In my neighborhood vintage clothing store, shopping for prom dresses is well underway. With the downturn in the economy, the relative bargain of a vintage dress looks good to mothers who might otherwise turn to the mall. High school girls seem to like vintage dresses, too. A few want classic 1950s prom dresses with big, tulle skirts, and there will always be fans of the Audrey Hepburn little black dress, but 1980s prom dresses are astonishingly popular. That's right — shiny mauve, electric blue, and shimmering emerald green dresses with a smothering load of ruffles and poufs are flying out of the store as fast as the owner can bring them in. Which brings me back to my own 1980s prom, forever linked in my mind with Babe Eau de Toilette.
I didn't wear a store bought dress to my prom. Instead, my grandmother ran up some yellow calico and dotted Swiss lace on her sewing machine, and I went to the prom dressed like the lovechild of Little House on the Prairie and Moulin Rouge. Still, I thought I looked pretty good, especially compared to the Japanese exchange student, Yumi, who lived with us. My grandmother had also sewn Yumi's dress, not realizing that orange wasn't her best color. Yumi had put on some weight adjusting to American food and looked something like a chiffon pumpkin.
When we showed up at the hotel where the prom was held, right behind us in line was the chic Renee. She wore a black cocktail dress and heels, and her date looked equally sophisticated. He was even able to grow a mustache. I knew immediately I had miscalculated, no matter how much studying of Teen magazine I'd done. My aura of Babe was little comfort when Renee undoubtedly wore something devastatingly adult, like Revlon Ciara or even — gasp! — Chanel No. 5.
The rest of the evening was a bust. I was in a foul mood. My date didn't care, since he was my best friend's brother and not much of a talker anyway. On my other side was Yumi's date, a 23-year old construction worker my mother had scared up for her at work. Looking at his plastic cup of punch in disgust, he suggested that I might like to go to the bar with him for a "real" drink. When that didn't work, he made idle conversation by recommending I enter a wet T-shirt contest.
This year, I'd guess that Calvin Klein Secret Obsession will be a popular choice for prom goers. Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely, Narciso Rodriguez For Her, and another Calvin Klein, Euphoria, will likely see some proms, too. I think Donna Karan Gold, Stella McCartney Stella, and Ralph Lauren Romance would be nice choices for a high school prom. Digging into the niche and classic categories, Christian Dior Diorissimo and L'Artisan Parfumeur La Chasse aux Papillions or Drôle de Rose would be fresh and romantic.
What perfume did you wear to your prom? Guys, any Guy Laroche Drakkar Noir? And for those of you with high schoolers at home, what fragrances are popular for this year's prom?
Note: top left image is vintage high school prom 1957 from free parking at flickr; some rights reserved. Top right image is Nathan Hale HS Prom, 1983 from litlnemo at flickr; some rights reserved.
Oh gak, does this post bring back memories. For my Jr. Prom in 1977 I wore a beautiful Gunny Sack dress of soft blue gray with all the Gunny Sack bells and whistles: lace, gathers, a bodice bib, fancy hanky sleeves, a bow at the waist (overdone now, but then it was the height of style). For my Sr. Prom my mom made me a dress, very chic. Ice green polyester in a classic grecian style. Drawstring neckline that I immediately LOWERED the minute I was out of the house 😀 She bought me a white lacy shawl that had greenish blue roses painted on it and foot long fringe. I was very sophisticated and cool. For both occasions I wore my signature perfume, Je Revien by Worth. I wore it for 20 years before switching it up. I recently had my 30th HS reunion last summer and for fun I wore Je Revien again. My old boyfriend, now happily married, took one whiff and started smiling.
I can picture both dresses perfectly, especially the ice green polyester number! (Gunne Sax dresses are popular again in a certain crowd, too, by the way.) Je Reviens was a classy choice. Thanks for the story!
Wow! What a funny post perfect for a distraction on a dreary Monday morning. I went to my senior prom in 1989 with a good friend, no romance for me – boo ho. I wore a “gown” that my mom made for me from a designer Vogue pattern. It was light peach with white polka dots, full drop skirt with over the arm ruffles, low back, and a big bow. It was tres chic for my little town – I felt like a Parisienne…And I got to wear my beloved Jardins de Bagatelle talc with sparkles. I thought the sparkles were very risque — not common back then! And the whole night was very boring…..I shudder to think of all those crazy big 80s prom dresses coming back! (Around here, all the young gals prefer ultra sexy a la Jennifer Lopez & Beyonce prom dresses and wear Juicy Couture frag.)
