I did not belong in my entitled suburban high school with its BMW-littered parking lot, that much was obvious. Still, I was an incorrigible individualist – my purple pixie cut amongst blonde cheerleader perms, my thrift store ensembles amongst be-branded yuppie threads – my formative years were spent dodging lunch remnants and unwarranted insults. I didn’t care, each flung fistful of Frito’s only resulted in a new color of hair dye and a defiant donning of my vintage hippy sweater.
Come time for school dances, my close friends (made closer by our mutual yuppy revulsion and thrift store devotion) and I whipped out the big guns. Mind you, this was before it was normal to wear costumes to school dances, we were literally the only kids not wearing chiffon or taffeta prom dresses from Wet Seal:
Eve was adorable in a velvet mini dress with a “Homecoming sash” made of fake bullets and silver and black wingtip maryjanes. I wore a lace-up corset, silver tights and heeled brogues and some rather unfortunate hair color.
That was all fine and good, but I’m pretty sure the music stopped when we walked into our Senior Ball after having watched Amadeus one too many times that year:
Notice how our gigantic dresses were too big for the set and its duct tape applied floor… It was a trying adventure to pee in that venue’s microscopic bathroom stalls.
After being snubbed in the yearbooks, we pretty much had a monopoly on the end of the year Senior Ball slideshow. Score 1 point for the rejects!
(Scans by my sweet friend, Dawna Gillis-Casey, who is sporting the sole jazzhand in the first photo. Thank you!)
OH man! so brilliant! i wish i had bee that cool. actually i just wish i had been a teenager in the 90s.
This is great. My wife and I (then dating) went to our prom in full 1920s antique clothes. I had a pure white tux with tails, a top hat and cane and she had this great flappers dress. We came in, disgusted all the preps and left. The 90s were good.
I had a purple pixie cut too! And swore off new dresses when it came to dances. As for Senior Prom (where I got food poisoning, btw) I went in full regency garb. White. Which no one expected because I was SO GAWTH.
Haha, awesome Mary!
EK, I totally did the flapper thing (WELL, I might add) at a friend’s junior prom. I wore a black vintage drop waist dress and flipped my blue-black pixie cut into little pin curls and kicked my leg up for the photograph.
Ah, I wish I had more old photos in my possession, I reeeally loved pissing of those cheerleaders!
Thanks, Oni!
Ahhh! This the story of my high school career as well! “Smart, artsy weird girl befriends same. Make questionable and fun fashion choices. Stay friends forever because growing up somewhere like that is a trial by fire”
Awesome photos.
Holy crap, that senior ball picture is AMAZING!
amazing! i think the late 90′s was the best time to be a teenager-maybe i’m a little biased…
hell yes. great senior ball outfits! i was in the same boat, my silver and black kiss boots and black polyester minidress were not well received at homecoming. but at least we aren’t the ones cringing at our heinous chintz and lace prom dresses 10 years later…
It was great. We arrived, looked fabulous and took photos to prove we attended a prom. The next day it was back to the goth grind. Wow, I wish there were grown-up proms!
The Senior Ball photo of you guys is fantastic.
How cool that you all wore those outfits.
Love it.
That… is freaking sweet.
That is awesome!! My friends and I had certain dress up days in school (including Foreign Friday), but I never went to any school dances. I did wear as many big/fluffy dresses as I could get away with, though.
I am thoroughly impressed.
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
Your costumes for the senior ball are AMAZING. I wish I could have been friends with you guys in high school!
Wow the Amadeus costumes were awesome!
I have a copy of that picture too! I recently found a photo album from our teen years which has a bunch of pictures of you two. I need to hook up my scanner, then I’ll email them to you.
I lovelovelove Eve’s red dress – wish I owned it now! The Amadeus costumes are beyond amazing. You guys rule.
Love the purple, that’s so cool. I stood out as well, mainly because it took me ten years to grow into my forehead and I spent most of my teen years thinking of new and innovative ways to hide it.
Gah.
“Mind you, this was before it was normal to wear costumes to school dances”
Wait, that’s considered normal now?
The last photo’s awesome. I’ve gotta admit, at first, I was worried you were getting a little too pretentious: “I didn’t care, each flung fistful of Frito’s only resulted in a new color of hair dye”. jesus. You badass, you. Your outfits to Homecoming are pretty lame. But anyway, props for the ball gown costumes.
omg these photos are fantastic!!!
i love that bullet sash thing. i definately want to make it into a belt!
These pics make me wish that I was a teen in the 90s even more than I already do! Where did you find those costumes? BTW my hair is partially purple too. Purple is the best unnatural hair color there is =]
holy MOLY, i am WAY digging on this.
Gute Arbeit hier! Gute Inhalte.
НЕ в тему немного, но радует, что автор к блогу не просто тупо взял какую то тему для ВП, а сделал что то свое и вкладывает в это дело душу.
Видел что-то наподобие в буржунете, в Русскоязычном инете про такие вещи как-то не особо часто посты увидишь.
First off I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing. I’ve had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting my ideas out. I truly do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally lost simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints? Thank you!