Dressed for the prom

Dear Granddaughter:

What are you wearing to the prom? I hope you plan to go. Every woman deserves to feel beautiful at least once in her life! Maybe you always feel beautiful? Even so, if you’re anything like your grandmother, the anticipation of getting dressed for it may be more exciting than the prom itself!

As you see by the enclosed photograph, I was once as petite as you are now. Any dress looks well on a figure like that! I felt as if I floated like royalty across the dance floor inside this graceful pink brocade gown (in an elegant princess line) constructed for me by my mother, who was excited to have a daughter going to her graduation prom. She let me chose the style from a fashion magazine.

I imagine any illusion of elegance vanished when the music started and we danced to things like Purple Haze and Let’s Do the Twist. Still, I remember being thankful for my little puffed sleeves. Some of my friends had chosen fabulous strapless styles, which look well in a photograph but do rather unexpected things when you are dancing vigorously.

Women have always fussed with their hair, especially when keen to look their most beautiful. In this photo, my long, straight hair was washed, curled, teased and shellacked into a sort of French roll that was as stiff as my dress. It seems to me the hair dressing process was longer than the dance itself -- and meant that I missed most of supper.

So, it was a good thing Mum encouraged me to call the restaurant (outside of town) which mostly catered to tourists. The restaurateur was surprised to hear how we were planning to come for supper after midnight but she and her staff were prepared for us when we came. We felt very grown up to be dining so late at night and I, for one, was glad we had another place to show off our fancy dress. I imagine the evening would have lacked some sparkle if we’d had to grab a burger at some fast food place (not that fast food was possible in our little hamlet in those days.)

The 1970s was a time before there were such things tuxedo and hat rentals. The guys wore a suit if they had one. Churchgoers usually did but slacks and buttoned shirts were the most common uniform of young men. Many of them had to borrow their finery from uncles and cousins.

I can hardly wait to see your dress! When I search on line for “prom dress 2017,” every imaginable formal pops up. There is no design that declares “2017.” What a good thing! In this day of stretchy knits sized one-fits-all, it must fire up your imagination to have so many possibilities to choose from. It makes prom time so special!

And what about your hair, young woman? Almost certainly, a streak of scarlet or brilliant purple. What else?