Wow! Jardins de Bagatelles sparkly talc! Very nice. And your gown sounds ready to star in “Showboat”.
I completely forgot about Juicy Couture–perfect for the prom.
Thanks for another chuckle-worthy article, Angela!
I went to prom three times and had a blast. My sophomore year I went with a senior friend (who was gay but closeted, not that my mom knew that!) and wore a pink-and-white Gunne Sax dress, all lace and ruffles, found on the clearance rack for $40, and, probably, Cachet. My junior year I had a GREAT dress my mom found at Goodwill for $10, slightly off-the-shoulders peach taffeta with a big crinoline, very Scarlett O’Hara, and Emeraude. For my senior prom, I wore a white taffeta with tiered ruffles (from the JCPenney catalog!), and Chloe.
Sigh. Eighties budget prom dresses and drugstore perfume… in any case, I was able to really dance without worrying about ruining an expensive dress.
In my family we did a lot of catalog shopping, so I probably saw your JC Penney dress at some point. It sounds like you know how to have a good time! And I love it how you switched out your perfumes, too.
It was a lot of fun! I wore that peach dress again to college dances, and alone of my dance dresses, it hangs in the upstairs closet for old times’ sake.
And I just scored a 15 ml bottle of vintage Emeraude on the ‘bay recently – it arrived today and smells just as great as I remembered it!
Sounds great!
That’s so much fun! I think you should have put up your own prom picture!
I’m not sure how close in age we are … remember the Gunne Sax dresses? Layered ruffles of ivory cotton lace? I’m sure it looked hideous on me but I felt like Cinderella. Also my boyfriend wore a pale blue jacket and cummerbund with a yellow shirt (heh). I suspect I wore either Tatiana (remember that?) or my funny Trailing Arbutus from Avon (I posted on it once.) I got a bottle on eBay and it makes me happy all out of proportion to the quality of the product. 😉
Oh yeah, I remember Gunne Sax. My mother wore a cream Gunne Sax dress when she hopped on the back of a Harley and rode off to marry husband #2.
I had a bottle of Tatiana once! I remember loving it. I think you can still buy it.
Prom wasn’t terribly long ago for me- I’m just in my first year of college now and it feels a little strange to not be rushing out to get the yearly issue of the prom magazine. 🙂 Last year I went full-out, pedal to the metal, fairy tale princess. My dress was kind of a peachy-pink and the skirt was so huge and heavy I had to have my mom sew straps on the dress so I could hold it up. A friend of my mom’s from work has a 3 year old daughter who saw me out of their window and was immediately informed her mom there was a princess in the yard. I was mortified, but my mother thought it was hysterical. In keeping with this theme, I wore Scent By Alexis- Courtesan. I know it sounds sort of risque, but when I got the sample in the mail, the violet note in there immediately screamed “floral shop!”. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but it did that night- rather rainy and cool. There was no romance- I went with a group of friends who were more than willing to play date switcheroo through the night- but it was fun. My junior prom was such an epic disaster, I can’t really remember what fragrance I wore. I did, however, wear Burberry for Women to my senior homecoming and L’Artisan’s Tea for Two to my college homecoming. My friends and I all wore short black and white and it just…worked. Much fun. 🙂
Tea for Two to the homecoming sounds absolutely perfect. I picture it and crisp, autumn air, and they go together so well. And being called a princess by the neighbor girl is fabulous.
Prom…. YUCK!
I wore red plaid pants, black jacket with a mint shirt and a very narrow newsprint tie. One red and one white sock, very pointy black shoes.
My only saving grace… Eau Sauvage Extrème!
I bet the boys are now mostly wearing Axe… and loads of it!
You were my dream date! Too bad you weren’t at my prom.
Excellent post Angela! Well, at my high-schol prom i wore m7, that was my chic fragrance at that time. Now with a huge collection, i will have problems to chose my college scent prom (i’ll graduate, thanks god, at the end of the year!).
M7–now that’s pretty sophisticated for a high school senior. Congratulations on graduating for college. Maybe it’s time for a new scent to celebrate!
