RITE OF PASSAGE:Hollywood glamour, pink dresses, fake nails . . . it's all part of the debs phenomenon. This year, budgets may be tighter, but school leavers are still determined to have the night of their young lives, writes ALANNA GALLAGHER
HAS THE RECESSION CHANGED the way the class of 2010 view their debs or is it as costly as ever? After a summer of financial top-ups and now college registration fees, the bank of mam and dad could be feeling the strain of the dress and tuxedo business. The debs is the last hurrah before the big move to third-level education. With our interviewees’ big night out averaging €560 per girl, the cost is enormous and the social pressure is almost worse. “There’s a rise in the numbers going to their debs by themselves, especially in the boys’ schools,” says Robbie Bailey, events manager at the Red Cow Inn.
“The debs committees want more for less,” says DJ David Baker of the David Baker Disco Experience. He hasn’t seen as many helicopters, limousines or Hummers as in previous years.
“Ticket prices have come down,” says Iain Wallace, who is a biology teacher and a member of the debs committee at Wesley College, Dublin. “This year the tickets are €65 per person, down from a high of €100 some years back.”
JADE JONES, ORLA KAVANAGH AND MELISSA STONE
THE COST
Jade: Dress €390; bag €29.95; shoes €45.95; hair €60; make-up €60; transport, with parents; spending money €100; ticket €45.
Total: €730.90
Orla:Dress €295; bag and shoes, using ones she already has; hair and make-up, doing her own; transport, with parents; spending money €100; ticket €45. Total: €440
Melissa:Dress €360; bag €29.95; shoes €39.25; hair €60; make-up €60; transport, with parents; spending money €135; ticket €45. Total: €729.20
Years of celebrity-worship mean some girls feel pressurised to pull out all the stops, no matter what the cost. In Waterford, this means full-length dresses with trains or hoops, and a tiara as a crowning glory. Jade Jones, Orla Kavanagh and Melissa Stone all went to Our Lady of Mercy secondary school in Waterford city. “Sabella Bridal, where we work, is debs’ HQ in Waterford,” says Jones. “For girls our age, the event and the build-up to it is equivalent to a wedding.”
“There is lots of secrecy surrounding your dress choice,” says Kavanagh. “You don’t want anyone seeing the dress before the big day. It would spoil your grand entrance. There’s a private room in the shop where you can try on the dresses, stand on a podium and get a 360-degree view of the dress.”
“In the past two months we’ve had about 200 girls through the doors,” says Stone. “All their dresses have been very Hollywood red carpet glamour. Some girls have gone for trains, others big hoops, and nearly all are wearing tiaras.”
“Girls start looking for their dress in April. I’d say the average spend is about €500,” adds Kavanagh. “Some turn into debzilla, the younger sister of bridezilla. And they come in pairs – debzilla’s mother is another piece of work. They are never happy. It’s just tantrums and tiaras all the way.”
“The dress has to be unique. We log every girl’s choice and school in the events book to ensure they get exclusivity on that dress,” says Jade Jones.
“It gets awkward when a girl comes in and wants a dress that another girl in her school has already bought. The competition is unbelievable. We had one mother come in and ask us to ring another girl from her daughter’s class and ask her if she’d mind if her daughter wore the same dress.
“Our tickets cost €45 each. There is fierce pressure to bring a date. I’m bringing my boyfriend. I’ve no problem bringing him home. When it comes to meeting the parents there’s no awkwardness.”
“That prom-night-losing-your-virginity thing evident in American movies and TV shows doesn’t translate to Waterford,” says Orla Kavanagh. “Although the lads would hope that it did.” Their debs took place on September 1st in the Woodlands Hotel.
CARMEN OTT
THE COST
Dress €270; bag €30; shoes €50; hair €45; make-up €40; transport and ticket €65; spending money €90
Total: €590
The pressure to ask a date is fierce. With other schools in Galway having their debs on the same night as Coláiste na Coiribe on September 8th, a small mixed school of only 200 pupils, it’s the early bird that gets escorted to the ball. “I’m bringing a boy from my class. Our tickets cost €65 each. He’s paying for mine,” says Carmen Ott. “Two girls’ schools have their debs on the same night as ours so there’s pressure on to ask boys before they get snapped up.
