Backyard fashion: 91-year-old becomes YouTube sensation with heartwarming quarantine videos
A 91-year-old woman has become a YouTube sensation after modelling her favourite quarantine outfits in backyard fashion shows.
Betty McDonald lives in Georgia, where businesses like gyms and bowling alleys have started opening up, before shelter-in-place orders ended on April 30.
Due to Betty’s age, she’s particularly vulnerable to the virus and staying home has begun feeling like a chore, especially because she enjoys dressing up.
“Ms. Betty is used to social interaction — going to church, the senior citizen’s centre, and Cracker Barrel with friends,” caretaker and neighbour Kim Taylor tells Yahoo.
“Not being able to dress up, she has been bored, so I suggested doing a fashion show outside.”
“That was music to my ears,” Betty tells Yahoo. After a few twirls in her Albany yard wearing her fanciest garb, Taylor decided to introduce her to YouTube.
In two videos posted to Kim Taylor’s YouTube channel, Betty showed off a number of Goodwill outfits from her three closets.
In a heartwarming twist, the fashion shows are a tribute to her husband John Henry McDonald who passed away in 2007 after serving 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. The couple of 58 years first met at a USO dance at Tyndall Air Force in Panama City, Florida.
“We danced, we dated, and four months later, we married,” Betty explains in an April 22 video, adding the pair loved dressing up for outings to the movie theatre and dance club.
“He was my best friend and he was my personal chef,” she says in the video. “This is for you, dear John. God bless.”
To make sure Betty doesn’t get too exhausted, her and Kim film each outfit on different days, then Kim edits and posts them on YouTube.
Reading through the positive comments, Betty feels thrilled as she looks forward to dictating each reply as Taylor types on her laptop.
The fashion shows have distracted the 91-year-old from worrying about the coronavirus pandemic, says Taylor.
“She is a wonderful lady and when she does her fashion shows, the cares of the world fade away.”