Any recommendations for a m7 lover? : )
M7 is still fabulous. How about the new Le Labo Oud? Or, you could go more extreme than M7 and try something like MPG Route du Vetiver.
I think my tastes were always strong even when i was a teenage rsrs M7 was my first expensive bottle of fragrance i bought myself. At that time the choices were between m7, rochas lui and fahrenheit. But i feel in love with m7 from the first time i sniffed it, so i bought him 🙂 Great memories with this perfume I have.
It’s a good one.
Oh Lord, Angela, and I thought MY prom date was bad! I was set up with a co-worker’s brother who was a nice guy but a bit…um…dorky (and I hesitate to use that word because I consider myself a dork, but really, there’s a threshold that he certainly crossed). And that’s all I’ll say on the matter, I’m still traumatized by the whole event! The only redeeming thing about that night was that I looked fabulous, if I do say so myself. I wore a gorgeous ball gown with a soft gold skirt and a gold and cream bodice that went quite well with my red hair.
And is it awful that I can’t remember what perfume I wore? I think I was into Bath and Body Works’ fressia scent back then, so I probably used that.
Being a redhead myself, I love the sound of gold and cream. I hope you have lots of photos!
I’m around students a bit and have *much* younger cousins, so I have to say that your picks for today’s prom attendees are actually rather sophisticated! The perfumes I smell most often on the young’ins are Be Delicious, Light Blue, Ralph (OMG, SO MUCH RALPH), and Coco Mad. Just the other day, I was sniffing at the local Macy’s while a group of high schoolers were bemoaning how “ooooooold” smelling Secret Obssession was.
I think I wore BBW Fresh Lilac to my first prom, TBS Activist to my second, and DK Chaos to my third.
Well, it sounds like I’m really out of step. I should have known Be Delicious would be the top choice! But it sounds like you were fairly advanced in your taste in high school.
At least you remember what you wore to your prom. I only remember one dress, a one-shouldered iridescent sheath, which looked purple from one angle and green from another. Obviously, I need to dig my pictures out to see what I wore the other two times.
It does sound unforgettable!
Love child between Little House and Moulin Rouge? I officially snorted coffee out my nose, thanks Angela!
I didn’t go to Prom, but if I did, it would have been Lauren, by Ralph Lauren. I was such a preppie! And I’ve hidden the pics that prove it too….. 😉
LOL
I burned mine….you can never be too safe!
I wish I could get my hands on the photos so I could burn them…mom has them hidden somewhere …as long as they stay hidden, I’m safe. Oh, the Gunne Sax dress—all pale peach gauze and lace ruffles (my date wore a tan tux with a peach ruffled shirt oh la,la!) —my hair (stil outrageously long ) was straight out of an Herbal Essence commercial –can you say “pass the hot rollers?” so big and bouncy I could have started singing country…at the time it was quite in…now I shudder! At least half of us gals were wearing gunne sax dresses (the rest wore Laura ashley!) but interestingly, by the next year Gunne Sax was on the way out and more slinky (polyester) type dresses were showing up. I guess I was at the end of the trend. My mom gave my dress to my sister-in-law’s sister to wear to her prom. Hope her prom wasn’t as boring. Oh, I got caught up on dresses and forgot about perfume–I don’t specifically remember applying it, but I always wore Chanel no5 or YSL Rive Gauche so it had to be one or the other! Neither one screams Gunne Sax!!!
Gunne Sax — I had a couple of Gunne Sax dresses I wore to high school dances in the ’80s. One had a big tiered white taffeta bubble hem skirt!
Sounds like a classic.
I tossed mine, too, but I kind of regret it now.
I can’t even remember what Lauren smells like now, but I coveted a bottle back in the day….
Angela, thanks for the laugh! Kids today…I went to a all-girls Catholic school but somehow managed to produce a real live guy for my senior prom in 1979 (when dinosaurs roamed the earth). I had the figure of a broomstick and was draped in one of those gawd-awful Stevie Nicks off-white bohemian numbers and an ivory fringey shawl, just the thing w/my pale complexion. The dear sisters ran around the hotel ballroom covering up ANY visible decolletage with linen napkins! My mother let me wear her Charlie. So glad this has all receded into the past!
That’s hilarious! I can just see nuns stuffing napkins down girl’s chests.
