The Junior Hallway has been bustling with excitement for prom season, and particularly the search for dresses. Many junior girls are wondering what advice the seniors have about prom. A common piece of advice is that people shouldn’t spend all their energy trying to find the perfect dress.

“I feel like people get obsessed with it, and then everyone has a good dress. They worry too much and spend too much money on their dresses when it’s not the most important part,” said senior Kayce Park.
The craze to find a prom dress starts early, and it is clear that many people do believe having a good dress and spending a lot of money is the most important part. Advice from experienced seniors could help alleviate the stress of finding the perfect dress.“I started too late, so it was a rushed process. I would recommend starting your search a couple of months in advance,” said senior Abigail Beyrich.
The longer someone waits to find a prom dress, the greater the stress becomes because dresses may become unavailable or others may pick them. There is also a student-run Instagram account where girls can anonymously submit their dresses to see which ones girls have already chosen.
The great part of starting to look for dresses early is that there is time to weigh out different options.
“Buy a lot early and then return them all because it’s fun, and you can figure out what you like and don’t like early,” said Kayce.
Buying and returning dresses is a great tip, but it is important to check if there will be an additional cost to return the dress. Discovering preferences about dresses early makes the process easier, especially if a dress will need to be tailored. It is important to leave time between finding a dress and prom so there will be time to tailor it.
“It’s common for people to get their dresses tailored, but not as big of a rush as finding the dress. Tailors also sometimes scam people by charging them a lot when it’s not a lot, so that is something to be careful of,” said Abigail.
To avoid unnecessarily expensive tailoring processes and ensure dresses are ready on time, it is important to research tailors and go early. In the dress shopping process, it is likely there will be other surprises.
“I got a dress that I thought I was going to wear to prom, but then I ended up wearing a different one to prom,” said Abigail.
Even though Abigail thought she found her perfect dress, her change of dress reflects Kayce’s point that the dress is not something a girl should get obsessed with, because everyone has a good dress in the end, even if their plans change.
The final piece of advice would be to not pick a dress that can’t be outdone senior year, because many people find senior year dresses more important than junior year.
“I would also say to pick a dress you love, but leave room to outdo it your senior year,” said Abigail.
Starting early, leaving time for possible changes, researching tailoring, and leaving space to outdo the dress senior year will alleviate the pressure on junior girls to find the perfect dresses.