PROM preening

Who knows what problems lurk in the selection of the perfect prom gown?
By SHEILA NORMAN-CULP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- Katie Jones tried on more than 200 dresses and didn't settle on one until two days before the junior prom. Ali Hodgson tried on just five prom dresses and bought one in December -- five months ahead of time.
Sarah Bakr spent more on her shoes than on her dress, while her friend Kelly Culp fell in love with an intricately beaded dress -- "I swear it weighed 12 pounds" -- then bought her spike heels on sale at the last minute.
It just goes to show: Even best friends approach prom in their own way.
The four girls, all seniors at Montclair High in northern New Jersey, got together in the dead of winter this year to flip through magazines and kick off the search for a prom dress.
"We are late," said Kelly. "Some girls start in September."
"No, you always lose weight in the spring. We're just right," countered Ali.
Get moving
Across the country, this is a huge time for hunting down prom dresses. The prom magazines came out the first of the year, the Internet is just a click away and stores are fully stocked.
Experts say prom fashions tend to reflect the unwritten traditions at any given high school more than they do national trends.
"Some places have senior proms that are all white [dresses]," explained Ruby Ashraf, CEO of Precious Formals, a national formal-wear company based in League City, Texas. "Some schools have restrictions on cutouts. Those dresses sell very well in Ohio and Texas but not in the Bible Belt.
"Beaded dresses sell well only in pockets -- I have one store in Milwaukee that can sell 50 beaded dresses a week."
The Montclair seniors agreed that "unwritten rules" are well understood. At the racially mixed school of 2,000, junior prom dresses tend to be cocktail length, while senior prom dresses are almost always long. Classic takes -- not necessarily ball gowns -- are favored. And since there are at least 500 students in each class, finding a unique dress can become a serious quest.
"I found a one-of-a-kind dress because I was having dreams of rolling up and seeing another girl in my dress and being compared. That is not a good thing," said Kelly.
According to a Seventeen Prom magazine survey last year, girls visited an average of eight stores, tried on 24 dresses and spent about $833 for prom night. That included $387 for the dress, shoes and accessories, another $135 for makeup and other beauty products, $105 at a salon, and $206 for tickets and transportation.
As nice as those other accoutrements may be, everyone knows prom is all about the dress.
"Girls are very swayed by what other girls are going to be wearing," said Gina Kelly, fashion director for Seventeen magazine. "You would not think a big princessy ball gown would still be in style, but it is."
Southern girls favor more traditional ball-gown styles, she said. New York City girls spend more on prom dresses than anywhere else in the country -- probably because peer pressure makes them avoid department stores and seek out hip, read "expensive," designers.
Celebrity styles
And don't forget that red carpet influence, from the Golden Globes, Grammys and Oscars.
"Last year, celebrities were all wearing strapless, and that trickled down to the prom market," Kelly noted.
Individual actresses also leave their mark. "I just love Scarlett Johansson, so I am trying to do her look," said Kelly. "I saw her in this gold dress -- my goal is to find a copy of that dress."
Yet other teens deliberately turn away from celebrity dress styles.
"For me, it's about how it looks," said Ali. "I'm not influenced by the red carpet because a lot of the dresses they would wear don't look good on me."
Prom dresses with flirty midriff cutouts were the big -- and controversial -- trend last year. For 2006, Kelly predicts that "really hot citrus colors" will be in -- orange, green and hot hot pink.
Apparently, Katie was a year ahead of the trend, buying a bright orange dress for her junior prom last spring.
"At first, I tried it on as a joke. It was orange. Who wants an orange dress at prom?" she asked. "But it looked really nice."
Since Katie bought her dress so late, her mother was shocked on prom night and insisted on toning down the cleavage. Two hours before the limo was to arrive, her mother drove to a mall, found matching fabric and sewed an insert into the bodice.
"I was late to pre-prom!" Katie moaned.
"But the match was perfect. No one could tell," said Sarah.
Ali pointed out that the best dress and shoes in the world won't make up for a sourpuss look at the big dance.
"It's important to be happy at your prom. That will make your outfit no matter what you wear," she said.
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