Graduation “Gown”

I decided to post a lazy memoir today.

When I was in eighth grade the school graduation we did not wear gowns. There were a lot of strange rules for the girls’ outfits. There was a no bare shoulder/spaghetti strap rule. I was hard finding a dress. My dress budget was $20! Even for 1998 that was pretty meager. I wasn’t even allowed to upgrade to a $25 dress. I wanted something Indian style since that was everywhere that year, and because the look was inspired by Gwen Stefani.

I had to get a cover up and some new shoes. There were no “cheap” shoes that went with my outfit, so I ended up getting these white platforms. I could barely walk in them, but I had to get them since they were the only shoes in the store that went with the dress. There wasn’t much I had to accessorize with. I didn’t wear any jewelry the only thing I used to accessorize with was some purple glitter hair mascara. It matched the color of my dress.

Originally I wanted 2 dresses one for the graduation, and one for the dinner dance. My parents would have nothing of it and would only buy one dress. That would have been embarrassing to wear the same dress to both events. Especially since the dinner dance was held before the graduation. I decided since I didn’t have a different dress to wear I would not go. I was already pissed off about the dress I already had. I did not go. I stayed home and watched my video of “Live in the Tragic Kingdom”. A lot of the girls who were in the same predicament were made fun of.

My friend was lucky she got a formal dress. A lot of girls did. At the graduation I felt under dressed. The dress was too casual, and I did not wear it with nylons because that’s the way I saw some similar dresses worn in a magazine. I had open toed shoes and open toed shoes with nylons just looks tacky.

The funny thing is that some girl I didn’t like ended up getting the dress I wanted. I was sort of glad I didn’t get that dress. I had such a hard time walking in the shoes that when I was marching, and going on stage I had my arms out for balance.

It was funny when this other girl I didn’t like told me she got her dress. She hardly ever talked to me aside from spewing insults. She was so tomboyish I had a hard time imagining her in a dress. I remember seeing her in the dress and thinking, “She looks like a girl.” She was wearing these really casual sandals with her nice (not formal) dress and nylons. It looked so tacky. I liked making fun of her because she would always make fun of my clothes and shoes. I felt it was justified. Her sandals looked like this.

The ceremony itself gets it’s own story. There is just too much to cram in there.