Rock The Prom!
[ 6 February 2008 ]
For most people, the prom is still a little way off — & yet at the moment, it’s the hottest issue in my inbox! Girls around the globe are fuh-reakin’ out, lost in a sea of dresses, stumped by what to wear & how to look different, original & cute without spending a fortune or imitating someone else.
I think that to some girls, a prom is like a miniature version of a wedding — to be planned in intense detail & carried off with military precision. That’s okay! I understand! I am a Virgo myself; I am well acquainted with the joy of organisation. So I am here to help!
Dresses
While you could go to a department store & pick a dress off the rack, that’s probably what every other girl in town will be doing, too. It’s okay to follow the herd, but not on a night that is important to you — or on a night that has so much photographic evidence! You want to look ravishing, mysterious, glamorous & stylish, & it is hard to feel like that when the girl you really dislike turns up in the same gown.
I strongly advise buying your dress somewhere else. Try the tiny boutique of a local independent designer, go vintage shopping, peruse your very stylish friend’s wardrobe, start looking at patterns or browsing online for the dress of your dreams. You don’t have to buy off the rack in your town — in fact, you don’t have to buy at all if you have well-dressed friends! Be open to other options, because it will help you stand out on the night.
Have a browse around online to see what you like. Some of the best vintage dresses can be found at Vintageous, Blue Velvet, Trashy Diva & Ballyhoo, & there’s always Ebay.
If you don’t like dresses, never fear! Androgyny is in & it’s hot. Have a read of Tomboy Boot Camp & then scroll down this page for more ideas!
Make-up
A lot of girls go to a make-up counter to have their face done for the big day — in fact, in Australia & New Zealand I would say that’s the rule, rather than the exception. That’s great if you’re not wonderful with make-up, but if you have a very definite “look”, you might want to save the cash & do your make-up at home. A couple of my goth friends refuse to have anyone touch their faces because they can never find anyone who does their make-up as they like it, & they are not alone!
If you’re paying someone to do your make-up for the big night, I would recommend doing a trial run first. Some people have strange ideas about what looks good, & you don’t want to be frantically rubbing your make-up off in the limousine!
Remember that you can get anything you want. If you always wear pale pink lip-gloss with brown eye-liner, don’t be afraid to try something new! Maybe electric blue eye-liner will look amazing on you. Let the make-up artist play around with things & be open to their suggestions, because until something is on you, it’s very hard to know whether it will good or not. When I worked at Lush, we were friends with the girls at the MAC counter, so when we had a break we’d go to their shop & they would make us over. I remember one girl gave me yellow eye-shadow that faded into this brilliant parrot green colour — I thought it would look hideous but actually, it was totally incredible. So take a chance!
Feel free to take in pictures & photographs that show what colour your dress is & demonstrate the sort of make-up you want — if you do, it will make the artist’s job much easier. Also: be friendly! You will get better service & a more fabulous end result.
Hair
Just because a prim up-do is the “done thing”, that doesn’t mean you have to have one. You could have your hair down, curled, teased, in a beehive, dusted with talcum powder, under a tiara, or even wear a wig! If you’re feeling daring, you could even colour your hair. If your hair is short & you feel left out, don’t! Read Making Short Hair More Interesting & rejoice!
Remember…
The prom is kind of a ridiculous tradition but it can be a lot of fun if you embrace it. Even if you loathe everyone you go to school with, it’s still great to dress up & see everyone else dolled up. People seem to act differently when they’re dressed up for a formal occasion — almost like adults, sometimes! You might even find yourself talking to (& making peace with) someone who was your arch-nemesis all year, so if you’ve sworn off your prom, give it a re-think.
On the other hand, just because it’s the prom, that doesn’t mean you should feel like you have to transform into some weird alien version of you for the night! Leave that Barbie girl look to those spray-tan-crazy girls who never answer questions in class. Don’t be afraid to inject a little personality into your outfit — or even allow your outfit to express who you are. If you’re a gamer, embrace it! Wear a brooch of the Nintendo logo on your dress or don initial rings that spell out ‘GAME OVER’. If you’re obsessed with France, dress in red white & blue & add a beret. (You could even draw a little moustache on the side of your finger & hold it up to your lip & laugh at people with a fake French accent!) If you’re a photographer, wear your camera like a necklace, & if you’re a ballerina, wear ballet shoes. You get the picture.
The accessories make it. Even if you do end up buying something that someone else wears, if you accessorise it properly, you won’t look similar at all. Think hats, stockings, bags, bracelets, rings, chokers, necklaces, glitter, crystals, feathers, tiaras, faux fur — & take it from there.