Lou Lou for me and Farehnheit for my man! I can smell it now!
Proms always do suck… too much pressure all the way around. Seems like it’s gotten better though, especially the lengths boys go to to ask the girls. I’ve seen signs posted all around this town, on overpasses, kites and even on sails of a boat! Well, I guess it’s all for a good cause… a sure piece of……A**! on the big night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kids must be a lot more “advanced” than they were in my crowd back in the day (man I sound old). I was so naive.
Love Lou Lou for a choice!
Oh wow, does this bring it all back (I graduated from high school in 1989). I did not go to my prom, but I went to other high school dances and I can remember wearing Vanilla Fields (made by Coty? I’m not sure) and a “designer imposter” of Calvin Klein’s Obsession, which was immensely popular in the late ’80s at my high school. Absolutely love the article and your description of your prom dress! Thanks.
Ah yes, Vanilla Fields! Other than my prom, I think I went to exactly one high school dance. I was a dork, hanging out in the band room to eat lunch.
Betsey Johnson (iccckkkk) dresses are really popular with girls these days
I didn’t go to prom…
if i did I would wear this dress
http://www.style.com/slideshows/fashionshows/S2008CTR/JPGAULTI/RUNWAY/00390m.jpg
and idk what perfume I’d wear maybe Alexander McQueen Kingdom or something.
That is the dress my friend and I picked out for me to wear at the Vienna Opernball (which I’m obvs not really going to…), maybe prom isn’t really formal enough
It’s true, Betsy Johnson is back with a vengeance!
You would be one edgy gal at the prom. If you were at my prom I would have envied you.
I couldn’t afford it so in real life I wouldn’t be making anyone jealous… but this is in an alternate universe I’m talking about
Marion Cotillard wore it to the Oscars last year, but I picked that dress out before the Oscars, so she’s copying meeeee
That copy cat!
wow! that is some dress Krok! The girls at my prom would have hated you! lol –but the guys would have been your slaves!
I didn’t go to my prom (I was un-asked – long story there), but if I had, I probably would have worn the Chanel No. 5 parfum that I received as a Christmas gift that year. My other favorite scent back then was Opium. I was not your typical 18 year old!
Opium was my fav my junior year too!!
Opium reminds me so much of a friend from college. I just bought a partial bottle of EdT at an estate sale this weekend, though, and am looking forward to road testing it.
Wow! So young and already with such great taste.
My matriculation dance (as its called in South Africa) in 1989, has particularly sordid memories. I recall a black tuxedo, and loads of aramis Tuscany !! A scent I forever associated in my mind with awkward teenage bonding….
It’s amazing how fragrance brings back memories, even uncomfortable adolescent memories.
Oh no!!! I forgot all about Babe! I used to wear that perfume! As for the junior prom – major UGH!!! Don’t remember whether or not I wore perfume. I wore a long, floral, long-sleeved, high-waisted, v-neck, chiffon-like dress – sort of cream colored with salmon/rose colored flowers. My date wore a cream colored tux with beige trim and a ruffled shirt, of course. It was 1977. All I know is that I went with a guy I didn’t really know – he was the drum major in the band! Nice enough guy, but we didn’t really talk to each other all night. Neither did the rest of the couples at our table. We girls hid in the bathroom during the theme song – Precious and Few – and the guys banged on the door trying to get us to come out and dance with them. We didn’t want to slow dance. Bleh.
Perfumes I wore during that era – Enjoli, Cachet, and probably Babe!
I wish I could smell Babe now. I can’t even remember what it smells like.
Banging on the bathroom door! Hilarious!
Dress: homemade, sleeveless, taffeta, black&white plaid dress with a poet shirt underneath, reasonably sophisticated for the pastel-polyester times. Scent: now-forgotten, single-flower Avon cologne.
Nothing like black and white plaid taffeta!
Sometime we should review some Avon scents, too.
Yes! Stella is perfect for a prom. Feminine, not too strong and like a twirly dress with a vintage feel. I cannot for the life of me remember what I wore to prom, and it was in 2000! lol Now I think I would pick a spicy gourmand.. something delicious and a date would love. I’d go for CSP.
