Prom Dress
date: label: date made
content: 1965
name: label: maker
content: Cantu, Norma E.
notes: label: Description
content: Hand-sewn by the wearer for her senior prom in South Texas, this dress reflects middle-class attempts to imitate the grandeur of debutante balls. Starting out as college rituals at the turn of the 20th century, proms worked their way down to high schools and became more expensive during the prosperous 1950s. This dress was made in 1965, despite the counterculture of the 1960s showing a slight decline in the prom's popularity.
label: Description
content: This dress is full-length and made of rose-colored, satin-like fabric. A darker pink machine-made lace with a floral patter covers the front and back of the bodice. The front of the lace is decorated with scattered three- point stars made of sewn-on oblong pearls with a smaller, round pearl in the center. These smaller pearls are also randomly applied throughout the bodice, though many are now missing. The bodice has two darts in the back and four in the front, with two coming up from the waist; the others form under the arms toward the breast area. An undecorated skirt is attached, flared, and gathered at the waist. It is made of two large panels seamed on the sides. The entire dress is lined in pale pink synthetic fabric. A metal zipper on the center back fastens the dress, and a hook-and-eye closure is at the top neckline.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Texas, Laredo
label: worn
content: United States: Texas
topic: label: web subject
content: Costume
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
label: See more items in
content: American Enterprise
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Norma Cantu
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2013.0178.01
label: catalog number
content: 2013.0178.01
label: accession number
content: 2013.0178
objectType: label: Object Name
content: dress, 1-piece
label: Object Type
content: Dress
label: Object Type
content: Woman
label: Object Type
content: Entire Body
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: synthetic fibers (lining fabric material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (zipper material)
label: Physical Description
content: synthetic fibers (dress fabric material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (eye material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (hook material)
label: Measurements
content: chest width: 18 in; 45.72 cm
label: Measurements
content: center back from neckline to hem: 51 1/2 in; 130.81 cm