When kids play dressup at Land O'Lakes High, the results are wacky, awful and fun.
By MICHELE MILLER
Published October 6, 2004
LAND O'LAKES - School spirit is definitely the main focus of Homecoming Week, a yearly ritual being held at high schools throughout the county. While there was plenty of spirit to spare at Land O'Lakes High last week, there also seemed to be a secondary theme of "What Not to Wear."
The main events were the pep rally, football game, class competitions and culminating Homecoming Dance held in a done-over school gym, but dressing up in blue and gold (the school's colors), old prom dresses or tacky-tourist wear were also part of the celebration.
Sort of a Halloween for high schoolers . . . without the candy.
"It's a way to get kids who usually aren't involved," said math teacher and cheerleading coach Celisa Cook. For Vintage Prom Day she wore a long, ruffled fuchsia number with an empire waist that she found for $1 at the Salvation Army.
While many came in their usual garb for Vintage Prom Day, others pulled out all the stops.
Selections - some picked up at thrift shops or dug out of the backs of closets - ran the gamut, from long, flowing florals to sequinned minis with plunging necklines that had to be covered up with a sweater or jacket to meet the school dress code.
"This was my mom's. It's true vintage - I think 1972," said senior Lauren Fries, who was dressed in a knee-length aqua dress and last year's prom shoes. She was hanging out where underclassmen are not allowed: the Senior Stage.
In contrast were kids in navy-blue skull caps and plaid flannel shirts, like senior Mallory Estabrook. Those scruffy folks were a carryover of a belated celebration of "Rags to Riches Day" that had been scrapped when school was canceled because of Hurricane Jeanne.
"We weren't sure of what to wear," Mallory said.
That wasn't a problem at all, said senior student body president Molly Sakser. "The different variety of dressup days gives everyone a chance to be kind of crazy in their own way."
Molly and Gentry Mander, a friend and fellow student council member, helped plan Homecoming Week. They came up with the Vintage Prom Day idea last year when they were juniors.
"We found a bunch of old dresses that we thought were fun and thought it would be really fun to get the whole school involved," Molly said.
There were definitely some takers.
Even freshman Nick Molinet got into the act.
Vintage tuxes are in short supply, it seems. So he borrowed his cousin's dress - black, knee length with a beaded bodice. He topped it off with a white headband, black stockings and a friend's mom's shoes - black pumps with about a 2-inch heel.
"They hurt," Nick said as he wobbled down the hall to his next class. "I think they're about five sizes too small."
