An Annoying Redun-dance: Saying Yes to the Prom Dress

Hot pink, ocean blue and minty green. Sequins galore. Tailors are bombarded with work — adjusting those straps, hemming that skirt and restitching that neckline — as makeup palettes disappear from Sephora shelves and the Macy’s “One-Day sales event” reels in hordes of cash. 

Prom is coming up, which means it’s that time of year again: mother-daughter shopping trips to the mall and intense Pinterest-browsing for hair-style inspiration are only the beginning. 

As we enter prom season, department stores and boutiques already have their glamorous dresses out on their sales floors. With the school’s “Night at the Masquerade”-themed prom schedule for April 23, many upperclassmen girls are asking, “Did you get a dress yet?” 

Despite prom usually being described as a night to remember, the financial half of it is something many students tend to forget — particularly buying a dress.

“It’s actually kind of sus,” said junior Sarah Avant of the process. 

Prom dresses occupy many girls’ minds this time of year. There are the normal considerations to obsess over — price, color, size and skirt length — but then come the less-obvious considerations, like showing up to prom in the same dress as someone else and the actual shopping part of shopping for prom dresses. 

Avant recently bought a bedazzled rose gold gown with a long trail and a slit near the leg. “It’s very pretty,” she said, but it was expensive and “hard to come across.”

If someone showed up in the same dress as her, she’d feel “distraught, discombobulated, upset and a little embarrassed,” she said, “but not in that particular order.” 

This is the dress that is going to be in photo books and shown to family and friends at reunions. 

This is the dress that will carry memories of that special “Night at the Masquerade” dance. 

This is the dress that is going to sit in a closet for the next few months or years until it’s donated or worn again. 

“It’s supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime type of dress,” said Avant. “If I walk in and someone’s wearing the same dress as me, we’re going to have some problems.” 

To guarantee girls won’t deal with this on their prom night, some have taken it upon themselves to “call dibs” on certain dresses by posting pictures of the dress to prom accounts on social media. 

Junior and senior girls jumped on this social media trend just recently.

Gallery • 2 Photos

Rachel Lichtenwalner

This is the prom dress Instagram account for 2022.

Senior Sarah Muller doesn’t worry about twinning with one of her fellow upperclassmen, however. 

“It just proves we both have good taste,” Muller said. “Period.” 

Senior Gabrielle Giannou matched another homecoming attendee her freshman year. 

“To be honest, it was awkward,” she said, “but at the end of the day, it’s no one’s fault.”

Apart from worrying about showing up to prom and feeling like that one Spiderman meme, getting ready for the big night itself is a completely different ordeal. Choices of hair style and makeup could be just as stressful. 

Avant has a strict list of steps she must follow when getting ready for prom. Hair comes first, then makeup and lastly the dress. 

“You’ve got to do the hair first, [because] if you do your makeup first, then your hair might be sticky,” she said. 

Then, she’ll put on her dress, get on the party bus and head to the dance, all dolled up. 

Muller said she’s had at least six other girls getting ready with her for every dance she has been to. 

“It’s pure chaos,” she said. She doesn’t have a set routine, but she enjoys shopping with the others and “being there for moral support,” she said. 

Muller’s aunt shipped her old prom dress from New York for Muller to wear. She adores it, she said. 

Giannou has yet to purchase a prom dress for herself, but she has an idea of what she wants. She is looking for a “green dress to my ankles — with a V-neck most likely — a pretty back and [no sleeves].”

“Night at the Masquerade” is growing nearer and nearer every day.

Giannou is excited to enjoy a final celebration before graduation with her boyfriend.

No matter what the dress is like, prom is something special.   

“Taking part in something that’s such a trite high school occurrence is kind of fun,” Muller said.