College girls, buying their clothes for fall, look on date dresses as short-term investments, not in a long-term class with cashmere sweaters and tweed skirts. Ar coed colleges, where most of the dates are campus dates, a girl tries to squeeze a number of party dresses out of her allowance. At eastern women's colleges, where a student hops from campus to campus on weekends, she can get along with a couple.
Except for one or two big proms a year, the girls want short evening dresses instead of floor-length gowns which soil easily, are harder to pack and useless for less format dates.They like crisp taffetas and dressed-up versions of everyday fabrics, such as felt with braid, printed corduroy and jersey with mink. Full skirts are favored over slim sheaths, which are not only considered too mature but which are far too confining for dances like the bunny hop, a current campus craze (year 1953 - my annotation).
Pale, pleated nylon combined with rayon with a wide turtle neck (Sue Jeffrey, $25) is worn by Stanford junior, Ruth Ann Binns, for special dances. On Stanford's informal Palo Alto campus skirts and tops are usual date dresses.
Bright, braided felt in shocking pink has a deep-cuffed neckline and a stiff, flared skirt (Eshter Reifer, $25). Gloria Barnes entering Wellesley as a freshman this semester, was a New York model during her high school vacations.
Pencil-striped corduroy in red and black ($11) is worn with a velveteen top ($9, both Jonathan Logan) by Ruth Koppel, a sociology major at Long Island University. A native of Israel, Ruth is married to an ex.-U.S. marine.
Flowered italian brocade in a strapless top ($8) and full skirt ($15, both Reid & Reid) is worn by Vassar's Jane Kales, a member of last June's daisy chain, who will spend her junior year studying at yhe University of London.
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images and info provided by the LIFE Magazine / LIFE Magazine International / LIFE Magazine Atlantic ARCHIVE from the Zetu Harrys Collection
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