you're in this photo let us know! Pastel...
Little Majorette (1950s)
This is such a sweet collection of black and white photos of a little majorette and her trophies. The car in one of the photos and style of photography indicate that the photos were taken during the 1950s. Also, the little girl's hairstyle was popular in the late...
Majorettes in Plaid (1971)
These beautiful images are from 35mm slides of junior high twirlers / majorettes in plaid skirts. They were taken in the fall of 1971, a time when photography was really suffering. In fact, these are some of the finest majorette photos we've come across from the...
1970s Black Majorette (Professional Portrait)
This photo features a Black majorette from the 1970s. The identity of the twirler is not known. Her costume, like many still today, drew strong inspiration from military uniforms. Features include a stand up collar, double row of buttons and cording styled similar to...
The Whirlwinds of Walla Walla, Washington, 1962
Vintage Ephemera
Baton twirling ephemera refers to things like programs, posters, patches, stickers, magazines, newsletters, and other things typically written or printed that were used for a specific period of time.
A rare find: Bicentennial majorette medal.
Majorette Memories
We welcome high-quality scans of your vintage baton twirling ephemera. You can also receive items through the mail. We’ll digitally preserve your memories in high-quality scans. Thank you so much for supporting this project.
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Rare Merchandise
Once or twice a year we will offer a commemorative item or rare keepsake for sale such as a sticker, patch, pin or T-shirt, etc. All proceeds will help offset the cost of this project, which includes the cost to acquire rare and/or copyrighted materials.
We will typically offer merchandise on World Baton Twirling Day, April 10, which is also the the official launch day for The Vintage Twirler. Please sign up for updates below so you don’t miss our annoucement. Thank you so much for your interest in this project.