Courtesy of BonTon Stores
I am suffering from a strange case of empty nest syndrome. My in-box isn’t dinging off the charts.
The sales emails that I received during the holiday season have stopped. No more free shipping with some percentage off. No more hurrying because it was always just a few more hours. It was almost like a casino! Now there is no intensity!
There are no more guilt trips because you missed just the right gift. It’s all over.
The fat lady sang.
Then I received one email that made me smile.
It was a notice from the local department store that prom gowns are in. Not only are they in but they are on sale for 25% off. Woo hoo!
In my younger days (not all that long ago) I would enjoy touching and sometimes trying on the formal gowns that are now called prom gowns. They were a little more classic and less….umm….Miley Cyrus.
The problem with age appropriate formal wear for me is that it’s stuff my mother would wear. Can you really consider that age appropriate? Seriously! She would be 100 if she were alive.
I much prefer prom gowns minus the garish candy colors!
These days I rarely attend anything formal. Maybe I’ll go fondle the chiffon anyway. I can strap on a pair of those towering foot torture towers formerly called spikes and dream. Maybe even get a makeup job and a new ‘do.
That and a mocha latte while I rub my feet afterward is a good cure for midwinter blues at least until the hyacinths come in.
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
They should have proms for old people. The only requirement: don’t wear your contacts or glasses.
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You make me smile!
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Good luck if you are invited to an extremely formal evening wedding and have to find a full length dress, gown…burlap sack. Way too much money on something I only love a little. Now I’m scared to cut the skirt off to cocktail length, because I know as soon as I do I’ll have occasion for full length again. If I don’t cut it, it will never happen again. Sigh.
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It’s so unlikely for me…….
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A couple of years ago I went prom dress shopping with my granddaughter and her friend. It was actually lots of fun. The prom dresses in the junior dept. are cheap, and everything looks good when you’re 16 and a size one.
Then last year I had to buy a dress for myself for a fancy wedding in San Francisco. I looked and looked. It’s hard to find something age appropriate that’s not too matronly. Finally I bought a sleeveless red dress with some drape around the middle and wore it with an old white silk jacket. It used to be so easy when my mom made my dresses.
Confession: I kind of like the “candy” colors. The aqua in the ad is yummy.
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The aqua isn’t bad but I can’t wear pastels. They wash me out. I did miss having a daughter to prom shop with. If she was anything like me it would have taken us weeks!
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Time for a night out at the opera 🙂
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It does seem more calm in the mailbox and inbox now that you mention it, Kate. As for the prom sale, the only high school prom I went to … I worked at. It had an Asian theme and a fellow student loaned me his Mom’s kimono for the occasion. It was beautiful.
But I did love the dresses my girls chose for their proms – just gorgeous. Them and their dresses!
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After my era, there were better selections. I was surprised at the ad with the aqua strapless. Like I said before, I didn’t have anything to hold it up and neither did the majority of my friends.
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The fat lady sang….that really made me laugh…I’ve always hated prom dresses in general…girls look like big ice-cream cones…at my prom I wore a black cocktail dress I put on in the car. My mother just couldn’t understand why my hundred dollar special was so wrinkled. She accused me of canoodling with my little date who was about sexy as a meatball…so not to get punished for being loose, I had to confess. I got it either way…true story…love the the fat lady sang. She sure did 🙂
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I have a picture of my senior prom which I refused to post. I had a pink blush long dress with elbow length white gloves. I looked like peach cotton candy with the most stupid hairdo ever. I went to someone new (which you should never do) and she was trying something she thought was stylish. The sides were flipped out. Kinda looked like the flying nun! I love that you wore black. I would have loved to wear something classic like black or even a navy blue (which was a big spring color!) but my choices were those stupid faded pastels which don’t work with my coloring. Somehow I can’t see you canoodling with a meatball! You must have been gorgeous back then too.
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I was nuts, I can tell you that. My date went to Kolbe High…Robbie was his name…he was short with a smashed nose…I needed a date so he was the friend of my friend Pat’s boyfriend. We really wanted to go alone but tradition said we had to have dates. I loved my dress but did look a little Morticia Addams next to all the cones. I didn’t care. I smoked pot and danced with Hilary, the class lesbian. Nobody did the hustle like her. As far as canoodling went, you need to remember my mother was the queen of canoodling so she just assumed the meatball didn’t fall far from the tree. Funny the stuff you remember. Thinking about your hairdo. Too bad you didn’t include a photo. That would have been a hoot.
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Nothing like the realtor calling to say…”How about an Open House this weekend!” and mean it. Last month it was canceled…but today is the real deal. So husband and I jumped into action on a Friday night to spruce, stage, look at everything with new eyes. Now that things are dusted, swept, mopped and vacuumed, at the appointed time when we’re supposed to disappear, I think I’ll go to the mall and husband will be at a meeting. btw You’ve got to try Not My Daughter’s Jeans (NMDJ). If you don’t need jeans, just trying on one pair will convince you need “those” jeans.
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You know I looked at those ads and they look so enticing. I haven’t seen them locally but probably Macy’s has them. Another blogger recommended Lucky Brand but last time I looked at those they were about $125 for jeans with huge holes! I recently bought DKNY Soho Boyfriend jeans and they are yummy. The fabric is so soft with just the right stretch. I love jeans. When you get the right fit you look (and feel) like a million bucks! The wrong fit and you are pulling fabric out of your crotch!
