Friday, June 7, 2013

Frock Fridays: Graduation



My last graduation was sometime in late 2009 - or was it pushed to May 2010?  Honestly, I'm not sure.  After I turned in my dissertation on August 23, I more or less checked out of graduate school.  I know I passed (with very good marks, as they say in England) and I know I was granted my MA, but I wasn't really bothered with all the pomp and circumstance of the actual graduation.

Obviously, that was in total contrast to my graduation from college, when we enjoyed every cliché in the book: we carried apples to symbolize Columbia's Core curriculum,  one friend showed up naked under her gown, we took long-arm selfies with point-and-shoots during the speeches, and we threw our caps in the air and danced under the falling confetti.

Before that, though, in 2004, there was the first and most iconic graduation.  I cried when I heard the first strains of Elgar on the organ (I dare you to listen here* starting at 2:15 and not tear up yourself with memories) and processed up the nave of Washington National Cathedral with 76 other girls clad in white polyester.  After the ceremony, we gathered outside with cigars and celebrated our independence.  High school graduation is a heady thing; it's a whirlwind when, as Vitamin C says, "we're movin' on and we can't slow down."  (I was actually finishing 8th grade when that song was released, but, 13 years later, I still remember every single word.  Don't you?  Of course you do, dear readers.)

I got an email from my high school about the 2013 graduation ceremonies earlier this week, and it made me terribly nostalgic.  I'll try to find some photos of my high school graduation when I go to my parents' house tonight, but, in the meantime, I've tried to recreate the outfit I wore under my gown - our dresses had to be very light as the synthetic material of the graduation gown was practically see-through and we were required to wear white shoes.  I can't remember where my dress was from but I would have loved to wear this Reiss frock, and I will admit that these Stuart Weitzman flats are a bit classier than the Steve Madden sandals I chose back then.  However, I did live in pearl studs and my silver Elsa Peretti Jewish star from Tiffany, a Bat Mitzvah present from five years earlier, and I was totally loyal to Clinique.  (I think I owned this exact eyeshadow set in 2004 and I've replaced my Black Honey lipstick faithfully every time it's worn out since I first discovered it in 2003!)  We all loved the guy selling Kate Spade knockoffs on Prospect St in Georgetown - the bag below is the real deal, but Kate Spade wasn't the brand it is now back when I was in high school.  But then who of us hasn't changed since then?


graduation


*That really is the organ at my cathedral and I sang under the organist both in Washington and later, when I was in college, in New York!  It was such a treat to find that clip online.

linking up with {long distance loving}


18 comments:

  1. I loved/hated both of my graduations. For college I was the last department to graduate after sitting 4 hours under the Orange County sun....and most people had left. BUT I loved throwing my cap, etc.
    When I graduated with my MA I loved taking pictures before... the hood is ridiculous. I am really looking forward to the fashionable cap I get to wear when I get my PhD :)

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  2. I really wish I wore better outfits to both of my graduations. I honestly don't know what I was thinking. I cringe just thinking about it. And now I have the Vitamin C song stuck in my head!

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  3. We had to wear PURE WHITE from head to toe for our high school graduation. Like some sort of bad sorority pledge. Goodness. Thanks a lot, Archbishop Spalding. Haha

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  4. i love graduations! i fully celebrated both my high school graduation & college. i love the outfit here - my fashion choices weren't quite as refined as yours ;)

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  5. I am hating this time of year more and more each year, just reminding me how freakin' old I'm getting. I was already 1 year out of high school when that Graduation song came out (and should have been out of college when you finished HS! Thankgod for small miracles such as community college to delay the real world and make me seem younger in some circles).

    I only went to my high school graduation and have very fond memories of it. I finished college in December and the only time to walk was in June (after they had already mailed me my diploma) and I was already working and would have had to take a day off. No thanks! I'll save that for something I actually care about. Plus, only my dad would have made it, not the full blown family affair you see on tv, so what was the point.

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  6. Such a cute dress! Have a great weekend :)

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  8. this is such an adorable ensemble, love!

    xx, alicia
    river city chic

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  9. That such is a pretty dress, love the blue and white.

    xx Allie | A Song to Pass the Time

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  10. I WANT A HOOD! I'm so jealous of your mad academic style :)

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  11. we did that for our flag day ceremony! also all the seniors carried a bouquet of red roses. very symbolic, these Christian schools...

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  12. haha sorry! we are only as old as we feel :)

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  13. Attending two high school graduations at my venue last week was so eye-opening. Our high school graduation was SO strict. Held on the football field, each graduate was allowed to have only ten guests and they were not to scream/cheer at any point during the ceremony, lest they be carted out by the police. Girls had to wear white dresses (in dress code of course) with white heels and boys had to wear white or blue shirts with black slacks and black shoes. Even though that wasn't that long ago, my how times have changed. (Or maybe they're different since I lived in the deep south?) Either way, I just rambled a huge amount. Oops.

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  14. I know! I am sorry to vent it all here, this was just like the second post in a row I read on this topic and the other one mainly had to do with the girls relationship with her recently passed grandmother and thankfully I held my tongue, which is why it spilled here, as your post wasn't nearly as serious. Sorry!!!!

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