Thus, because of the media attention devoted to debuts (especially public, mass debuts), the debut presents a public opportunity for the family (and its employer) to demonstrate wealth and status. As such, corporations may even encourage their employees to debut their daughters, in order to craft subtle publicity events.

This public display of wealth recalls Thorstein Veblen's theory on conspicuous consumption and its relation to public entertainments, such as balls, where guests serve the crucial function of witnesses to a family's wealth and status:

Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure. As wealth accumulates on his hands, his own unaided effort will not avail to sufficiently put his opulence in evidence by his method. The aid of friends and competitors is therefore brought in by resorting to the giving of valuable presents and expensive feasts and entertainments. Presents and feasts had probably another origin than that of naïve ostentation, but they acquired their utility for this purpose very early, and they have retained that character for the present; so that their utility in this respect has now long been the substantial ground on which these usages rest. Costly entertainments, such as the potlatch or the ball, are peculiarly adapted to serve this end. The competitor with whom the entertainer wishes to institute a comparison is, by this method, made to serve as a means to the end. He consumes vicariously for his host at the same time that he is a witness to the consumption of that excess of good things which his host is unable to dispose of single-handed, and he is also made to witness his host's facility in etiquette (47).

Food

The conspicuous consumption takes place on many levels at the debutante ball—the food, the clothing, the décor, even the location. Beginning with the food and clothing, what is conspicuous is that they go well beyond the basic needs of comfort and subsistence. Form takes precedence over substance; necessity succumbs to frivolity. On this subject, Pierre Bourdieu (1996 [1979]: 177) states, "The true basis of the differences found in the area of consumption, and far beyond it, is the opposition between the tastes of luxury (or freedom) and the tastes of necessity." In other words, where a modest meal of stew, bread and water would suffice to keep the body in working order, instead, at the debutante ball, rare, exotic and costly foods are prepared and served with tremendous attention and energy. The foods are often associated with a particular theme, such as a season, a holiday, or a color. (In 1984, the Mayflower Society's ball featured sorrel soup, Plymouth turkey and squash (Barron, 33).) If the food is offered as a full meal, it is often one of two unhealthy, but equally expensive extremes—either rich and fat-laden (such as a salmon in puff pastry with dill crème fraîche), or light, bland and of little nutritional value (such as a salad composed of water cress, dandelion and arugula). The drink—usually champagne or some other alcoholic diuretic—dehydrates the body instead of hydrating it. Thus, instead of fulfilling the body's basic needs of thirst and hunger, these status-saturated comestibles pollute, indeed intoxicate, the body.

Clothing

A distinction also exists in clothing. Where a simple woolen sweater and lug-soled shoes would be enough to withstand the penetrating chill of a winter evening in New York, instead, a black wool crêpe dinner jacket, accessorized with white kid gloves, a white silk tie and cummerbund, dresses the body of the proud father. His daughter is gowned in white silk organza with a stole in matching sable or ermine. However, a sleeveless, organza dress, even with its matching stole, is no match for freezing winter temperatures. Additional protection, in the form of a limousine, or some other door to door transportation, is required. In addition, neither the dress nor the black wool dinner jacket allow a full range of movement. Rather, they constrict and hinder movement, implying neither the desire nor the means to perform any productive labor. Like the food, this clothing, instead of aiding one's survival, seems designed to impede it.

Venue and Décor

The location and décor of the debut are interesting studies in consumption and status as well. Where a simple building of clapboard construction (perhaps the local firehouse or community center) would suffice to accommodate the guests, instead the venue is the Waldorf-Astoria, the Mayflower Society's grand edifice, or a manse on the Mainline, constructed of brick or stone imported piece by piece from the Continent. Inside, the décor is also distinctive, not just because it is expensive, but because it is whimsical, having been created specifically for the occasion. Excesses of décor are legendary at debutante balls. Some past examples include: a roadside diner theme (at which chefs served "low country" foods, such as hotdogs and hamburgers to guests seated on stools), a North Pole motif (the debutante received her guests in an igloo), and a wildlife theme that featured live peacocks (Birmingham, 205). Perhaps the most famous (or infamous) example of debutante décor was Philadelphian James Paul's purchase of 10,000 Brazilian butterflies. The insects were netted to the ballroom ceiling, and released at midnight, just after his daughter's debut. However, instead of fluttering gracefully through the air on their gossamer wings, the butterflies fell dead to the ground, offering a sober reminder to Paul and his guests that even excess has its limits (Barron, 28, 30).

Next >>>