Recently my son went to his first “big dance” in high school.  It would be called a prom at other schools, but since his school eschews anything elitist and exclusive they don’t call it a prom.  (Never mind that it’s a private school, so that makes it elitist and exclusive right there, but I like that they try to pretend.)

The prom-like dance is open to all high school students, not just upper-classmen, and students attend in big groups, rather than in pairs.   There is no dress code, so students could come dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, but most do try to look nicer than normal.  Of course the girls dress up, and the freshman girls were no different; after all, this was their first “big dance.”

I have a boy.  At most I was concerned about his shoes and thankfully he was too; he found a pair of dressy gym shoes at Nordstrom to go with his black jeans and tuxedo jacket.   Most of the boys wore sports jackets, ties and dress pants.  They looked nice.  Nicer than I had ever seen them look.

But the girls looked fabulous.  They had spent all day together doing their hair and make-up and getting dressed.  Girls who normally wear soccer shorts, flip-flops and ponytails to school had on pretty dresses, high heels and curls in their hair.   As we gathered the kids for photos, I was pleasantly amazed at the transformation.

I looked closer at one of the girls; she looked familiar.  To be exact, her dress looked familiar.  That’s because that very same day I had tried on that very same dress at the Betsy Johnson store.   I had a cocktail party to attend the next week at the Arthur Blank Family Foundation.

(photo from Betsyjohnson.com)

She looked adorable in the dress.  And so did I, when I tried it on.   Well, not adorable–I’m past adorable–but I looked damn good.  The only reason that I didn’t purchase it that day is because I was deciding between that dress and a dress that I already owned, but had only worn once.

How could this be–that a 15 year old girl and I would wear the same dress?   I KNOW that I’m not too old to wear Betsy Johnson!  Betsy Johnson herself is over 65 years old and wears her own clothes!

I turned to the mothers of the girls and asked, “What does this mean?”

“It means,” they said, “that if you had a daughter this age instead of a son, she would be borrowing your clothes now.”

Yes; I could see that.  Already my 8 year old daughter holds up a shirt or belt or pair of shoes and says, “Save this for me Mommy, so that I can wear it when I get big enough.”  She is already plotting the stealing sharing of my wardrobe.

It made sense, but still I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I bought that dress then I would be wearing a “prom dress.”  But I loved the dress.  Did I mention that I looked good in it?  And it was on sale?

I obsessed for a few days: the prom dress or my dress?  I showed photos and asked everyone’s opinion.   Then I went back to the Betsy Johnson store one more time for my final decision….

*What to know what dress I chose?  Be sure to read my next blog post about my shopping trip.

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