CSP does say holiday! Spicy sounds good, too.
my senior ball was in 2004. not so long ago. this was at the end of the long gown era. now all the girls are wearing short dresses. i dont think that’s as glamorous if you wear miniskirts to school everyday too. my dress was strapless, long, royal blue. i even got to resurrect it a couple years later for a production of benjamin britten’s opera version of a midsummer night’s dream. i was hippolyta. i can’t for the life of me remember what fragrance i wore but in heavy rotation at the time were ralph, romance, and JPG fragile. my guess is it was fragile. i also remember they had nice samples in the bathroom or lipstick and perfume. i grabbed a lulu guiness one, a gucci rush one, and a mini ysl lipstick.
Wow, resurrecting your prom dress as a costume in an opera! That’s top shelf recycling.
We don’t have proms over here, but my 18 year old self would have been happy in Vera Wang or DKNY Gold, Givenchy Le De or Creed Love in White – if those are not anachronistic choices!
Those are all wonderful choices! They’d be great for a wedding, too.
I had recieved “Gardenia” for Christmas of 1995 and wore that until 1997, onced I’d saved up for a bottle of “Aqua di Gio”. Oddly enough, I chose something completely different for my senior prom in 1998 and bought it in a mini specifically for the occasion: “Eternity”. Everyone was still wearing “CKone” and Elizabeth Arden’s “Sunflowers” (both of those scents were EVERYWHERE in the 90’s). “Eternity” was an oddball for me; not something I’d usually pick and nothing like what I’ve worn since (“Champs Elysees” would soon follow “Aqua di Gio”). Everytime I smell it, though, I’m always reminded of that night :).
I remember loads of CKOne and Sunflowers, too. Blech.
It would be especially rough to smell them next to each other.
Perfect! Eternity is a beautiful scent. I wore it for years, still have some. And currently it is my teen age daughter’s favorite!
Nice!
Having anything even called “eternity” associated with high school is frightening. But I love it that you shopped for a special fragrance for the day, and that smelling it reminds you of it.
You know, I’m a bit of nerd so I never went to any proms. (I’m a college sophomore so the memories are still fresh.) I did go to all four Homecomings, and I seem to remember a lot of Juicy Couture. Keep in mind that all the trendy, popular girls went to dances- and at my school, Juicy was very in vogue. Walking into some classes was like walking into… well, a room where someone had liberally sprayed the stuff. I hated it. Angel was also popular, as was Nina by Nina Ricci. (Two others that I hated too. Sad for me.) I preferred Coco Mademoiselle my last year. The other three I can’t say I wore perfume! I think I was too excited to have actually been asked to concentrate on that small, but perfecting, detail lol.
Coco Mademoiselle–you were really the cool girl!
My prom was more than half my lifetime ago – 1974, and I remember my daring (for me) halter dress made of panels of different colored calicoes. Flat sandals, and it was one of the few times I wore my hair loose – it was about 3 ft long, parted in the middle, just like everybody else’s. My date wore his grandfather’s seersucker jacket and chinos. If I was wearing any fragrance at all, it would have been either Tatiana or Muguet de Bois, and it would have been undetectable in the clouds of pot smoke :-)!
I love the sound of your dress! And with that hair and flat sandals! Perfect.
Like one of the commenters above, I went to three proms (always an older boyfriend – which seems weird now!?!) I wore a feather boa for the first one that completely obliterates the dress in my mind. The second, and most “real” prom, since all my older friends were graduating, I went in a Marilyn, Some-Like-it-Hot dress, only in pale, pale pink, from Pam Chorley’s great Toronto store, Fashion Crimes. The third (my graduating year) I went in a madarin-collar floor length red dress in – gulp! – size 2, which will never fit again. Sadly, I can’t remember what scent I wore any of the times, but I probably snitched my mom’s Boucheron or Opium, if anything.
Your outfits sound amazing…
I would have been full of admiration had I seen you at my prom.
Holy smokes! Erin, I had no idea. A feather boa? Floor length, mandarin-collared red dress? Lipstick pink Marilyn? Jail bait.
Ah well…. I wasn’t asked to my prom. Back then I was really bummed. Now that I look back, am glad I didn’t waste the money, especially when I look at my husband’s prom photo with his then girlfriend. Really don’t remember what I wore back then, probably mostly Avon (Sweet Honesty anyone?) and Yves Rocher (Eglantine). Although I did treasure my little sample vials of First & Chloe edps. Think I would have worn the First if I had gone. That would have been 1980 – gosh, am I really that old???
