The Princess Diaries
What I learned about beauty from a froufrou prom dress
Recently, the newspaper where I work sent me to cover Cinderella’s Closet, an event sponsored by a small group of Christian women. They’d collected more than 300 prom and bridesmaid dresses, and transformed their church’s fellowship hall into a one-day boutique. Then the women invited local high school girls to come choose dresses for prom—for free.
I started working on the story during the event’s planning stage. As I took notes, I looked through the racks of dresses. My eye kept returning to a pale green and yellow “fairy princess” dress. All the women loved it, but none of them fit into it.
Then one woman, Dana, suggested I try it on.
I immediately told her no, I’d never tried on such a fancy, dress. I hadn’t attended my prom or even worn a wedding dress when I married.
Truthfully, I didn’t think the princess dress—with its fitted bodice, spaghetti straps, and ankle-length tulle skirt—would fit. And if it did, I was certain it would look ridiculous. I’m feminine, but I’m not frilly.
Still, those women talked me into it.
Trying on that dress, I felt like Mia, the geeky teenager in the movie The Princess Diaries who learns she’s really a princess and gets a makeover. After stylists straighten her frizzy hair and shape her unruly eyebrows, Mia turns to the mirror and keeps her eyes shut, as if she’s afraid to see herself, as if maybe she wouldn’t be transformed.
But, just like Mia, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw a princess.
Reluctantly, I tiptoed out of the bathroom and into view of the event organizers. They all “oohed” and “aahed” as I twirled and laughed. The newspaper photographer who’d accompanied me took my picture. Dana said I looked “glowy.” I felt glowy. That’s the transforming power of a beautiful dress.
That’s the transforming power of beauty.
At the event a few weeks later, I saw that same transformation in each of the girls who came to Cinderella’s Closet. Some came with attitude, assuming a church couldn’t possibly have a decent prom dress. Most girls came in torn jeans and sneakers. One tomboy came wearing basketball shorts and clutching a basketball.
I watched as they searched through the racks of dresses. Then as each girl found her dress, she tiptoed hesitantly to the triple mirrors, took a breath, then looked—and glowed.
Being a 16- or 17-year-old girl isn’t easy. It’s so much about the dress. It’s about the assurance of being wanted—and cherished.
It’s not so much about the boy—at 16, boys are pretty much interchangeable—but about the idea of the boy, the prince who’ll come rescue the girl from a life of pain or, even more so, of desperate banality.
It’s about the dream of beauty.
I think God created women to long for beauty. It evokes a sense of order and rightness. It inspires wonder and worship. The beauty of creation, the beauty of a young woman trading her basketball shorts for a pink satin gown reflects her Creator.
Watching it all made me fall a little more in love with Jesus.
The world can be so dark and ugly. Young women rarely escape scars or damage from its cruelty. The culture is crass and crude, and young women often settle for far less than they’re worth.
One girl who came to Cinderella’s Closet wrote a thank you note: “Every girl should feel like a princess.”
Even more, every girl should feel cherished by a Prince whose powerful love makes her beautiful.
Blessings,
What makes you feel beautiful? How have you seen God’s transforming power of beauty? How can you bring beauty into your life or community?
Posted at 3:46 PM on June 4, 2008.
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Comments
Beautiful, touching article - thank you!
And blessings on the ladies who planned Cinderellas' Closet!
Posted by: musicgramma on June 6, 2008
Wonderful article. It is so good to be reminded of the beauty that is around us and also to take time to find our inner princess. I have a two year old that when dressed in her, drag-the-ground big, Snow White or Cinderella dress, believes that she IS a princess. We ARE the daughters of a King after all. We should claim it!! Can I get a witness. :)
What a wonderful combination! Reusing these dresses in this way is such a unique and wonderful idea. It is a humanitarian project with a recycling twist. Would that be called a "Recyclitarian"?
Posted by: JAM on June 6, 2008
I love this article. Thanks so much, Nancy, for reminding me of the Source of true beauty - Jesus, Lover of My Soul.
Posted by: Brenda on June 7, 2008
I feel beautiful when I know I fulfill what the Lord wants me to do as a woman who He created - and that is as His child, a wife and a mother to my two lovely daughters, that He wants me to be. When doing things according to His desire, I become beautiful in His sight!
I also believe to what you said that "God created women to long for beauty". The great women of God in the Bible inspire me always - they were all beautiful as women and did their roles beautifully!
Posted by: Ruth Guevarra-Cruz on June 7, 2008
My wonderful husband makes me feel beautiful. He gives me compliments and is always my greatest cheerleader. I am grateful to God for giving me such a fine man.
Posted by: Louise on June 9, 2008
is the author implying that a girl can't feel beautiful in those basketball shorts? "The beauty of creation, the beauty of a young woman trading her basketball shorts for a pink satin gown reflects her Creator." don't get me wrong, i'm well aware of the power of a good dress and the feeling wearing one provokes - if i'm having a bad day, i'll often dress up to feel better about myself. but when i'm in the hot and filthy glass studio, with my stained and torn work pants and smelly shop shoes and filthy sweaty t-shirt, having soot on my face and wearing my terminator-style tinted safety glasses, and take a bathroom break and see myself in the mirror as i wash my hands, i see myself like that and feel even better than when i'm in my best little black dress, because THAT, that filthy, smelly glassblower, is who God has made me to be. there's almost nothing better than when him and i work together in the studio, his creation flowing through my hands. sure, i "look better" in my dress, but i wasn't made for fancy parties and expensive restaurants or a social circle that dresses great but i can't afford and don't belong in - i was made for this.
Posted by: elly on June 9, 2008
"Even more, every girl should feel cherished by a Prince whose powerful love makes her beautiful."
Remember that it's not in God's plan for every woman to have a cherishing prince. It IS in His plan, though, for each woman to feel cherished by Him. The two are not interchangeable and shouldn't be mistaken for one another.
Thank you for the sweet article.
Posted by: Kendra on June 9, 2008
thank you for that u have made my day.I used to have issues with my looks but that message has given me hope.I am a sixteen year old tomboy.
Posted by: Loyce on June 11, 2008
This article is really awesome and a reminder that God values me, believes in me and esteems me highly and am fearful and wonderfully made.
May God richly bless u.
Posted by: BRENDA on June 13, 2008
Thank you for this article, I have never looked at myself as a princess. And reading this I could image myself as God's princess and His loving eyes looking at me with approval, to say I love you so, my princess. To think of your heavenly Father looking at you, pass all of the dirt and shame of life and know that all He sees is His princess. You have to fall in love with Him, and feel just like a real princess, because that is what He says.
Posted by: Glenda on June 13, 2008
What a sweet article! My prom dress was handmade for me by a dear friend and is languishing in my closet. I purposely chose a classic style, thinking I would someday wear it again. Well that didn't happen, but now I wonder if that labor of love could be an expression of love to another young woman! I will have to keep my eyes and ears open...
Posted by: Melissa on June 27, 2008