French Debs Dance At The Bal Des Berceaux

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Young ladies who couldn't go to Paris to make their societal debut at The Crillon Ball came out instead at the New York equivalent, the annual Bal Des Berceaux, which this year honored Cartier. 18 year old girls from around the world (whose parents clearly consulted the Socialite Name Chart when their daughters were born) donned white gowns gloves and waltzed their way "into society". -

The Bal Des Berceaux is thrown every year by the French-American Aid For Children. It was founded in 1939, originally as The Committee Of French American Wives. This year's debutantes included Andrea Blumencweig, Samantha Garson, Amanda Gershenov, Francesca Menella, Annie Mesarovich Mullen, twin sisters Laura and Shannon Slade, and Federica von Erb.

The Plaza Hotel provided a stunning backdrop for the old-fashioned event, at which high school boys are expected to don tails and participate in a Virginia Reel-esque dance/presentation with a girl, IN FRONT OF HER PARENTS. Judging by our pictures, the boys, with their varying degrees of floppy teen-hair, were able to comport themselves admirably.

As if having to waltz with a boy in front of a ballroom of people weren't enough to ask of a teenager, the young girls also waltzed with their fathers, who anyone under the age of 20 knows are universally goofy and embarrassing, no matter how many titles or companies they happen to have.

Congratulations on graduating High School, "entering society", and getting through the Bal Des Berceaux with grace and style, girls. You'll probably never have to do anything remotely similar again!

[The 2009 Bal Des Berceaux]