STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Features

• Gardening: It’s a grub’s life
• Pet Talk: Moving can be doggone hard on pets, expert says
• It’s the Law: Statute of limitations may keep you from collecting old debts

Share and Enjoy [?]

Call it what you want — spring formal, graduation ball or just the Big Dance — there’s nothing quite like prom season to put stars in the eyes of teens and bring out the shutterbug in parents’ souls.

Prom — short for promenade or march of the guests — was first mentioned in an 1894 Amherst College student’s invitation, but didn’t show up in high school yearbooks until the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. As America recovered from the Great Depression and World War II, the prom began its own march to the iconic status it now holds in the lives of teenagers across the country.

From frou frou dresses and dyed-to-match shoes to monkey suits and make-out places, prom has moved beyond the days of strictly chaperoned, etiquette-savvy banquets and simple affairs to become glamorous extravaganzas where nearly anything goes, including non-traditional couples, dresses made of duck tape, stretch limos and all-night after-prom parties.

Following is etc’s nostalgic look at prom fashions and fantasies through the years.

1926

“I was a devil! I drove a car and I danced. I even won a prize for doing the Charleston. Back then we had community dances,” remembers Mildred Gorley. “We always went with a group of friends, we didn’t go with dates. There weren’t too many men around because they were all overseas. I wouldn’t have been allowed to have a date anyway because my dad was so strict, he wouldn’t even let us look out the window!”

The former New Yorker, who will turn 100 in September, recalls that despite the Great Depression, which began in earnest three years later, her mother always dressed Mildred and her sisters to the nines.

“There was no depression in our home. My dad was a musician. He always had good work.”

1934

The only girl in a family of five boys, Mary Vickery, 91, is a self-admitted West Virginia hillbilly and is not shy about sharing her social experiences.

“I was a knockout at the time, but I didn’t know it. All the boys wanted to dance with me because I was a pretty girl, but you don’t realize that when you’re young. My dad bought this beautiful dress for me and we danced slow dances and the waltz. The Lindy was still big; and swing — there was that. Oh, we had fun. Everybody in my family but me played a musical instrument. I lived surrounded by music.”

1943

Paul Reinhardt was president of his senior class when he went to prom for the second year in a row with the then love-of-his-life. Reinhardt, 83, confesses to being a terrific dancer.

“She was a great dancer, too. We did the foxtrot and the jitterbug; it was everything a prom should’ve been. There was an 18-piece big band. We could really swing.” Reinhardt recalls wearing a tan sports coat, brown slacks and a necktie, but said his date wore a long gown.

“Her mother pinned on the corsage, although I would’ve done it with pleasure. Everything you could think of in the gym was covered in tissue paper.”

While he recalls kissing her at the dance, he allowed that the red-hot romance was temporarily tamed despite the fact they stayed out all night.

“We didn’t make out as much as usual because I had responsibilities as President.”

Two months later, Reinhardt says, his draft number came up and he entered the Army Air Corps, effectively quashing the romantic relationship.

1954

“I was secretary of the class and so I had to be involved with decorating. We turned that gym into something else,” recalls Nancy Jones, 72. “We tented the ceiling with royal blue and white crepe paper. It was quite a job. My boyfriend and I fixed my friend, Phyllis Diller, up with a blind date. We lived in a segregated community, but all of us got along fine. I remember I was the only one who couldn’t go to the party after; I had to go straight home because my parents were so strict. I wasn’t allowed in a car with a boy. I’m not sure what we did for music, but we danced the jitterbug and the waltz and listened to lots of Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey and Glen Miller.”

1964

“My boyfriend had to work, so he gave me permission to go to prom with another boy,” says Kathy Fort, 60. “Charlie showed up in a brand new Thunderbird. It was blue and was it beautiful! He wouldn’t dare try to kiss me because we were friends. It was a very big deal and so cool. I was only 16 and was in awe. I felt like queen of the hill.”

Fort says they danced the Hustle, the Jerk, the Swim and did the Stroll at her prototype Fort Lauderdale high school, although sometimes it was hard to find your group of friends among the throng of 860 seniors.

“We had a live band and when you walked over the bridge and through the screen, it was like you were at the bottom of the ocean.”

1971

By the ripe old age of 16, Denise Bolton had been to two proms with the same boy, who was a couple years older.

“I was thrilled about going. It was kind of like a pageant. You had to have three outfits — one for the dinner, one for the dance and one for the after party — and the parents took photos each time you changed. I was into modeling at the time so that accounts for my dress. I just loved the ‘70s fashions. We looked everywhere to find a pair of yellow shoes to match the yellow ribbon in the hem. The other girls wore longer dresses, but my dress was ‘in.’ I thought it was hip. Mom styled my hair and I wore a hairpiece to crown my updo. The theme was Colour My World after a song by Chicago. I didn’t go to prom my senior year because my boyfriend had graduated. He didn’t want to attend the dance, so we broke up.”

1983

“That was before people spent as much money on prom the way they do now. We borrowed dresses or wore hand-me-downs,” says Sue Campanella. “My sister always did my hair and makeup and we would both end up in tears thinking it was going to look horrible, but she always did a great job and it ended up looking fantastic.”

Campanella, 42, underestimated her charisma when it came to making friends. “It was my first year in a new school and I didn’t think I had any chance of winning prom queen, even though I was nominated. I was busy talking with my new friends and completely missed it when they called my name. Somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Sue. Sue! They called your name.’ I was in shock.”