Tess Friedman and Charlotte Craig outside of the recent SAC dance.
Choate overflows with talented high school students, often acclaimed for being a diverse and original group. Any stranger walking through our campus can recognize the various styles represented, whether they be differentiated according to nationality, interest, or any other defining trait. However, our school has a single recurring event that temporarily excuses our originality. Girl’s outfits worn during our iconic Choate SAC dances tend to be nearly identical.
This year, though, Tess Friedman ’18 and some of her friends chose to change that at the first SAC dance. “Some of my friends and I decided that we wanted to change it up because we knew that people were apprehensive about the new SAC dance location and we had heard that people were choosing not to go because they knew it wasn’t going to be fun. We wanted to bring a new type of energy to the SAC dance to help people get excited about it and feel as though they can wear anything to dances, no matter how crazy they look,” she said.
Friedman came into Choate as a new sophomore and has liked the environment at the dances from the start. She elaborated, “I don’t remember what I wore to the first SAC dance I went to, but I remember feeling immediately comfortable because almost everyone around me was wearing something similar. I remember thinking that all the girls older than me looked so cool because they knew what the routine was and how to dress perfectly ‘SAC dance chic.’”
As Friedman insinuated, maybe the uniformity in girls’ styles during this event can be seen through a positive light. It can appear strange that such a diverse group of students would choose to look completely homogeneous during the one occasion in which they show more skin than any other time, but it can also make complete sense.
The seniors, who have a full understanding of what Choate is like by the time their last SAC dance comes around, display complete confidence in what they wear.
A large majority of the newer students understand that it’s accepted to dress in a manner that fits the atmosphere of a high school dance. The pressure of deciding what style best portrays an individual personality is almost completely non existent. The ambience of the SAC dance becomes more fun and lighthearted, when girls are confident in what they are wearing.
As seniors, Friedman wanted to create a new way to get all of the new and returning students excited about the dance, but also about their outfits. They changed things like the color of their clothing combine their usual outfits with an original new twist. And that’s the way it should be done!
