“Girls with Few Options”
Giving an Old Prom Dress a New Voice
Susan Webb Tregay (Laurel of Asheville cover artist in our June 2010 issue), says her prom night in 1964 was an exciting time as she wore her Jackie Kennedy-style gown. “But the future was extremely limited for us in those days,” says Susan, referring to jobs that were deemed “acceptable” for women at that time.
After recently coming across “the dress” in a storage closet, Susan hit upon the idea of painting on it to recapture some of the dreams of her youth. “With the help of my friends, we came up with the five occupations that we could aspire to the year I wore this amazing dress.”
She lists them off: “Secretary? (can’t spell), Librarian? (too quiet a job), Airline Stewardess? (not if you wore glasses or if you were a male), Nurse? (can’t stand needles), Mother? (I was 17!).”
She also remembers bemoaning the fact that in her Janson’s History of Art book she could find no women artists. She was left with the feeling that perhaps she was a washout at 17.
There was a deep sense of satisfaction in her newly “redesigned” dress that can now be seen at Art MoB Studios & Marketplace, 124 Fourth Avenue East in Hendersonville.
Nationally known, Susan teaches workshops around the country and is the author of numerous articles, art reviews, and the book Master Disaster.
