Archive for February 17, 2009
It’s Not Pretty Looking Easy
Disclaimer: I am going to sound like an overprotective mother in this post. I’m not sure that I can help it – raising a teen is hard work.
Teenage Daughter is in a musical, mystery show at school this Thursday. One of the requirements was a new, dressy dress – the kind that you would wear to a dance. Since her wardrobe consists of seven pairs of jeans and one pair of khakis, I was kind of excited about her dressing up. Off we went to buy her a new frock for the show.
Let’s just say that purchasing a dress was an education for me. After an hour of looking at hoochie mama dresses (too short, too tight, too sleazy), we came upon a very pretty one. Only one problem – along with the halter style it had a plunging neckline. I think that she knew what I was going to say before I even said it. “Okay, I’ll buy that one for you. However, you know that I’m going to try to sew that neckline up a bit – it’s too low.” Yes, she agreed. I was able to close it up a bit and all is well with the world again. She’s 13 and I want her to look her age.
Then, just a couple of days later she wanted a Seventeen magazine at the grocery store. Feeling nostalgic, I bought it for her. After all, I used to read that years back and it was the “prom dress” edition.
Oh my gosh. My, how styles have changed. Were these dresses for the academy awards or prom? Were these dresses for celebrities or for teenage girls? Let me give you an example:
Here’s a little number from PromGirl.net, which sells many of the same brands featured in Seventeen. This gives new meaning to the expression, “Off like a prom dress” because there isn’t much there to begin with. Just so you don’t think I’m being “old fashioned”, here’s another example:
So I don’t necessarily want my daughter to look like this (I found this under “You too can dress like a polygamist”):
However, the “Fredericks of Hollywood” look is just NOT appropriate for teenage girls in my humble opinion. I wonder if the book ”Stop Dressing Your Six Year Old Like a Skank” has chapters about teenagers? Why didn’t I pay better attention in sewing class?
