Karen brings the 1950s to Wimborne

Interview and photo by Marilyn Barber | newseditor@dorsetview.co.uk

Colourful, stylish and elegant, Karen Rabbitts brings a flavour of a bygone age to the town of Wimborne.

She wears very feminine 1950s’ dresses, some originals from the period, and others from vintage fashion shops, and always teamed with matching very high heels.

However, there is quite a story behind her image.

Today she is smiling, happy and friendly with a huge zest for life – but it hasn’t always been like that, as she has experienced huge traumas in her life.

“In 1986, I was a passenger in a car being driven by my first husband when another vehicle hit us and I went through the windscreen. I was lucky as my neck should have been broken, but I did end up with 300 stitches. I was told I could have plastic surgery, but I said I wanted people to accept me as I was,” she said, adding that she wondered at that time if she wanted to live. She had been a fan of Mario Lanza, who was a big star in the 1940s and 1950s, and suddenly his song ‘I’ll Walk with God’ came into her head, and she realised that her faith would get her through this difficult time.

But it wasn’t to be plain sailing.

Karen divorced her first husband in 1995 and resolved not to get married again.

Having bought a flat in Bournemouth Gardens, she went to work in Poole Hospital as a nursing auxiliary in the Kimmeridge ward looking after patients who had suffered a stroke.

“I loved the job, and had been working there for five years when Ian Rabbitts was admitted as a patient at the age of 54. We all came to love him dearly as he was very special. I had found the love of my life and we married in 2000 and went to live in London where he went back to work,” she said.

Sadly, in 2003, Ian became ill and they moved to Wimborne, and he subsequently died of cancer.

“I turned my back on God,” she admitted. And so began the downward spiral.

“The Rising Sun pub became my second home and every night I would come home drunk. I couldn’t face life. In addition to going to the pub, I would drink a bottle of wine a day and one bottle of whisky a week. I lost my dignity, put on weight and I just didn’t care what happened to me. I had been divorced and then had found and lost the love of my life.”

But her faith was to return and in 2009 she stopped drinking, went to a slimming club and joined a gym.

“I’m now strong,” she said.

Karen, who was born in 1955, had always been obsessed with the 1950s and she started going to vintage and charity shops to buy 1950s’ outfits, although she also loves clothes from the 20s, 30s and 40s, as well as Victorian and Edwardian outfits.

“I love the cut of the material and the different kinds of fabric such as velvet and pure cotton satins,” she said, reflecting that she should have gone into the fashion business.

In addition to more than 100 dresses of the 1950s, she has numerous colourful wide net petticoats and many boxes of high heeled shoes.

“I love it when I know I can make people smile and I find that whilst wearing my outfits strangers say hello.

“Friends see such a change in me,” said Karen, who was born in Branksome, and went to Wimborne’s Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School.

Karen’s Victorian house is also testimony to her eye for colour and style and she has worked hard to make it a place of beauty and tranquillity which displays her creative talents.

She was recently invited to Wimborne Model Town’s 70th anniversary celebrations and is to become a volunteer which, bearing in mind her predilection for the 1950s, is a perfect fit.

“I am now enjoying life, and although I sadly don’t have children, I enjoy my nieces and great nieces – and my kittens,” she concluded.