Although you won’t see ball gowns in every clothing store where you shop, you may see them in some of the higher end stores. I have never had a need for one, and I think that is just a shame. Though I don’t like wearing dresses so much, there is just something about a ball gown that takes me back to my childhood when it was ok to wear whatever you wanted as long as you felt beautiful. There aren’t many balls these days, and even an event like a prom seems to feature regular dresses more than anything else.

I don’t know why I love ball gowns, but I just do. There is something wonderful about putting on a dress that is meant to dazzle and quite honestly, make you look like you are floating across the room. These ball gowns were something that were a fact of life over a hundred years ago, and women wore them far more often than anything else they may have own. This varied according to class though, and the wealthy women were the ones who had a lot of them. Some they only wore once and then threw out.

My love affair with ball gowns started when I first read Cinderella I think. I loved the dress I saw in the book my mom read to me, and I thought perhaps it must have been the most beautiful dress I had ever laid eyes on. I asked my mom if I would one day wear ball gowns, and she said that was up to me. I’ve sadly never really gotten to wear a gown like the one I saw in the book, but my wedding dress was pretty close. In fact, thinking back, that may have been why I chose the one I did, even though I didn’t realize that at the time.

If your have a daughter who was like me and dreamed of ball gowns, go ahead and get her some dress up costumes that may resemble the gowns she sees in her fairy tale books. Let her know that she does not need prince charming to come get her so she can wear one; she can wear ball gowns any time she pleases. Allow her imagination to guide her, and you may just teach her to love herself and to be an independent spirit. She may thank you for it later in life.