It was a fluke that I went to the prom at all, so I know what you mean.
Sweet Honesty–now that brings back memories.
I didn’t have a date and I arrived late, almost at midnight, after the dinner, when most of the others had already hit the dance floor.
I wore Trésor, one of my mum’s perfumes, my mum’s Dries Van Noten skirt, an undershirt I found terribly chic (it was sheer, hmm, good look) and a flower garland my mum had made for me, using flowers from her garden.
The girl I admired most at the time wore Dolce Vita by Dior, a vintage emerald green dress, short lacey blouse adorned with a brooch and dark wine coloured lipstick. Sigh.
Oh yeah, and though I no longer fancied anyone at school at that age (all my objects of desire were sitting in cafes downtown, which is why I wasn’t very enthusiastic about the prom), my ex-beau schoolboy was wearing a funny looking suit, a kind of Austrian hunter aesthetic, thin legs and a dark green frock coat with a flower in the buttonhole.
Hot, I thought.
I love it!
You sound positively chic. So, so much more chic than I was. Chic-er perfume, too.
That’s sweet, I must admit that it sounds nicer than it looked (I had very odd hair at the time, some of it had turned from a big knot into a huge dreadlock which sat at the back of my head like a horn; also, the Chineses slippers I was wearing made my feet hot, so I took them off a lot and was barefoot… and I have unusual and long feet… Trésor was lovely though :))
Too dorky to ever get asked to a prom! I was a hippie chick at the time and wearing mostly patchouli. Oh, well! I had a friend who threw a “prom” party in the 80’s so we got all dressed up – I wore a vintage black taffeta opera gown and most likely either Poison or Paloma Picasso.
Those were perfect 1980s perfumes for a 1980s prom, that’s for sure.
No proms here in Italy, but I have a few memories about perfume at that age. Really uncool memories. 1990: I was a nerdy 16 and was in London for a month during the summer, to go to english school, and I found out The Body Shop paradise, which at that time did not exist in Italy (and I lived in a small town anyway).
I remember buying makeup (and not knowing how to wear it, so I ended up using a fuchsia lipliner as an eyeliner) and two perfumes, which I used A LOT: Dewberry and White musk.
I remember a lot of CkOne in the air at school, Emporio Armani She and many Cacharel fragrances, while my most perfumey teacher wore Poison and Acqua di Giò.
You might have been on to something with that fuschia lipliner eyeline–although it does sound like it would smear….
Angie,
How did you guess? My date definitely wore Drakkar, because that is what I got him. I cannot remember for the life of me what I wore. It’s killing me!!
~T
You probably couldn’t smell whatever you wore, anyway, if your date was packing Drakkar Noir!
Oh I don’t know… back in the day I was known to wear Giorgio so that might have gobbled up his Drakkar.
Good lord, how the two of us could stand to be in the same car with each other I’ll never know. I’d be gagging today.
Giorgio? I can’t imagine you in that! But yes, Giorgio versus Drakkar Noir is almost as scary as King Kong versus Godzilla.
LIke Daisy, I’m wishing I had my hands on the pictures of me in my prom dress; unfortunately my sister has them, and I believe she plans on putting her son through college by blackmailing me with them.
Here it is, my 1976 prom dress: http://preview.tinyurl.com/hideous-prom-dress Yep, a Gunne Sax dress. And yes, I realize it looks awful, but believe it or not, I was greatly envied at the time for having it. Look at that high neck and tight sleeves! Have you ever seen a dress scream “don’t even think about touching me”? Well, this is that dress. 😉
Perfume? I can’t remember (although I know my dress smelled like champagne before the night was over) for sure, but I’d bet it was Diorella.
What a dress! It says something, but it sure doesn’t say “Diorella”. I have to admit, though, that it’s kind of a cool dress.
Diorella was for “special.” Love’s Baby Soft was for everyday.
I had another, similar Gunne Sax dress in blue – it came in handy many years later as my Glinda Good Witch of the North Halloween costume!
Love’s Baby Soft? I see the connection. Perfect use of the blue dress!
French person here, living in the UK – don’t know from Prom, LOL!