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That is certainly one way to spend a dreary winter afternoon.
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and it put a smile on my face!
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I couldn’t agree more Kate! The excitement level has dropped from 10 to 0 overnight. Watching the weather for the week ahead is not helping….I want SUN!
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I know you live within an hour of me. The question is why do we live here?
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I was thinking the other day that I really do need to shop to have something on hand if I suddenly need a dress for either a wedding or funeral. Weddings you usually have notice, but….you get the point! I have NOTHING in my closet that would feel appropriate. I suppose I could figure out an ensemble from work clothes. But I am also not much of a shopper. Now I have a four-year-old granddaughter that I can already tell is going to be a fashion diva. I just hope she steers clear of the Miley Cyrus kind of style, or lack of it. God knows what they will be wearing when she is 16! I’d better start preparing myself now!
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I have mostly old work clothes and jeans. I have a few out of style formal dresses but I am sure if I had to attend a gala affair, I would buy a new one (of course the question is — so why don’t I get rid of them?). Last fall, I bought a funeral dress. Something that I can wear any time of the year but with muted darker colors. I blogged about it. Within a month, I had a funeral to go to. I don’t know if there was any connection (is there really such a thing as a coincidence?) but it was scary! I have twin granddaughters about 8 and they just love bright colors and shopping. I’m enjoying that before they get into Goth.
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I am in the doldrums too. Doubt if I can find prom dresses around here though. Maybe I’ll just go try on clothes – but that could get even more depressing. I think I need sunshine and roses.
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We had sunshine here today and it wasn’t enough. I do have a few good books that may help. One is a Fannie Flagg book. That’s always good for a few laughs.
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For midwinter blues, you need to have a midwinter holiday, like we do. It’s called Tu b’Shvat – the New Year for the Trees. Round about this time, the almond trees start to blossom and you can really feel that Spring is just around the corner. Next week we may be in for another spell of colder weather, but one can already see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Failing that – there’s always the winter sales, at least until the end of the month 😉
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We will have Presidents’ Day in a few weeks. Our winter is too long or perhaps with retirement I feel it more.
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Afternoon Kate! I haven’t been in a dress for 8 years. Don’t own one. I have never been a dress person but I love my jeans and boots. I was feeling the need to buy jeans. Went to Levi.com and ordered up 6 pairs of jeans. Probably will send them all back but one. It’s cold here in MissouREE but I am 2 hours away from wine time on The Porch.. 🙂 A good haircut makes all things better!
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It’s kind of the same thing. I was all over the jeans websites yesterday but didn’t order any. I really don’t need any clothes at all. Sometimes I buy because it is cheaper than therapy but you have to enjoy shopping! A good haircut does make it all better but a bad one can put you in a funk. Yesterday’s cut went well and it was a different style. That is always scary. Sometimes when it’s not 5 o’clock here I drink with the folks of another time zone. We call it “drinking with the Maritimes!”
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Sorry, Kate. I can’t relate. Playing dress up has never held any appeal. I didn’t even shop for a wedding dress. I tried on my mom’s. It fit. I crossed dress off the list. 😉
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Always liked playing dress up, even as a child in my mother’s clothes. My mother was shorter and wider than me. Even her shoes were bigger so I never wore her clothes for real.
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The last time I was in the store and saw prom dresses, I couldn’t believe how revealing they were. I guess the designers want the young girls to show off their implants.
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You made me smile. I was thinking earlier how flat I was then. Today’s youth has a solution for that!
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Me too…still am! 🙂
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Without Loretta Young and such Hollywood groomed glamourous stars sweeping through the entrances in those small black and white TV screens, it looks like the girls will never be enchanted by the elegance of style. Garish and bare flaunted by celebs trying to out shock everyone. A little sad the kids don’t get the magic.
Sigh. The last paragraph doesn’t sound so bad – oh, wait – sunshine outside! That’ll do
Hope you have a great weekend
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You nailed it! Glam is different these days. Even we are having sunshine today. It’s glorious!
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I’m going through the same “what to do? what to do?” phase as you are now that the holidays are behind me. I think that you need to go investigate all those prom dresses and then report back here to us what kind of dressy wonders didn’t sell. I bet that they’re all rather unique, in the larger sizes– and rather pretty in size 0!
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I am always amazed at the strapless gowns for teenagers. At that age I had nothing to keep them up and neither did most of my friends. Teenagers are bigger in many ways than they used to be. When I was in school I only had one overweight friend and she had a hard time finding a gown. I believe her mother had to make it for her. It was beautiful though.
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Have just called a new hairstylist to cure my midwinter blues! The morning workout helped, too. Glad to know I’m not alone in the blues department.
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I got a haircut yesterday and I had to go shorter because my hair was so dry. I never like they way my stylist (who does a good cut) blows out the hair so this morning I redid and am pretty pleased. You know how these things go. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes…..Good luck with you!
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Well, that’s what I get for not being real specific. It’s way too short and “guy-like”. Fortunately my hair grows quite fast but for a couple of weeks I need the stocking hat.
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When I was younger, a bad haircut would totally freak me out. Now I just think it’ll grow out soon enough. I have to remind my hair stylist not to cut my bangs too short. That is one thing I really hate.
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