Ideas
Obviously the idea is not to go out & buy these outfits as they are (though if you can afford a pair of Louboutins to wear to your prom then you’re doing pretty well)! Hopefully you will be able to use them as a jumping-off point; something to inspire you. Maybe you’ll look at one of these dresses & love it but accessorise it differently, or perhaps a colour scheme will appeal to you. I hope it helps!
For the glamorous alternative girl: Todd Lynn Nachtotter leather jacket; vintage 1950’s strapless dress; gold Rolex; CC Skye bracelet; Alexander McQueen clutch; Jimmy Choo heels; initial rings from Girlprops.
For the girl who thinks pink: Fendi Candy striped silk dress; Tarina Tarantino necklace; Alexander McQueen clutch; pink bangles; Christian Louboutin glitter patent slingbacks.
For the geeky girl: Robot charm necklace; JC Penney dress; retro glasses; Fred Flare nerd/dork ring set; Cat5 bracelet; Balenciaga fingerless gloves; gold Kitson sandals.
For the tomboy with taste: 3.1 Phillip Lim tuxedo jacket; Blondie t-shirt; Todd Lynn Bill Carson bow tie; Topshop cropped jeans; Christian Louboutin Ariella studded boots; Moschino handbag.
Oh, & if you need extra inspiration… Betsey Johnson‘s Spring 2008 collection is prom-tastic!
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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The “geeky girl” suggestions are so awesome! That dress is great, but the bracelet is made of win. I’m no longer prom age, but this was still fun to read. ^^
Not exactly prom, but in a few weeks I have my deb and your suggestions are great Gala. I’ve already got the dress but really need to buckle down and decide what I’m going to do with my hair and make up.
Once again, you’ve come up with some brilliant suggestions. What would we do without you?!
omg im am in love with those boots!!! man i wish i was younger and could go to my school ball again, i regret the dresses i wore,
I’m a freshman.
Attending my senior-sorta-kinda-pseudo-boyfriend’s prom.
Who lives in another STATE!
I won’t know anyone and I’ll be a helluva lot younger, that’s for sure.
And I’m sneaking there because my parents don’t approve.
rolls eyesThis article helped a lot. I already have a dress, but never really considered it a huge deal. What would I do without you, Gala?
Do you have any pictures from your prom? Or were you too cool to attend?
Madeline — I have pictures, but they’re bad :D I wore a boned floor-length dark red dress with a black pattern, a dark red choker, black heels & a black cloak. Aaaahahah! So ~*~gawthic~*~ :D
Here’s the dress!
http://www.unique-vintage.com/images/unique-vintage/7625larger.jpg
That’s beautiful!
Awh, thanks love! I just giggled thinking about you dressed up all gawthic. You’re so sophisticated now!
good lord
thank you, i think imma try and do a geeky look, you just made it look so adorable!!
I love promming :) Great article!
in the nerdy look is that headband from the girl that was on project runway?
I think I’m going to try to conserve resources this year and do my own hair. Any suggestions for how to curl it nicely or dress it up to look more special?
Angelique — I’ve never seen Project Runway… & there is no headband! So I have no idea ;D
Stephanie — Sorry, I wish I could help you but I am not good with hair. Especially long hair — I’m still learning how to style my own!
aaah, at one of my school ‘proms’/formals, my ex girlfriend had a hideous fake tan, and looked streaky orange. she laughs now but absolutely hated it on the night.
just say no to dodgy fake tanning!
Stephanie: for curls. If you get a tonne of old material and cut it up into strips to wrap around your hair. Firstly you wet your hair… and it is personal preference whether it works on clean or day old hair… any way it has to be wet… then twist individual strands of your hair whilst wrapping the pieces of material in your strands. (the strands should be as big as you want the curls to be… i.e smaller amounts, youll have more curls. bigger amounts of hair in strands… less curls) After youve done that tie of the material at the bottom of the strand you were wrapping. Repeat tieing after each strand is wrapped and then go to sleep. In the morning remove the material and you should…. have beautiful curls. Just try it out to check if it works on your hair before having it on a good day like the prom though :). Any way it works for me.
Im so excited for my formal. And im not sure whether or not to get a fake tan… cause i have never had one before. i dont want to look fake. this was a very cool article… xoxox
Some of your looks don’t make me think ‘prom’ so much… But it’s still cute, and great advice.
