It All Started With a Hot Pink Ruffle

Senior prom. You remember it. For me, it was the year 1988 (’88 is great) and at the time, I couldn’t imagine that life could get any better than holding the long-awaited status of Senior. It was the first time I was allowed to wear a strapless dress, adorned with so many crazy looking rhinestones I blinded the photographer when posing with my date in front of the rainfall backdrop, while desperately hoping that package C would contain enough wallet size pictures to trade with my friends. (On the back of which I would write 2 good, 2 be, 4 gotten, pledging lifelong friendship to my inner circle who loved Bon Jovi, jelly shoes and T-Top Trans Ams.)



Hair product was at an all-time high as I attempted to tame the spiral perm that threatened to explode through the jeweled barrette sitting squarely on top of my head. Special blue eye shadow and iced pink lip-gloss accessorized my efforts to impress a date whose haircut screamed business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back.



Good times.

Fast forward 20 years – I am a DINOSAUR – and my husband and I found ourselves attending a dance last night with the central theme of Senior Year Prom. For weeks, there has been scrounging through closets across town and pouring over dog-eared pages of yearbooks all in a collective effort to recreate a look that frankly, should never, EVER be reproduced.




The dress I borrowed from my friend, Martha, was an absolute gem of a find. The ruffles, the sequins, and the fluorescent color oozed ‘80’s authenticity, allowing just enough confidence to walk proudly through the arch of balloons at the entrance, clinging to the arm of my handsome hubby joyfully sporting a coordinating bow tie and cummerbund.



After reviewing the pictures taken last night, complete with dazzling golds, extra-hold hairspray, and sequins in excess, I was left with one resounding question to ponder:



Who in their right mind



could have thought



that this was a good look



to revisit?



My simple plea echoes similar words once spoken by renowned philosophers, Duran Duran, "Please, please tell me now. Is there something I should know?"