Embedded Files
This heavily beaded “flapper” dress of the 1920s was probably worn by donor Eugenie LeMerle Riggs (1904-2003). Made of black silk crepe, it is sleeveless with scooped neckline front and back and open diamond patterns with fringe. Eugenie LeMerle, daughter of an affluent Washington doctor, came out as a debutante in 1923 and performed as a tango dancer for charity events. In 1985, she donated to the Historical Society many pieces of her fashionable clothing, along with glamorous photos of herself.
Like an increasing number of "new women," she entered college and in 1930 received a degree in architecture from George Washington University, where she met her husband George Henry Riggs, Jr. (1904-83). He graduated in the class of 1927 and went to work as an architect for the Department of the Treasury. Eugenie and George Riggs moved from D.C. to Chevy Chase in 1936, and then in 1945 to Ashton, where they raised four boys and restored the historic house “Cherry Grove” (c.1773) on New Hampshire Avenue. Mrs. Riggs was a dedicated member of the Montgomery County Historical Society.
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