It wasn’t as scary as I had feared.
No really, I was frightened of the Jewel Ball, a debutante affair staged by the Women’s Symphony League for decades. All the talk of queens and princesses, knights and chancellors kind of unnerved me. Plus, I’d never been invited. Which made me think it was something secret, insular, almost Masonic.
E.B. “Sonny Richards and Courtney Cord Robb Richards (Queen)
Well, it was quite nice and not at all unsettling. The debutantes wore mostly white attire styled somewhere between ball gowns and wedding dresses. Their escorts — grandads, dads then generational peers — stood upright in tuxes and ties.
John Drisdale and Mary Drisdale
Tables gathered around a long runway — the same used for the League’s luncheon and fashion show — in the Palmer Events Center. Behind the stage stood an enormous scenic treatment of the White House, fitting this year’s state dinner theme.
Ben Bentzin and Megan Bentzin
An announcer with more stamina than I read aloud each participant’s ancestral lineage, revealing multigenerational support of the symphony. (It’s a wonder the Austin Symphony ever wants for cash with such a huge network of backers.)
The one and only thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the deep debutante bow. Each royal lowers herself slowly, then bends her crowned head almost to the floor. I know this reflects some ancient social history involving gratitude and modesty, but it looks curiously like undignified and ungainly submission for any young woman in the 21st Century.