Another place to go dress shopping is outlet stores- you can get gorgeous, expensive dresses for very cheap, and since they are last seasons (or further back) offerings the likelihood of someone wearing the same dress is slim. I bought my senior prom dress at the Saks Outlet near me, and it was the only one left in the store!
Also- Gala, how have you never watched Project Runway? You have to watch it, it’s amazing!
I love all those looks!
For prom-type occasions in the past I would raid my sister-in-law’s ‘dressups’ suitcase full of luridly-coloured early sixties gowns with ludicrous faux-medieval sleeves. I have dead-straight hair so I would get my mum to put it in curlers for a different look. Sometimes I’d wear a tiara or silver lipstick. (OK, once it was both of those at the same time.) And basically I’d carve up the dancefloor all night . . . Good times.
i’m proudly a geek, complete with old-school, large glasses and i adore the nerdy style you’ve put together.
sophisticated and lovely while still being inherently individual and quirky.
j’adore!
love the article!! for my prom i’m going in a 1920’s style out fit complete with the cool headband and flower combo that they used to wear back then CANT WAIT
Thank you Gala!
I’ve got my formal/prom thing later this year & I was freaking out about what I could wear!
I’ve declared myself a no frills, lace and/or pink zone, heheh!
And I think that it’s great that, although you might not wear it nowadays, your prom outfit was different & probably didn’t look like everyone elses :].
MAN, I wish I’d gotten to go to prom… I got into college early and forgot I wanted to be a highschooler still!
Those oufits are expensive, but they’re adorable!
xoxo.
opps i thought they were headbands ;-P sorry
It’s interesting…I live out in the country (well, in what is now classified as a ‘regional centre’) and we have a few little boutiques, but no department stores. I picked my dress up in a Myer at Pacific Fair and it was unique because a majority of the dresses other girls wore were from boutiques, and there were heaps of double-ups. Hehe.
Thanks anyway! I love these ideas. And you brought back so many fond memories of the angst I went through leading up to the night… and yes, that includes teary moments. For shame!
Those Jimmy Choos! I burn, I pine, I perish! & I am so in lust with that leather jacket. Makes me regret not attending my prom.
i wore an amaaaazing ball gown that used to belong to my grandmother to my ball last year, though i’m more than a foot taller than her. so it is worth asking family members! thank god for nana’s hording tendencies haha.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/Bluebird72/HPBall07.jpg?t=1202203763
i am quite a bit taller than most people i am related to.
The geek chic outfit is adorable! For my own debs a few months ago I found the perfect dress and went all-out regency. I deplore the lack of originality at debs though, everyone wears the same basic strapless full-length satin dress and nobody accessorises differently!
For my college ball this year I found a terrifically ’80s polka-dot Laura Ashley dress in my mother’s wardrobe. I will be Strawberry Switchblade-ing myself to go with it.
I promised myself to never go to prom.. but I did anyway! ..twice! the first time I found out the night before and borrowed one of my sisters dresses (we rented a city bus to take us there and went bowling afterwards, so much fun!) and the second time I wore black skinnies, a black collared shirt and a red plaid tie. it was a lot of fun to be the only girl in a tie and I was probably a lot more comfortable than a lot of the other girls there! prom can be horrible if you’re expecting it to be the best night of your life, but if you go and dance the night away like a crazy goof with all your friends, it can be a blast.
ps here is a picture of me with my date before prom http://www.flickr.com/photos/joylight/507039114/in/set-72157601681947386/
Ahh! Prom was good times. My mother made my dress for junior and senior, + I still have both of them. They’re lovely, things I could wear again.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chlorinebeach/169942232/in/set-72157594366003623/
here it is, there are some other photos in the stream. I got my hair done in cornrows + put into a bun, because I can’t stand having sweaty hair all over my neck… tre gross!
For my senior prom I wore one of my mom’s dresses from the early 90’s. I had actually already bought a dress but her’s was so much crazier so I wore it. I have super long hair so I just straightened it and crimping in a few places. I got SOOO many compliments.
check it out!!
http://i32.tinypic.com/14t5wdg.jpg
I am so so so tempted to buy a bright purple wig now. Just for the hell of it.
in my opinion prom is completely overrated & not that much fun. i prefer the after party. i went twice once for my boyfriend’s senior prom when i was in 10th grade & once for my senior prom. the first time i went i wore a more traditional, simple dress but it was absolutely gorgeous. i still adore it (i wore it again last year to a very nice dinner, i was amazed that i still fit into it since it had been almost four years since i last wore it). the second time i went i i bought a vintage gunne sax dress off of ebay & my boy & i pretended to be june & johnny cash. i don’t think i’ll ever wear that dress again though. both times i had my hair professionally done & both times i hated it (though in retrospect my hair wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t what i wanted). so i highly recommend doing a trial run with your hair stylist before the final night or just do it yourself, i know i wish that i had. though i made the wise decision to do my own makeup both times because i’m one of those people who doesn’t trust other people to do her makeup.
