Bowen Arrow: The Cotillion

Something that not many people know about me is that when I turned 18 I was a debutante. This means that I was in a ceremony known as The Cotillion, where I came out to society as an adult. Cotillions have been a longtime tradition, and debutantes and Cotillions are often thought as of a Southern thing. The San Francisco version is very old-time San Francisco. The original point of the ceremony is that you are essentially presenting yourself with the man that you're planning to marry. Nowadays it's just done for tradition's sake, and my escort throughout it all was actually my best friend in high school, which made it a really fun and easy process. If you know me well, you would probably never think that this is something I'd want to go through. I've always been a bit shy and reserved, and definitely more of a tomboy, at least personality wise. I'm not even sure if my parents expected me to say yes to going through it all. But I did it at the time to prove to everyone that I could, and while it was a lot, ultimately it was a fun process, and I made some good friends along the way. I tried to include some photos of the setting, as well, but my apologies for the random background guests. It was hard to find any empty areas as it's a pretty well attended event.

Now each year I'm invited to watch the current years debutantes go through the ceremony. It's definitely fun to go and enjoy this huge ball that's thrown at the Palace Hotel each year, and enjoy all of the food. Plus, you're required to wear a floor-length gown, and I always love an opportunity to dress up. Admittedly I used to have a lot of fun finding vintage gowns to wear to it each year. Last year I got lazy and found a gown last minute at h&m, and I re-wore that same dress this year. Perhaps sometime in the future I can share some of the past gowns I've worn to it.

Wearing:

Black Maxi Dress: H&M

Black Suede Block Heels: Zara

Black Feathered Purse: Banana Republic
Leopard Coat: Mango