“There were only 38 students in my year so the debs isn’t as big, literally, for us as other schools in Galway. We’re having ours in the Carlton Hotel in Ballinasloe because the hotels we contacted in Galway all required a minimum number of 80 to take a debs booking. You could say our experience is boutique.
“We’re being bussed to and from Ballinasloe and the buses will leave from Eyre Square. The transport is included in the ticket. So, too, is a pre-dinner punch reception, photographs, dinner and music.
“The debs is a really expensive night, especially for girls. It’s definitely the case that there are students not going because of the price. The chat on Facebook is now all about the debs. Everyone’s life story is there, but I won’t be showing any previews of my dress on it. After the debs I’ll go on the next morning to see all the dresses again.
“My parents treated me to the dress. It’s a floor-length, Grecian-column style in purple with tiny roses on the underskirt. It cost €270. I got it in Beverly Hills on Dominick Street. I’m wearing small heels – I’m way too tall to wear skyscraper heels. I’m keeping any other details under wraps until the big night.
“The shop takes note of the dress you buy and the school you’re from. It gets written up in their events book so that they won’t sell that style to anyone else from your year. I’ve booked an appointment to get my make-up done at the Mac counter in Brown Thomas. I’ve made an arrangement to have a test done on my hair, too. I think I’ll wear it up. It costs €45.
“I see a change in teenage life as a result of the recession. I used to be able to rely on mam and dad to give me money. I need a job if I’m going to college, but it’s really hard to find one. Anyone who has got a job got it through friends.”
CHRISTINA MURPHY
THE COST
Dress €100; bag €30; shoes €90; hair and make-up, doing own; transport and ticket €65; spending money €50. Total: €335
The savvy debutante knows that this year, the smart money is on cutting corners. Some girls, such as Christina Murphy, show the cop-on and budgetary haircut skills Brian Lenihan would welcome this coming December.
“I don’t think the debs is as important as it used to be. It is very expensive. Not everyone in my year will go, but there’s no stigma about that at Wesley College.
Murphy’s debs is on October 16th. “I’m lucky, my mother and father are paying for my debs. I’m planning to wear a halter-neck dress with a low back. My mother is making my dress for me and estimates it will cost about €100. Most people choose full-length styles. I’m not planning on bringing a jacket, I’ll probably steal my date’s.
“A lot of girls spend on hair and make-up. To get it done professionally costs upwards of €100 and I don’t think it offers great value for money. And I don’t like others doing my make-up. Personally, I’m against fake tan. I’m blonde and it ends up looking orange, no matter what I do.
“It’s a tradition that the Wesley debs’ is held in the White Sands Hotel in Portmarnock. Included in the price of the ticket is a soft drinks reception at the school and a meal with wine at the hotel. The bar closes during dinner, and there’s a band followed by a DJ. We’re served breakfast rolls at about 4am. Then we get bussed back to the school.
“Some people book limos [€50 per person one way] but most of us prefer to take the bus, which is included in the price of the ticket [€65 per person, €10 less than last year].
“To raise money for the debs we held a pre-debs in Buck Whaley’s on Leeson Street. We charged €15 per head and other schools were allowed to go. By doing this we shaved about €7 off the overall price of the ticket.
“When it comes to dates, most of my friends stay within the school, which is co-ed. I’m going with a friend of mine from our year. We’re both paying for our own tickets. We’ll know everyone at the event, an aspect of the debs that people at single-sex schools lose out on – their date doesn’t necessarily know the crowd he or she is going with.”
LINDA MURRAY
THE COST
Dress €295; shoes €25; hair, free; make-up €50; transport €2; spending money €100; ticket €65
Total: €537
In the midlands, they do things slightly differently. There’s an emphasis on tradition as well as an appreciation of the fine art of deal making. “In Athlone we don’t say debs, we say grad, short for graduation,” says Linda Murray.
“I’ve been a day pupil at Our Lady’s Bower. We also have boarders. The stress in sixth year is intense. One girl even scheduled a timetable to see her boyfriend. The debs is an important night as you know you won’t see the boarders again. It’s a night to say goodbye.
