Alaska Life, Fashion over 50

See the best gowns of the 40 below ball

by Nicole Mölders
#midlifefashion woman in velvet dress illustrating the twirl
#styleover40 woman in ball attire
Shein green velvet V neck wrap dress, cape, metal mini bag, Stephanie Professional dance shoes (all own)

Indoors – another side of the state of the great outdoors

Alaska is not just the great outdoors, tough men and women mushing dogs thru a blizzard of snow, and mining for gold. It is not all about subsidence lifestyle with hunting, trapping and fishing. And it is not just hiking, snow-shoeing, skiing, and snow machining for fun. A regular event is the so-called “40 Below Ball” organized by the Fairbanks Ballroom Dance Club.

#fashionover40 mature woman in dance attire
Baby boomer wearing a brown with gold metallic threads long sleeve lace dress with statement heels

They changed the name of the ball from “Moonshine Ball” to “40 Below Ball”, because it was below -20F (-29.8oC) so often when they held their winter ball. However, ever since the renaming, the night of the ball was never 40 below zero. Such low temperatures are a logistic problem from a dressing point of view for the ladies. This year’s 40 Below Ball missed 40 below zero by about 10 days. 🙂

Alaskan dancers take long rides for a ball

Alaska is a state of the size of Europe from the Ural to Portugal. However, its population is about 736,732 (Census 2014). This means there are not that many opportunities to go to a ball. In many cities, there won’t be a ball at all due to the low population. Consequently, Alaskan dancers drive long distances to attend a ball.

#ballattire fit-and-flare short ball dress with metallic shine
Fit-and-flare cocktail dress with abstract metallic print. The print was in all colors of the aurora when the light was reflected on it.

There was a group of young people who drove all the way up to Fairbanks from Anchorage. The driving distance between Anchorage and Fairbanks is 359 miles (~578 km). In winter, it takes about 10 to 12 h depending on the snow and road conditions. At the Governor’s Inaugural Ball two years ago, there were even attendees who had flown in from the North Slope as far away as Barrow (502 miles, 805 km).

#ballattire Couple of the Lathrop High School Ballroom Dance team
Couple of the Lathrop High School Ballroom Dance team wearing black-white-red attire

A special highlight of the ball are the performances of the the Lathrop High School Ballroom Dance Team. Do I have to mention that they are not just great dancers, but also have an entire storage room full of beautiful gowns. I showed you just their dance gowns suitable for waltz some time ago.

#Alaska #dancing Lathrop High School Ballroom Dance Team lifting one of their dance couples
Lathrop High School Ballroom Dance Team lifting one of their dance couples. I loved the young women’s beautiful blue gowns

The most beautiful gowns

The usual tourist walking thru Fairbanks in summer or even during the aurora season has no idea what treasures are in the Fairbanks closets when it comes to formal or semi-formal attire. Alaska street style seems to be so down to earth and all about staying warm. O.K., in the Interior in summer, it is also about staying cool. The highest air temperature recorded in the Interior was 100F (37.8oC) in Fort Yukon on June 27, 1915.

#eveningattire mature woman in ball gown with sequins
Ombre red-black gown with sequins. This gown looked very flattering as its ombre print strategically is dark around the waist and lighter around the hips giving the illusion of an hourglass figure. The sequins on the skirt of the dress give it a glam festive vibe.

The photos in this post are showing some of my favorite dresses. The Millennia were among the best dressed. There were hardly any generation X dancers, probably because it’s hard to get a child sitter on the first warm weekend after the cold snap 😉 . There were also some very stylish baby boomers and war generation fashionistas.

prom dance dress in yellow
Yellow dance dress worn by a Millennia. I love the interesting hem and the decoration on the straps

What I wore

I wore a high-low hem velvet wrap dress that I found at Shein. I styled it with a statement pendent necklace to match the line of the dress’ V-neck. Velvet is a cold season fabric. Therefore, I went for my silver closed toe shoes dance shoes with T-strap instead of my strappy black or strappy gold dance sandals. This choice gave the outfit a slight late 30s vibe. To stay warm between dances and at the buffet I added a stole that was a thrift store find in town years ago.

#styleover50 mature woman in velvet wrap dress
Shein green velvet V-neck wrap dress with Stephanie Professional dance shoes

The buffet and drinks

The buffet is quite different from those I have seen at balls in Europe. It had various Alaska food items like the reindeer sausages, crab mushrooms and hummus mixed with smoked salmon. I love eating salmon, and I love eating humus, but I am not thrilled about mixing them. I am more an on the side gal like Sally in the movie “You’ve got mail.”

#Alaska young woman in tulle lace dress
Maroon tulle dress with lace bodice decorated with sequins. I like that this young woman wore a black lace top underneath.

Typically, in Alaska, you get water, tea and coffee for free at events like a ball for the designated drivers. However, this time there was just water. May be one could have gotten free coffee or tea, but one would have had to ask. I didn’t check as I was fine with water. There was also a no-host bar with all kinds of Alaska beers, some national and international brews as well as various different wines. However, as usual, no champagne. Why is that? I have never been at a ball in Europe where there wasn’t  champagne the It drink.

Do you go to balls? Would you drive that far to attend a ball? Would you fly more than 500 miles to dance? Which of the gowns is your favorite?

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Photos: G. Kramm (2017)

Copyright 2013-2017 Nicole Mölders | All rights reserved

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