Some Prom thoughts...
Where did it come from?
The roots are set in the States, the debutante ball was a tool to introduce young women into society, with some eligible bachelors looking on.
Where did it come from?
The roots are set in the States, the debutante ball was a tool to introduce young women into society, with some eligible bachelors looking on.
In the 19th Century, girls were not allowed to wear suits, nor were young women who were not white female allowed to attend.
In the 1940s and 50s the Prom or Promenade took off in Amercian schools; the right of passage for the graduating class. A culture developed. Some traditional poor cultures remained from yesteryear.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 should have evoked celebration but, some states in the South of America clung hold of a tradition most horrid. A town in one state had their FIRST racially mixed event in 2008!
During the late 1990s/early 2000s the Prom notion began to take off in the UK. Promoted possibly by Ametican sitcom and someone's idea..it's now estimated that 85% of secondary schools have a school prom.
I remember my graduating year in 1994. We went to a local club and had a disco. All wearing 'regular clothing.' No pressure about hiring a tux or arriving in an e-type jag.
I've been involved in giving up time over many years for the school prom. Watching the children turn up in posh attire, arriving in fast cars, horse carriage, a fire engine once (that was pretty cool).
Then I think about the poor. Not many see behind the scenes....working with families that are destitute; trying to source a free dress; arrange for hair and nails as a freebie. Wonderful charities support this, they do an incredible job but I'm still left wondering.
What if we hold a levelling event from now on....I'm not a fashion designer but I think I may be able to tell a £500+ dress from one that isn't or maybe, I just know the families.
Maybe as we move on from this pandemic, if we ever do, we'll think differently about this social Americanism that seems to have crept in like a thief in the night.
Maybe we'll think of the disadvantaged that we know of and the disadvantaged that we don't know of that have been a product of this virus, our ghost poor.
Maybe we'll think of clawing back our culture and maybe, just maybe, have disco instead.
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