It felt jarring to her, Ms. James said: “I was like, ‘Wow that makes me feel like it’s in the South a long time ago. So there is a fine line there, being able to reclaim something versus not having that thing be positioned properly.”

For her part, Margaret Kleveland is looking at the “Little House” series with a new perspective. “Rereading it through a new lens I totally understood that it was problematic,” she said.

“What we take from it is more of a visual library,” said Katherine Kleveland, whose children are named Wilder, Shepard and Prairie.

“I mean … can I wear this in public? I look like I’m about to go milk a cow?” my friend texted with the photo of her up to here in the pinafore. Indeed, she looked like a waifish version of Kirsten Larson, the 1860s pioneer American Girl Doll. However, I also liked it. Was yes to both a possible answer?

When I sent back my own fitting photo she replied, “I can’t tell if I love it or if it’s your ‘Big Love’ Halloween costume,” followed by a still of Chloë Sevigny from the HBO show about Mormon fundamentalists, wearing almost the identical ensemble, down to the ruffled collar and oxen tongue pink color.

I know she’s right. But I’m definitely going to wear it again.