Buying a homecoming prom dress sure isn’t easy. There are a number of ways that us ladies make the experience a heartbreaking nightmare! Here are a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to finding the right prom dress that wears well and suits your body type with the least amount of stress or trouble.
Don’t: Wait to the last minute to buy your dress
Do
: Start thinking about your homecoming over summer breakWhy:
Quite often, ladies will wait until the week before prom before they start looking for good looking 2016 prom dresses. This is a recipe for disaster! If you wait too long for your prom dress, it is quite likely that you will wind up with a dress that doesn’t fit, or one that all the other girls rejected –or worse, one that all the other poor-planners bought. No one likes to look like a clone on prom night. Remember if you are particularly short or tall, there are plenty of long prom dresses or petite prom dresses.Don’t: Shop on look and style alone
Do
: Consider your body typeWhy
: Some dresses and styles will flatter a particular body type while looking disjointed on another. That’s why the fashion world gives us billions of options for clothing every second. If you find yourself getting upset or frustrated with yourself that you cannot find a dress that looks good, hear it from me first; you are insane.The fashion industry needs to make money. They love money and you not being able to find one single stylish dress that looks great is not your fault. It is their fault. It is the buyer for the retail store’s fault. It is not your fault, or your body’s fault. So do not beat yourself up, ever. You look great, so think about more meaningful stuff. You don’t see too many boys worrying so much, so why are you?
Don’t: Try to squeeze into a dress or lose weight to fit in one
Do
: Find a dress that suits your body type right nowWhy
: A lot of girls will try to naively force themselves to lose weight in a short amount of time so they can fit into that one dress they have their heart set on. Consider this a time to learn a life lesson: wants and needs are two vastly different things.Accept the body you’ve been given, accept that beauty comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Sooner or later you will, anyway; it’s only a matter of how much suffering you will put yourself through before you do.
Don’t: Break the bank
Do
: Stop caring so much (it’s only a dress)Why
: My first prom, I got all gussied up in a red prom dress I bought at a bridal shop. I had it resized to fit my tiny high school body, and I paid $350 and still thought I should pay more. I wanted to look great! The reality is, and I’ll be blunt, we look the best today that we’re ever going to look.The price of anything does not mean it’s better. It doesn’t even mean it looks good or is good for us. A dress is supposed to complement our bodies, not rewrite it. And boy, do I wish I could tell 16 year old me that. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to cut into my college to buy a dress I wore one night. Gah!
Do you have any advice? Let us know in the comments!