She's A Rainbow

This past weekend we began the rite of passage ritual that each girl gets to begin when they are a high school junior. We began prom dress shopping. In my ever changing moods, it made me dizzy, jittery and honestly, it hurt my eyes. Gone are the days of the soft whites and pastel dresses. There are now dresses in every neon color under the sun. Each girl that was standing in front of her dressing room arguing with her mother looked exactly like a brightly colored rainbow.

The cheerleader and I always have fun when we shop in the fall for homecoming dresses. We slip into the Jessica McClintock boutique and we slip out with the perfect dress. I had high hopes for the same result with prom dress shopping. Sadly, that was not the case. And, since my prom days ended in the very early 80s, I was out of touch, according to the cheerleader.

Each dress store that we walked into looked like it was a hurricane in motion of neon, rhinestones, sequins, backless, plunging necklines and slits up to here. There were bold prints, pageant dresses, princess dresses, gone with the wind dresses, Vegas cocktail dresses and dresses that looked like birds. I was actually scared. I like to pride myself on being up on fashion, I dress hip, I know the designers. But, nothing prepared me for the entrance to prom dress mania.

I texted my friend, Darla, who just went through the prom dress shopping and told her that I kept humming the tune to, Rhinestone Cowboy. The cheerleader tried on three BEAUTIFUL dresses picked out by me, her mother, the prom girl of old school prom dresses. They all looked stunning. But, apparently, prom must unleash some inner desire to be covered in rhinestones with a plunging back and slits all over the place. My choices were left in the dressing rooms. We left with no dress in hand. The cheerleader wants to be WOWED. I want to take my sunglasses for the next prom dress shopping extravaganza, this weekend.

A prom is special, the dress needs to be perfect, the date needs to be fun, the limo needs to be packed with friends. I get all of that. I was young and went to all of my proms, wore white, we didn't rent a limo back then and usually couldn't stand many of my dates. But, I know prom is special!!

I just hope they all wear sunglasses to shade their eyes from the dizzying array of dresses in neon colors as they enter their special dance.