I’ve not once in my life had occasion to wear a cocktail. Boo. 🙁
Seen films, though, so familiar with it. I enjoyed reading this thread very much. 🙂
Really, you’re blessed not having had to endure a prom! In my case, it’s just another excuse to be embarrassed. Although a cocktail dress–there are plenty of good reasons to wear one of these, even now.
Oops, meant to write ‘cocktail dress’, obviously. LOL!
I knew exactly what you meant!
I’m American, but my school didn’t have a prom — I feel so deprived of cringe-inducing fashion moments! I do have memories of a ball I used to go to in New York for WASP-y teens (yikes, speaking of cringe-inducing), and when I was 15 (1984), I wore a beaded black 1920s flapper dress I found in a vintage store, red lipstick, and probably a quart or two of YSL Paris. I almost wish I had a Gunne Sax moment to cringe over — I feel like I was so much more chic and cool at age 15 than I am now!
My gosh, at fifteen you were infinitely more cool than I am now! I can smell the YSL Paris now. And a beaded flapper dress is just plain fabulous.
My mom made my dress in 1984-a strapless crimson red floor length gown. My aunt gave me Opium for Christmas-the only fragrance I had. I’m sure that’s what I wore.
Opium and crimson: a killer combo!
LOL, no prom for me, but I did wear Babe back then! I still like it too.
I wish I could remember what it smelled like.
Well, it had quite a bit of peach in it- synthetic I’m sure – and subtle wood & aldehydes, and frankly nothing much that seemed natural, but it did have a certain charm. It was quite soft but not sugar-sweet, and it was quite a bold scent for its time, a departure from other drugstore frags.
Yes! Your description sounds so familiar. I’m going to have to try to hunt down a few drops.
Oh, I remember reading Dior Eau Sauvage to my prom…in retrospect I am totally glad that my friends and I decided to rent a huge limo–we all ended up becoming each other’s prom dates, which elimated a great deal of hassels. Come to think of it, I still have the blazer to wore that evening–everything still fits (perhaps the buttons are a bit tight but a quite alteration might do the trick).
Oops…this is what happens after pulling an all-nighter: I remember wearing Eau Sauvage, not reading; I remember wearing Eau Sauvage, not reading; I remember wearing Eau Sauvage, not reading…
My brain worked it out without even noticing the difference!
You smelled great! And I’m very impressed you can still wear the jacket.
I made some perfumed oil for myself. 🙂 The ingredients included a homemade vanila-infused oil, ylang ylang, and other random things I liked, including actual peppercorns. I’m not sure what I’d think of it now, or what others thought of it, but it seemed very special at the time!
I love that can-do attitude.
I wore J’adore to both of my balls. :3
That sounds lovely!
We don’t have Proms in the UK. We just had parties when I was a teenager, and then a big ‘it’s all over’ party when I was 18 and finished my A-Level exams. I wore a pretty funky and unusual bright orange dress that was above the knee, tight fitted and with lovely embroidery around the edges, with a matching orange jacket. I have no memory of wearing any perfume at all! How odd! The first perfume I remember buying for myself was Thierry Mugler Angel. But that was after the A-level party! I have absolutely no memory of what i wore before that………perhaps I went au naturel?!?!?
I remember all my friends wearing various CK concoctions – eternity, obsession etc. One friend wore Amarige, another EL Pleasures. I hated all of those. If I knew then what I know now, I’d probably have worn Fracas or Ta’if if I was in a pretty mood. Bandit or Shalimar if I was in a naughty, scandalous mood.
Angel is quite a beginning for a perfumista!
For my first prom, I wore a rose-pink hyper-ruffled concoction and had curls to match! I wore Chanel N. 5. At my 1st homecoming, I wore Tabu. My best friend and I used to share a bottle, and we would douse ourselves with it every morning at school.
Wow–No. 5 to Tabu is quite a transition. Your school must have smelled like a bordello.
I went to an alternative high school in the 70’s – we didn’t have a “prom” (so bourgeois!), but we did have an end-of-year party, to which I wore an Afghan nomad dress which my advisor (an expert seamstress) had made for me from 12 different patterned fabrics. It was lovingly accessorized with suede clogs, long straight hair parted in the middle, and patchouli oil. Luckily, there are no pictures.
I don’t know, it all sounds pretty fabulous to me.
