Quinceanera Dress

 While tourists enjoyed the flowering trees and tulips in the gardens behind the Smithsonian Castle, one fifteen-year-old had a different agenda. She was there for the photos that would announce her quinceanera, the big social event that marks her official transition from girlhood to womanhood. It took four people to tend to her hair and makeup, shoot the photos and wrangle the extravagantly pouffy dress. Whether or not you go in for such an extreme feminine archetype, this dress is probably something she dreamed about for years. To see her and the dress out among all us everyday folk in our sensible jackets, was akin to discovering an exotic zebra in the gardens.