Reflecting Forward – Channeling My Mother For A Gala

When my siblings and I were young, my mother didn’t buy us Halloween costumes. Instead, she would piece things together from things we had around the house. For example, my mother dressed my sisters and I up as gypsies by wrapping a scarf around our heads and scouring through her costume jewelry drawers looking for some gold chains and hoop earrings to create the look. Then she would do bold makeup to pull it all together. She would smear the lipstick on our cheeks to make them rosy.

Last night, my company, Long and Foster, had a gala themed “The Roaring 20’s! Instead of buying a flapper dress or a whole costume, I channeled my mother and thought about things I already had in my home. I had recently bought this green dress for a prior special occasion. I too scoured through my costume jewelry trying to see what I had. I remembered that my mother had given me a teal ribbon necklace with green, black, and iridescent beads. That necklace was just the right length to wrap it around my head so that the beads were perfectly dangling. I had a black beaded flower brooch I had bought many years ago, which I used to fasten the ribbon together. Then I started researching how to do my hair. I watched a few hair tutorials on finger waves because that was popular in the 1920’s. I tried to make finger waves on my own wet hair and set with bobby pins, but it was much harder than I thought. After attempting finger waves and pinning up my hair, I decided my combed out natural curls were close enough to the look.

Then, I did bold makeup with green eyeshadow paired with dark shadow and dark blue eye liner to create a smokey eye. I used a dark pink lip liner I had found cleaning out my mother’s makeup desk. I mixed dark pink and red hues of lipstick to finish the look. I remembered I had some black lace gloves from another Halloween costume in a drawer, and when I went to go find them, I found a purple flower and feather hair clip I had bought for a belly dance performance. I realized this was even better to complement the “headband” and a great contrasting color to the teal ribbon! I threw on a pair of black heels, and ta-da! I was in the 1920’s!

My mother made many of her everyday clothes and dresses and my father’s suits and ties. She had an amazing sense of style. My mother gave me my love of fashion, makeup, and creativity. My creativity brings the writer out of me, makes me strategic in business analysis, and allows me to position and stage homes well as a Realtor.

As I looked in the mirror and saw my reflection, I thought of a picture of my mother dressed up as a gypsy for Halloween. I felt her coming through me as I mingled, ate, took photos, and danced last night. I love you Mom!