I'm So Glad That I'm No Longer a Bright Young Thing

When it comes to my daughter, Billie-Mae, I'm Nothing if Not Smug. 

Not only is she Beautiful, but she is smart, compassionate, funny & original. I love the fact that she is studying a Double Science Degree - Psychology & Geology which is a combination that I'm sure no one else has ever thought of. I love the symmetry of Rocks & Brains.

 

Here's a little Photo Essay showing preparations for a 21st Party with a 'Bright Young Things' theme that she & her beau, Russell attended on saturday evening. 

I personally loathe Fancy Dress Parties. The only time I attempted to dress for one was in the late seventies when I  stuck a Quite Large Cucumber in the front bib pocket of a pair of dark blue 'King Gee' overalls I was wearing. I can't remember the theme of the Fancy Dress. Maybe it was something to do with Gender Roles or Penis Envy, or maybe it was  Come as Your Favourite Vegetable. I do remember that I was flattered that some  people found the cucumber a funny idea, but I've never been tempted to wear fancy dress again.

But Billie-Mae doesn't feel that way. She prepared her 'Flapper' look with panache & gusto. 

First, she re-styled a black wig while Friedrich Nietzche, the token male of the house, looked on with interest.

 She gave the wig a slight haircut so that it vaguely resembled Liza Minelli's hair in 'Cabaret', which is still one of my favourite films, & one of her's too.

Then she applied these amazing false eyelashes that were trimmed with a thick layer of silver. Again, I was plunged back into remembrances of the past.  When I was a young teenager, I used to save up my pocket money & buy mink false eyelashes. I was absolutely desperate to look exactly like Twiggy  & had convinced myself that if only I could learn to apply false eyelashes, we'd be like Twins. 

Sadly, I always got the eyelash glue stuck all over the eyelashes like I had really bad Conjunctivitis.  So I never actually ended up wearing any.

And I never looked remotely  like Twiggy.

Here's Me & The Finished Product. 

And here's the two of them. I was quite thrilled that Russell wore my father's Old Tails that definitely go back to the early thirties.

Since it was pouring rain, I drove them to the party. 

Then I came home & watched a couple of episodes of SATC that I'd been greedily storing on Tivo. It was fabulous not to be 21 again.