The Great Gatsby Gown

We were sitting in our hotel room at The Greenbrier Resort when we heard the news: The coronavirus was spreading quickly, and everyone needed to go home, or stay at home, for a couple of weeks.

Spring Break was over. We packed our bags, checked out of our favorite place, and drove back to Charleston. On our way home, I got a call that my prom dress alterations were finished. Since businesses were shutting down, I would need to pick it up as soon as possible. This is the gown I had planned to wear to my school’s Great Gatsby-themed prom.

April and May passed. All celebrations and events were cancelled. My dress, a hunter green chiffon gown designed by Jenny Packham, would hang in a plastic bag on the back of my mother’s bedroom door until August.

All that time, I kept thinking of another reason to wear it.

This week, my family and I went back to The Greenbrier for a senior photo session in my Gatsby gown. I chose the North Parlor, which reminds me of Europe (maybe it’s the painting of Grace Kelly on the wall!).

I showed the photographer my inspiration shots on Pinterest. Many of the photos were taken by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue and Vanity Fair. When I told the photographer that I loved Annie’s work, he told me that he had gone to high school with her. Things have a strange way of working out.

My senior year hasn’t even started, but it’s already different. I will be studying at home for the fall semester. I’m grateful to be able to do so, but I’m sad that everything I thought I’d get to experience probably won’t happen – at least not right now, or not that way.

So, I chose a non-traditional senior portrait to go with a non-traditional senior year. I’m thrilled with the way the pictures turned out, and I wouldn’t have wanted to have them taken anywhere else.