Found Photos: Prom Glamour!

Hopeful pastel-colored tissue-paper blooms, the lovely smile of a young lady wearing what I suspect is the product of many hours of labor by her mother at a sewing machine and a Simplicity pattern (or perhaps she made it All By Herself in her Home Ec class), the proud yet slightly sheepish smile of a tall young man who is thrilled to be the young lady's escort (so you can forgive his predilection for plaid)...it's photos like these that keep me blogging here.

For more Prom Glamour, be sure to check out my tribute to Prom 1965!

Prom 1965

Prepare yourselves for untold glamour!

If I could reach out and give every single one of these darlings a kiss on the cheek, I would.

Photos found on Google Images; search "Prom 1965."  Many of these shots will lead you to truly wonderful websites where you can lose yourself in all of the glorious memories.

Prom 1977: All The Dancing Queens Got To Give It Up Before They Are Blinded By The Light On Those Southern Nights

Just breathe in the glamour (the scent of pot, Wrigley's spearmint gum, and horniness, coupled with Love's Deep Earthy Musk or Love's Musky Jasmine...or Yves Saint Laurent Opium, borrowed from Mom for this special night).

#1 on the Billboard chart, April 2, 1977



#1 on the Billboard chart, June 25, 1977




#1 on the Billboard chart, February 19, 1977




#1 on the Billboard chart, April 30, 1977

Prom 1977: All In The Family

Kids in 1977 knew that prom traditions often involved the family, be it borrowing your old man's Chevy for an evening of revelry, or posing with your mother under a tree for a photo.

Mom in the second picture incarnates why I love vintage things so damned much. Did she go to the beauty parlor herself that morning to have her hair teased so that a good foot was added to her overall height? Did she use spit to style her bangs?

As for the youth in the first picture, did his family move onto the Clutter Family farm after the cops and Capote left, or something? Talk about a desolate prairie. It looks like perhaps some sort of shantytown exists in the background. Perhaps this young man was going to prom at Jonestown! How did he get such a fashion-forward tuxedo in Guyana?

How could I forgotten today's prom tune? Here's The Sylvers with "Hot Line." This song peaked at #5 on the Billboard chart for two weeks in January/February 1977.

Prom 1977: Girls In Long Sleeves

Quite an elegant, romantic look, I think.

Perfect for that first slow dance: Mary MacGregor's "Torn Between Two Lovers," which spent two weeks atop the Billboard chart in February 1977.

Prom 1977: Candid Couples

Sometimes it's best to let photos speak for themselves. I love how natural the girls look, with soft pretty hair and understated makeup. The young girls who go to prom today...well, it's all just so much of a production; the drag queens on RuPaul's Drag Race have nothing on today's generation of prom-going girls!




Turn the volume up loud...you know you want to! This song hit #1 on the Billboard chart on January 15, 1977.

Prom 1977: First In A Five-Part Series Extravaganza

Just sit back and soak in the glamour that only orange blossoms fashioned from tissue paper can bring.

A coordinated tuxedo to his gal's pretty pink dress? You cannot beat that for style! She's so winsome and lithe; he's so Everybody's All-American. I wonder if her mother made her dress all special? Do you notice that it kind of resembles the Carrie White glamourwear?

(p.s. As is the case with all of my bloggings, I make fun of my subjects, but deep down within, there is a healthy respect...for the effort that was made, for the history involved, for the sheer charm that comes from innocence and youth. Such is the case here. I'm teasing about them, sure; but can you imagine the glamour and excitement of that dance? Those orange blossoms were fashioned with such care! Such a lovely chuppah for the prom couple to pose under! Can you just hear the thump thump thump of the disco beat on the dance floor? I'm talkin' burn, baby, burn...Disco Inferno! Burn, baby, burn...burn that mutha down!)