Dressing Up Debutantes: Pageantry and Glitz in Texas (review)

At first, Dressing Up Debutantes appears to be a neutral chronicle of the Coronation tradition in San Antonio, Texas—an objective depiction of pageantry in a Southern city. But as the author unfolds the traditions of Coronation and the events that inaugurate young aristocrats into San Antonio's social elite, it becomes clear that she wishes to confirm the importance of material rituals for local aristocrats while critiquing the use of such rituals to alienate lower-class whites and minority groups from long-standing conventions. Coronation is a 90-year-old system of pageantry originated by the founding father of the (fraternal) Order of the Alamo who first organized this extravagant production to elect an Order queen. It has grown to become a 10-day fiesta filling all of the streets and banquet hall of San Antonio with a myriad of events, including four citywide parades. Although San Antonio hosts a Hispanic majority, most of the events and almost all of the queens are Anglo in descent, and the manipulation of Mexican cultural motifs—the presence of folklorico performers, for example—erroneously implies that a commemoration of Hispanic heritage is part of the celebration. In practice, Coronation is a localized and deeply symbolic commemoration of American Southern Anglo life, as well as a proclamation of this life as "royal": those who are included in Coronation courts are the social monarchy of San Antonio who inherit both the social obligations and privileges that accompany "noble" birth.

Queens are selected based on the ornateness of their gown tapestry and their confidence and poise; even lineage is second to charm, grace, attire, and showmanship. Robes are evaluated based on the length and beauty of the train; judges also observe the elaborateness of the stitching and the historicity (or originality) of the theme that is stitched into—and the story that is told through—the gown design. The cost of the robes (including the trains) is so exorbitant that participation in Coronation is indeed the ultimate demonstration of high status.

Hayes effectively makes the argument that class distinctions in San Antonio are confirmed by the powerful social mores established in Coronation, and that the traditions of this event are a microcosm of the social, political, and economic allegiances of city residents. To this end, the robes have three effects: first, they are the premier material landscape of a community ritual; second, they illuminate family traditions and secure family standing; and third, and most important, the robes have the symbolic and actual power to solidify class boundaries.

As highbrow patterns of behavior will trickle down, mimicry and imitation abound in similar events around the city organized by lower classes. In other words, the true power of the Coronation may inadvertently be its influence on all tiers of San Antonio society, even while welcoming only a very small and exclusive group to take part in the major events. Excluded groups adapt the ceremonialism by organizing, for example, African American and Latino courts, and by selecting queens with more modest dresses and less extravagant crowns, who are celebrated in smaller pageants.

The principal contribution of this book is its unique exploration of the deeply symbolic material traditions of the elite that must, on one hand, borrow Hispanic cultural motifs to perpetuate tradition, then, on the other hand, discriminate against Hispanics and other groups for their own cultural preservation. As part of an Oxford University Press series on material culture, Hayes's is a fine complement to the other works in this collection on corresponding themes.

This book, finally, is about the fabric—both literal and figurative—of San Antonio's social environment. To this end, it successfully uses the community's most revered and popular artifacts to construct its social identity, and model its social texture.