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Her jumpsuit kept her out of homecoming
Darcy Kreuger, 17, wore a dressy jumpsuit to her homecoming dance in Tampa, Florida. She never made it inside. more
Her thinking was practical. "I already had this in the closet," she says, "and I was like, well, hey, this could totally work." She dressed it up with jewelry and heels and went with her friends to the Tampa Bay homeschool homecoming dance.
At the door, she was turned away for not wearing a dress. The organizer later pointed to the dress code posted online. Gentlemen were to wear dress pants, button-down shirts and ties. Young ladies were to wear semi-formal dresses, with nothing revealing and nothing too short.
Her mom's view is that the rules never said jumpsuits for girls were off limits, and that her daughter was punished for making a modest choice. Darcy was told she could change and come back. She decided not to. The event coordinator says she refunded the $50 ticket, a price that startled several commenters all on its own.
Darcy's mom shared her frustration on social media. Jenny Ellis, a local photographer, first saw Darcy's story on Facebook and agreed to take her picture for free. So on a Thursday night, the week after the dance she missed, Darcy gets her photos after all, in the same jumpsuit.
SaveDarcy and her mom think the rule should change. "I think it's very unfair that boys can wear pants but girls can't," one of them says. According to someone in her corner, she never let it get to her self-worth or tear her down.
In the pictures, her hair is swept up in a bun and she's smiling, with green leaves behind her. One viewer said she looked like an ancient Greek goddess. Another couldn't get over the hair. The outfit that couldn't get through the door looks right at home in front of a camera.
