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April 2008
Staying Alive: Prom fashion dances on
Would the baby blue tuxedo with the ruffle shirt please die already?
No, apparently. Neither will the Gunne-Sax dresses of the 70’s, the crinoline monoliths of the 50s or shoulder pads of the 80s. Not in Takoma Park, where these and other ghosts of Proms Past live on.
“I can’t keep enough baby blue tuxes in stock,” says Susan Collings, owner of PollySue’s in Old Town Takoma Park. Collings and vintage clothing cohort Jackie Jackson have dressed teens in Prom-wear of almost every decade of the 20th century. What better way to avoid the fashion mistakes of today than with an ironic display of retro-glamour?
For the guys clever enough to intuit that they will look silly no matter what they wear to Prom, they have two options: the spectacularly bad 70s era wide lapel tuxedo with pastel ruffles, or spectacularly cool, à la chic Sammy Davis Jr. in a Rat Pack brocade tuxedo jacket. Collings estimates that 25 percent of her Prom customers are boys who come in the day before the Prom.
For girls, however, the hunt for the perfect dress has already begun, months before the big event. Sure, anyone can go to the mall and end up looking like Paris Hilton. But the thinking girl can have timeless elegance.
“Audrey Hepburn was big last year,” Collings said as she recalled scores of teens coming to her in search of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” style: little black dresses, pearls, and elbow length gloves. Rhinestone tiaras were also a sought-after accessory to go with an Amy Winehouse bouffant .
Or for the girls who just wanna have fun, there is the 80s renaissance: big puffy bubble skirts in bold colors or polka dots and a big bow on the backside. Add the big hair, cue the Duran Duran, and the overblown look of the 80s is complete.
But to do an older vintage look up right, expert help is needed. That sweet little early-60s cupcake party frock with the cinched waist may look darling on the hanger, but your first impression in the dressing room can be a disappointment.
Older fashions can at first glance appear matronly. It’s not that women of the mid-20th century women were frumpy. On the contrary, they had secret weapons: Kevlar-quality foundation garments and bullet brassières. A truly sleek silhouette required the unrelenting structural support of whale bones and lace-up corsets. “Sometimes,” Collings says, “you have to be uncomfortable to be beautiful.”
This can be an alien concept to a generation of teens who go to school in their pajamas. “Women in the past had to really think about their clothes. Respecting clothes is not something we do so much today.”
The other hurdle with vintage clothing is our changing standards. Marilyn Monroe may have been a bombshell, but today her iconic white halter dress seems tame.
“Girls today want a sexy look,” Collings said. “The trick is to make modest sexy.” Prom shoppers looking to expose more skin have opted for backless styles. Others have ignored dresses altogether in favor of slips or vintage lingerie. Add combat boots and you have a retro-punk aesthetic.
And lest we smug adults start sniggering over the plight of teens desperately seeking style, don’t forget: the black tie season in Washington starts in earnest this April. The White House Correspondents Association Dinner, aka the Press and Politico Prom, is April 26 this year. Some of you may need to start shopping.
Read more Fashionista.
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