Colour photography hit its stride in New Zealand just as debutante balls were fading from the scene, so almost all of the images in official archives, like this group of young ladies pictured in their deb-ball finery in 1937, are black and white. Debutantes routinely wore white dresses, but many added vibrant flourishes that are washed out in these pictures: bunches of violets or pink roses, bold floral appliqués, a swipe of lippy.
The colour portrait we’ve used for our History column on page 112 is a vivid exception—taken on July 10, 1963, at Wellington’s Spencer Digby Studios, it was part of a collection gifted to Te Papa in 1975. Curators don’t know the full name of the woman pictured—the negative is inscribed simply “Miss R. McNeill”—and they would love to hear from anyone who recognises her.