Prom Traditions and Memories
rWhat’s Up? Magazine asked several adults for their prom memories. Here are some of their comments.
rr“I went with Ray, my Italian boyfriend, the tight end for the football team both junior and senior years,” recalled Iris Krasnow, an Annapolis resident and author of the best-selling book, “Surrendering To Marriage.”
rFor the first prom in 1971, Ray wore a white polyester jacket with black trim and a peach-ruffled shirt. He wore a double breasted brown linen jacket and a very cool mustard-colored shirt to escort her to the 1972 prom. Iris explained: “His elevation in style came because, for the second Prom, I chose his outfit. My Junior year I wore a bright orange halter jump suit splashed with red and white flowers, with wide legs and a low neckline. Senior year, I wore a cotton candy pink jump suit, in the same style. Bright zoot suits that tied behind the neck and billowed around your legs, you may recall, were the rage in the early 1970s.”
r“My parents would never have let me stay out all night, and thankfully there were no ‘prom breakfasts’ I had to miss. Pre-prom we ate at his father's Italian restaurant named Caesar's and went to a drive-in movie after one prom. Don't remember what we did the other year; after all, this was a lifetime ago. We traveled in his red 1967 Ford, no stretch limousine. And, if we did imbibe just a wee bit I'm sure it was pink Ripple wine that matched my dress.”
Kent Brasloff, a longtime Manhattan resident, who is the owner of Ask Kent and Co., his own interior design firm, and Co-Founder of The Independent Interior Designers’ Forum, recalled his senior prom back in St. Louis in 1978. “I wore a rental suit that never got altered and was a size and a half too big. My mother had to pin me into it so that it wouldn't fall off. My boutonnière kept flopping over and it was definitely a ‘bad hair’ day,” he sighed. “My date, who was a swimmer, initially couldn't find a dress to fit her very broad shoulders and very tiny waist all at the same time. In the end, she wore a very pretty, all white, Mexican peasant dress with a stretchy shoulder line and some flowers in her hair.”
The evening had a promising beginning, but quickly went downhill: “We went to a fancy restaurant at the top of a mid-town building. My date, who had had dental work done the day before took one bite of her pasta, which was VERY hot, and was in agony the rest of the evening.” The couple left the prom early and didn't attend any after-parties.
“Back then, there were no prom breakfasts or after-parties,” said Annapolis resident Nushi Carrera
r. She went
to the Senior prom in Alexandria,VA., with her boyfriend, who, thirty-three years later, is still her main squeeze and husband.
“He wore a black tux and I wore a halter top, long solid black dress. If you know what people wore those days you can imagine how we stood out!” laughed Nushi.
rMy boyfriend and his dad cooked a high end steak dinner, complete with a white table cloth and candles, and served it in their family room for just the two of us,” srrhe smiled. For her son’s prom in 2003, Nushi was part of the after-prom committee which arranged for a game company “to bring tons of casino like games to our school gym. We had almost all prom attendees there. It was a great safe way to keep an eye on them.”
