DEBUTANTES

Young women in high society were introduced to "Society" in their mid-to-late-teens, after completing their education and being deemed ready for marriage. The aristocratic debutantes would apply to appear in a Royal Court presentation as her official entrance into society. Wearing a white dress with a three-yard train and adorned with the required three feathers, the young woman carried a bouquet and curtsied before Queen Alexandria, Edward VII's Queen.

After her debutante event, the young lady would attend "The Season," a round of London mansion parties beginning after Christmas and ending in mid-summer. These affairs, with their abundance of married chaperons, provided appropriate places for men and women to meet one another without causing scandal. After the Edwardian period, the significance of the debutante season waned, and austerity forced many wealthy families to relinquish their "Town" houses in the big city.