{"product_id":"the-pink-dress-a-memoir-of-a-reluctant-beauty-queen-9781647427405","title":"The Pink Dress: A Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen","description":"\u003cb\u003eFor fans of\u003ci\u003e Little Miss Sunshine \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Secrets of Miss America\u003c\/i\u003e, this memoir from a national award-winning author reveals the reality of being the first Guyrex Girl in the 1970s. Beauty pageant stories have never been this raw, this real.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGrowing up in West Texas, Jane Little Botkin didn't have designs on becoming a beauty queen. But not long after joining a pageant on a whim in college, she became the first prot?g? of El Paso's Richard Guy and Rex Holt, known as the \"Kings of Beauty\"--just as the 1970's counterculture movement began to take off. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA pink, rose-covered gown--a Guyrex creation--symbolizes the fairy tale life that young women in Jane's time imagined beauty queens had. Its near destruction exposes reality: the author's failed relationship with her mother, and her parents' failed relationship with one another. Weaving these narrative threads together is the Wild West notion that anything is possible, especially do-overs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Pink Dress\u003c\/i\u003e awakens nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s, the era's conflicts and growth pains. A common expectation that women went to college to get \"MRS\" degrees--to find a husband and become a stay-at-home wife and mother--often prevailed. How does one swim upstream against this notion among feminist voices that protest \"If You Want Meat, Go to a Butcher!\" at beauty pageants, two flamboyant showmen, and a developing awareness of self? Torn between women's traditional roles and what women could be, Guyrex Girls evolved, as did the author.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e She Writes Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/10\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781647427405\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/0001\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Jane Little Botkin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44431940026549,"sku":"9781647427405","price":15.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_c5be413d-5139-40aa-a12e-22cc5ddc586e.jpg?v=1721138974","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-pink-dress-a-memoir-of-a-reluctant-beauty-queen-9781647427405","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}