Oh, I love the idea of spelling out ‘PROM’ with rings.
I think I will do just that for this year’s prom. It’ll be that little extra to make people smile.
So now that I’m inspired for Prom Night, maybe I should get started on thinking of what to wear for the after-after party. ;D
We don’t have proms here (well, a lot of schools pretend, but it’s not the same thing), but the closest equivalent is the leavers’ ball. I decided to avoid the whole panic about where to buy one’s dress by making mine, and it turned out very well- I got a lot of compliments on it, and felt as well-dressed as any of the girls there. If you have access to a sewing machine and basic knowledge of how to use it, it’s worth considering. It also worked out a lot cheaper than buying a dress, and I could make it exactly how I wanted it.
I’m so nervous about prom because I barely know anyone at my new school and I hate how uncomfortable I feel when I get dressed up. If I were more confident I would probably wear something similar to the geeky girl outfit.
I must say, my favorite one was definately the Geeky Girl one. I would completely wear it, especially since it’s purple. I’ve also considered grabbing a wedding dress at a thrift store, preferably one with a giant poofy skirt and making it tutu esque. Maybe even seeing if I could make it gradiant like the tights you should a bite back.
oh gorgey gorgey. love all of those outfits (though i would totally wear the first one. that’s my color scheme for the next formal). i realize these are all just guideline/suggestions, but if you could maybe put up one outfit that most people could afford, or at least a couple links, that would be great.
Both times I went to Prom I saw another person wearing the same dress as me. :/ The first year it was only a girl who I knew from my class but we didn’t mind and just teased each other all night about who had better taste. My senior year I thought I was rocking my black and white dress alone because when I bought it there were all weird sizes only, but a girl who was an ex best friend also wore it. We didn’t see each other until the end, but I don’t think she was very happy. I was proud of myself though because I was rocking the 20s glamour look with red lipstick,big curls,pearls,and an awesome top hat. =)
Ooooh, my prom isn’t til May but I have the extreme fortune of finding a dress and shoes by chance already. My shoes are these amazing Miu Miu suede peep-toe, bow-toe pumps I managhed to find at the third of the price, and my dress is from Anthropologie (can’t find it on the website) and a beautiful purplish-brown color, with two thing net layers and a tie round the waist that makes me look even tinier. I plan on wearing my leather biker jacket over it, with my hair just loosely clipped up.
If I had’t already found my outfit already, I would definitly mix the geeky and the glamorous outfits. You are a styling genius.
OH wow! I fully love the geeky girl suggestion! The jewellery is going straight to my wish list.
I have a family wedding in about a month that will have a similar dress code so I am so glad you put this up, especially about the make up and hair!
I wish I’d had these suggestions when I’d had my high school formal!
I didn’t even go to my own formal; I skipped mine and went as a date to my best friends’ instead. I didn’t really have any friends at my own high school, so it made more sense to go with to the one that all my real friends would be at.
My date was a bit of a goth at the time, and I definitely wasn’t your typical teenage girl so I had to find something different to wear (thank hell I didn’t look like the girls that went to this particular soiree – there were 8 of them all wearing the same dress, just all in different pastel shades – argh!). I very rarely wear dresses anyway, but I relented and wore a very simple layered slip dress in black and red, with fishnets and Doc Marten’s boots. We took the tram instead of a taxi, and then left early to go to the after party I created. Such rebels hahaha.
This was a lovely post!!
I graduated last year, but I remember being so excited for my final prom! I didn’t want to go with a neon colored tulle disaster!
I really love Diane von Furstenberg & her beautiful patterns, & Gala I daresay I think you’d agree![?]
Here was my dress last year:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/the_diane/Prom/promdress1.jpg
wow these are great and so helpful! i have my formal coming up soon squee
i love allthis stly but i stell dont know what to where can you guys help me i love the hole rocker girl look
Oooh how I wish I would have read this back in high school! I have a stash of embarrassing pictures from dances — curly cue ringlets, gag! You have some very impressive and adorable ideas!