“I had to pay for my date’s ticket. They cost €75 each. The cost is staggered over the school year. I paid for one ticket before Christmas and the second before Easter. I have a part-time job at Crazy Kids Children’s Fun Factory; that helped with the costs.
“I looked at the idea of second-hand dresses, but there were none available in my area. I also looked online. In the end, I bought my dress in the town. It cost €295. I’ll wear mine again to student balls at college, and if I don’t, my younger cousins can wear it to their grads.
“My cousin is a hairdresser and is going to do my hair for me. My next-door neighbour is a beautician and has done a deal for me and my friends to get our make-up, nails and fake tan all done for €50 per girl.
“TV shows like The Hills and Gossip Girl with their designer clothes and fancy cars do influence school leavers. There’s a whole thing about how you’re going to arrive, which is really pressurising. Another school in the area had their grad in the Hodson Bay Hotel and they arrived by river cruiser. It’s so competitive. Everyone is talking about travelling in anything from limousines to ice-cream vans.
“We have planned to arrive in our old school bus, a recession bus we’ve called it. I organise a lot of disco runs for my cousins through Pauline Doyle of Doyle’s Minibuses.
“She calls me her little agent and as a result she has done me a deal – €4 for two, far, far cheaper than the €100 for two quoted to us by a limousine company.
“I’m fairly private. I prefer to text my friends about my dress and other debs details. On Facebook, everyone can see your business. I won’t put details of the dress up until after the grad.”
THE MALE POINT OF VIEW
What do the boys think? “I think boys have it easy,” says Dubliner Richard Duke. “The only thing I have to pay for is the suit hire. I don’t think the debs is a rite of passage, but it is a defining moment of my school experience. It might be the last time I see all the people I went to school with. I’m going with someone from my school. She’s buying her own ticket and I’m buying mine. I’m not really sure whether I have to bring flowers or chocolates on the night. Probably I’ll get flowers. I’m hoping a lot of the costs are covered in the price of the ticket. Once I’m out, I’ll probably spend about €20. I’m not planning on spending anything like what the girls have listed.”
Put down the fake tan . . .
Less is more when it comes to make-up for the debs, writes
Phyl Clarke
IT'S EASY TO get carried away when you're choosing hair and make-up to go with your special dress, but that way disaster lies. Spend an evening flicking through celebrity magazines and you will see just how times have changed. Gone are the tortured up-dos, thick make-up and tango tans. Take your lead from the red-carpet capital, Hollywood, and the laid-back style of the A-listers, such as golden girl Cameron Diaz. She may be rocking in a couture Dior gown, but understated make-up and casually scraped back hair allow her natural beauty and personality to shine through.
Drew Barrymore is also an ace at this look – she often wears her hair in softly tousled waves that emphasise the femininity of her dress.
This is the modern take on black-tie – perfectly groomed but not OTT. You've put a lot of time, effort and expense into that dress, so let it take centre stage and compliment it with a glowing version of yourself.
Make-up artist Leonard Daly has some expert advice: "First of all, you need to remember that less is more. The one thing that I find very difficult in my job is trying to get women to ditch the full coverage foundation; when you're young you simply don't need it. Try the much lighter Mac Face Body Foundation (€36), which will even out your skin tone perfectly so you can start to add colour."
I love using a cream blush. Here's how to apply it properly: smile and add the colour to the apple of your cheek, blending upwards towards your hairline. Add some highlighter to your cheeks; I adore Kevyn Aucoin's Candle Light (€47.50). Chanel's Bronze Universal (€37.50) has a cream-to-powder finish and is the perfect bronzing shade for Irish skin tones.
For eye make-up, choose a colour that will make your eye colour stand out. For example, if you have blue eyes use warm tones. I always start with the darkest colour and blend, then add the lighter shade. Choose any lip colour that you like. currently I'm loving Barry M's range – try one of these really great strong colours, and add tonnes of clear gloss.
For body make-up, try to avoid fake tan. There are so many products out there that will give your skin a beautiful glow; Vaseline Cocoa Butter Oil (€7.50) is amazing. If you absolutely have to tan, pick one that is not too dark, such as Au Courant (€36.95).
Leonard Daly: 087-2307734. Kevyn Aucoin and Au Courant products available at Queen Beauty Emporium, queenbe.ie
