At the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition, Costume Art, I kept drifting back toward the same dress. It was white and heavily embellished, almost like something a modern Greek goddess would wear. Somehow it felt incredibly current despite being decades old — the kind of dress I could genuinely imagine wanting to wear someday to a black-tie gala or formal event. What was strange was that it did not even dominate the room. Costume Art was overflowing with dramatic piece

Four years ago today was my bat mitzvah. Technically, my birthday is in December, but because of Covid we postponed the celebration until the spring of sixth grade, when I was twelve. At the time, it felt worth the wait. I remember the countdown to the party almost more vividly than the actual ceremony itself. The custom dress. The fittings. The shoes. The hair appointments. I even got my top braces removed early just for the event. The dress became the centerpiece of everyth