I didn’t go to prom either- but if I had I am sure I would have been scouring the vintage stores looking for something very ruffle-y…back then Dune and Tresor were pretty heavy in the perfume rotation…This year my daughter will be at prom in a sweet knee length white dress with a black bowed sash (the material is very floaty and light) If I could pick a perfume for this dress it would be Rochas Femme or Yvresse or maybe KM Peau de Peche- she has bottles of Chinatown/Chanel Gardenia/ KM Loukhoum/ CL Tumulte and will likely choose one of those
You both have sophisticated taste–she must have inherited it from you!
I didn’t go to prom either but had I gone I probably would have used my only cologne in my reportoire at the time – Curve haha. My tastes have improved since then of course. I’m thinking I would go with either Dior Homme or or Gucci Envy if I could do so right now :0
Dior Homme would be terrific. I love that idea, especially.
I wore an eggplant colored satin dress from Jessica McClintock to prom my junior year in 1997. It was A-line, but the skirt was pretty full and it had gold and white rhinestone accents on the straps. My only perfumes at the time were Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers, Garden Botanika Purity, Gap Heaven, and a couple of Victoria Secret perfumes which were gifts but I didn’t really care for them. I probably wore the Purity since it was my favorite. I invited my best friend to avoid going with someone I didn’t like. The night ended up being pretty awkward since he thought it was a date. I was not very graceful dater at the time!
I didn’t go my senior year, although I had a dress: again Jessica McClintock, but this time light blue with a high embroidered neckline, and really fancy straps and ribbons down the back. We used to shop at the Jessica McClintock outlet in California when I visited my sister at Christmas each year. I thought I was so cool for having a dress from California instead of Tennessee! My choir recently held a Prom Dress/Formal wear consignment sale, so it was fun to pull them all back out! I was a music major in college so I had quite a collection of fancy dresses…
Yep, it sounds like you’d be ready to solo at any wedding, if called for.
Oof. I wore a GOLD, yes GOLD spaghetti strapped number with tiny black polka dots, lengthy black gloves and some kind of scratchy wrap. Since I am from Brooklyn, the prom’s unofficial theme was NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN, which played approximately 2352467 times over the course of the evening. It was held on a YACHT, and they served some kind of undercooked meat. I had my purse stolen (ON A BOAT, impossble?!?! Oh no no!) and I probably would have been better off staying home.
I wore Sung, by Alfred Sung, which I basically bathed myself in from 1986-1991.
What a night! Sounds kind of like a sitcom.
My clearest formal dance/perfume memory was my Winter Formal of my sophomore year of high school. My parents always drove me to Houston to find dresses for me, as my city (in the heart of cajun country) only had dresses that were “too old” for me. We spent hours in the Galleria, and finally ended up with a green velvet and organza dress. My father decided to treat me to my first Chanel on that day – Allure EDT (it had just been released!), and that’s what I wore with the dress.
I actually went to 4 proms (2 at other schools, and my Junior and Senior proms). I remember the dresses for all of them, but the only other scent memories I have are for my two proms. Junior year=great night; black velvet bodice with long sleeves and everything below the empire waist was flowy black crepe. It was very “Romeo and Juliet”. That dress was, I believe, paired with Joy EDP. Senior year was a black satin thing with a white jacket- worn with 1000 EDP (I think). Of course, that night, everyone paid more attention to my date, who was lobster-red. He’d spent the previous day fishing and was burnt to a crisp.
Very classy perfume choices! The dresses sound nice, too. And, hey, black velvet and lobster red probably looked nice together.
After trying on a number of heavily beaded or sequined numbers available at a discount through a number of ‘importers’ in an industrial part of town and just thinking the whole thing was overwhelmingly tacky, I went with an $80 red satin dress off the rack from Foleys. It was floor length with a halter top that tied across the open back.
My senior choir banquet (equally important at my school), I wore a $35 pale gold full length satin dress from J.C. Penny.
I looked very nice in both cases and in neither case did anyone else have my dress on. (Not true, incidentally, of the girls who spent $250-$500 on their dresses.)
My date wore a suit and tie to both events, and he wore Old Spice Sport. I wore the same thing I wore every day around that time, Bath & Body Works Sun-Ripened Raspberry.
You go! You’d look spectacular in red or gold satin, I’d think.
I was reading a 1940 Harper’s Bazaar the other day, and I saw an ad for Old Spice, but it was marketed toward women. Isn’t that interesting?