On the Ninth Day of a Feminine Christmas

The cover of this Seventeen has effervescent colors and a darling imaginary tree.  It is dated 1956, a time when Christmas meant formals and ballgowns.  I especially like the soft cream colored one on the left with the pretty green bow.  The dress reminds me of Anne Shirley’s Christmas dress with her beloved puffed sleeves – the one that Matthew gave her.  However, wearing shorter sleeves and sweetheart necklines were part of the charm of a formal dress in the 50’s.

I attended a small party last Saturday night and typically, the attire was informal.  I noticed that the women did add a little panache to their leggings and tunics with fanciful shoes and sparkly necklaces. The clothing was merely a backdrop for ornamental accessories.  But I think some of the fun in going to a large dance or formal is the chance to fret over and then select the perfect dress to wear.  A high school boyfriend called the girls’ formal dresses “whoopee dresses”.  I never realized how important a dress was to a man’s imagination until then.  Somehow, it makes me long for those fussy important dresses and the events to wear them to.

Recently I was flipping through dress images on Pinterest when a friend stopped me at a sapphire blue silk number.  “Stop..stop”, he said.  “The blue one?”, I asked.  “Yes”, he replied, “My mother had a dress that color”.  And then softly, “I never forgot that dress.  She wore it to a Christmas party”.  I asked him how old he was at the time and he replied, “Maybe five”.

Nearly sixty years later, he was still able to recall his mother in a sapphire blue Christmas dress…