STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

sfclinevandy · Coach

My pretty new dress

shopgirl82 · Chanel

gorgeous! i like it better than the ABS dress (i also wouldn't pay for ABS quality). the emerald color doesn't surprise me since you posted about loving all things emerald right now.

bumblebee · Coach

ooh, that is gorgeous! is it a deb ball (gosh, i'm nosy)? i wish i had somewhere ultra-formal to go!

sfclinevandy · Coach

bumblebee wrote:

ooh, that is gorgeous! is it a deb ball (gosh, i'm nosy)? i wish i had somewhere ultra-formal to go!

Yep... all the debs will be in their white gowns (aka wedding dresses sans trains) and kid gloves and all the men in white tie.

bumblebee · Coach

so awesome! mine wasn't white tie, it was black tie, but we did wear wedding gowns sans trains. i've only been back to one since my own. i think they are so fun!

Chic · Marc Jacobs

I love love this dress and you are going to look so fab in that dress...knock all the silly little debs down...ha ha only a deb herself too can say that!

honey · Gucci

that is a gorgeous dress.

gypsyfreak · Coach

Beautiful dress! Really love the color!

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

I LOVE your new dress. The emarald color is amazing!

This may be stupid.. but I've lived in PA my whole life and dont know what a Deb ball is?

laken1 · Hermes

I can't wait to see a picture of you in it - you are going to look gorgeous!!! I absolutely love that color.

jestillman · Kenneth Cole

JoceyBaby23 wrote:

I LOVE your new dress. The emarald color is amazing! This may be stupid.. but I've lived in PA my whole life and dont know what a Deb ball is?

yeah, I know it's a debutante (sp?) ball, but i also don't know anything abt them....it was my impression that it's wealthy families bringing their daughter's "into society" but what does that really mean anymore?

can someon explain really what the Ball is all about and maybe is there a movie or something we can see with a Ball in it?

Chic · Marc Jacobs

I was a Deb in Atlanta in 1996, with the Phoenix Society. SFC was and Atlanta Deb so I will let her describe that one because it is a little different. You debut the summer after your freshman year in college. There is a Summer dance that is held in June and the debs wear basically a bridesmaid dress, in a pastel color. At the dance you are introduced in front over hundreds of people and your date would walk out and hand you a rose. It was held at a country club. Then you spend the summer attending many theme parties that are open bar( we are all under age so this is weird) and your parents throw tons of money into, with bands and food and more. I also would expected to volunteer for a certain amount of hours at The Shepard Spinal Center. It felt like a tiny taste of a sorority except you didn't choose your sisters. Then after Thanksgiving there is the final presentation where you wear a wedding dress. Some girls go all out and buy dresses from Saks, like I am looking at right now for my actual wedding. A friend of mine actually altered her deb dress and wore it in her wedding since she spent thousands on it. So anyhow you are presented again and this time your father walks out with you and you curtsey in front of society. Then you are supposedly elite I guess. I don't know. I had a blast doing it and I am still involved with them for the fact that I liked the girls that did this with and the philanthropy of The Spinal Shepard Center. I do know that it can be vastly different in each state and even for SFC Atlanta is different than Phoenix.

I found this on the internet to help better describe it.
The History of the Debutante Season

The word, "debutante," comes from the French word, "debuter," which means "to lead off."

The debutante tradition, as we know it in the United States, has its roots, as many of our customs do, in England. The idea that a girl should be presented to society stems from the time when a daughter of marriageable age needed to find a husband of suitable and similar social standing. The daughters of the landed aristocracy, the lords and ladies of England, married within a very small circle and often had a very large dowry that went with them.

The court of the kings and queens of England is known as the court of St. James. It was the center of all power. Because of the weather and the requirements of the hunt, the court was in London from April until the end of July. During this time, the aristocracy came in from their country homes and opened their city houses and the social season commenced.

After the Industrial Revolution, as the middle class began to make large sums of money, the aristocrats were anxious to make alliances with wealthy entrepreneurs. The middle class daughters could be presented if they could find a sponsor from among the aristocracy. The Season started with the presentation to the Court during which the young lady bowed to the Queen-thus the name the St. James Bow. Parties followed this, each family giving their share. It was hoped that at the end of the season, a girl would have found a husband.

The idea of the presentation of young women to society started in this country in 1748 when 59 colonial Philadelphia families held "Dancing Assemblies," the forerunner to the Debutante Ball. The tradition continues today throughout the United States with the majority of balls being held from November through January.

In our guild, the Debutante Year is the finale for four to six years of philanthropic, cultural and social training, welcoming the debutante into a world of civic responsibility and social awareness.

-- Edited by Chic at 12:29, 2005-09-22

sfclinevandy · Coach

Basically, I'll echo what Chic said. It's more or less your presentation to society. It used to be a girl's family threw her a big party when she was of suitable age to marry. That notion is terribly outdated. Now it's really just an excuse to throw big, elaborate parties.

I (and my sisters) was an Atlanta Deb. It's a "club" where girls are invited to make their debut. I can't really go into specifics of how girls are selected... kinda like a secret society... but basically it's girls whose families are signigicantly tied to the area. IT's done the summer after a girl's freshman year in college. There are usually about 30 girls who all pretty much know each other through school, parents, similar social circles etc. The balls are always the second friday in June (where the debs where pastel gowns ), the night after Thankgisving (where the debs where white and are presented by their fathers and do their grand curtsey) and around Christmas (less formal... the girls where the white gowns and usually invite several friends... this ball is geared to the young people while the other two are much more formal).

Between the June Ball and the Thanksgiving ball, the girls parents throw them parties. Most people have big night parties very similar to what you see on My Sweet 16 BUT you throw them in groups of about 5. My theme was "A Night at the Oscars"... we had a Whoopi Goldberg, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Nicholson impersonater, an amazing band, our favors were relica Oscar awards, and we even had a red carpet and spot lights. And of course there was a full liquer bar... that's another thing... there's always TONS of alcohol (I belive that club Chic made her debut with was alcohol-free) which may seem funny since everyone's underage but the authorities just turn their heads. One sister basically had the same party as I did but her theme was Moulin Rouge and she had charicture artists instead of the impersonaters. My youngest sister (who's making her debut now) had a Spa party this past summer where it was girls only and instead of inviting a date, each girl just brought a girlfriend. They rode on a chartered bus to a resort where they spend the day laying by the pool and got to choose 3 30-minute spa treatments.

The whole deb thing is very bizarre. A lot of people look down on it because of what it used to symbolize and the exclusivity. I like to think of it as just an excuse to buy pretty dresses, eat great food, mingle, drink and dance.

-- Edited by sfclinevandy at 13:20, 2005-09-22

jestillman · Kenneth Cole

thanks for the explaination ,i've always wondered.....