Hold on to the Night: Prom 1987
Lizzy Bergstrom

     All the flyers have been posted, tickets have been purchased, Prom King and Queen have been chosen, and finally the big day has come.  Though it is actually November 10, 2001, it is also Prom 1987 at the Holiday Inn Downtown. As I crimp my hair with my new Boss Crimper, well actually, just new to me, (It was $1.50 at Value Village), I begin to wonder what is my generationsí infatuation with the 80ís.

     This Prom re-creation is not the first of itís kind, considering just three weeks ago, I was at anotherís 80ís Prom with balloons and decorations and even a photo back drop. Were the 90ís not fun enough for us to grow up in?  Are we not satisfied with the present decade?

     So, I needed to look back at the events of the 80ís Prom to find some answers.  For starters, Value Village, was a source of great fun in itself.  I encountered two girls Iíve never seen before who were on the same mission as me: we laughed and laughed as we took turns trying on dresses like the turquoise lace tea length bridesmaids dress and the peach puffy sleeved get up.  Then we met five guys and they too, were looking for the perfect 80ís outfit.  They joined the conversations concerning if one dress looked like something Snow White would wear, or if fuschia pumps can go with anything.

     Luckily, for the guys, we were there to help them with their choices.  One guy had on a gold sparkle shirt mixing up the 70ís Disco era with the 80ís.  My boyfriend had a rough start too, but finished it off with a bang with womenís Chic stone washed jeans that were so tapered he could barely get his feet in, and a womenís stone-washed jacket that was a tad too tight for comfort.  He found bright yellow socks to pull up over the tight rolled stone-washed jeans and his shirt had huge patches of vibrant colors from red to purple.

     My final choice was a black velvet dress with gigantic gold puffy sleeves, though I was tempted to buy the turquoise lace dress too for any potential 80ís Proms I attend in the future.  The black velvet dress won out because the sleeves could actually be confused for a professional football players shoulder pads, which truly added to the beauty of the dress.

     When I got home and tried on the outfit with these awesome gold pumps, my roommateís jaw dropped as she thought I purchased this for a Christmas Party or something.  Though the dress was from the designer formal wear rack at Value Village, I assured her I would not be wearing this to any Christmas Party.

     My other roommate, Tracy, had an equally ugly dress that was black on top with green sparkly swirls and green satin on the bottom with a huge bow on her left hip as well as one on her back.  I crimped her hair too and she put a side ponytail in with half of her hair.   I opted for the headband with a big black bow approach, however.  The finishing touches were my momís bright green eye shadow and hot pink lipstick.  Hopefully for her sake, they were left over from the 80ís.

     Sometimes when I have high expectations for a party or an event, it falls short, but this was definitely not the case.  From the punch bowl fountain that of course, had been spiked to the disc jockey and his fog machine and funky lights, this exceeded my wildest dreams.  Every single person went all out 80ís and we definitely impressed the Holiday Inn bartenders immensely with our attire.  They couldnít believe how decked out we were.

     A Miami Vice look alike carried around a mirror with sugar (a.k.a. cocaine) to snort for anyone interested.  One guy got his mom to cut his hair into a mullet.  Another guy shaved zigzags into the sides of his hair and gelled his curly black hair on top.  The puffy peach dress and the turquoise lace dress were being worn.  Apparently Value Village had sold every 80ís dress.
I think some people actually believed it was Prom 1987, which brought out a wilder side of these intelligent Marquette University Seniors.  One girl must have forgotten she wasnít wearing underwear because her scandalous moves on the dance floor would have been less scandalous if she had remembered to wear underwear under her fishnet stockings!

      As the night rolled on our King and Queen danced to the theme song, ìHold On to the Night.î  Then my roommate Tracy, after lingering a little too long at the punchbowl station, decided it would be funny to rip my 15 dollar Value Village designer dress.  Now I was the girl who was flashing my butt to the whole party.  But, I got revenge and soon she was flashing her booty to everyone as well.

    The sad thing is, post prom for me was going to bed, but Tracy was not that smart.  Post prom for her was Murphyís, a Marquette populated establishment.  Now no one at Murphyís had gone to the 80ís Prom, so one can imagine how much Tracy stuck out.  She stuck out her whole backside too, which made her even more popular at the bar.

    What I learned from all of this is that dressing up like another era is utterly entertaining.  Getting away from our hectic lives for a night and acting like someone of something you are not can be just what the doctor ordered.  And the 80ís was a time when you could hang loose and get crazy, and we represented it well.

    Another aspect I hadnít thought about before was that I was 8 in 1987.  My older brother was in high school and I looked up to him and his friends. Their tight-rolled stone washed jeans and their mullets were just so admirable.  Of course my generation loves the 80ís.  We looked up to the people who were true 80ís diehards.