While senior and junior prom are still a world away, junior prom taking place on March 22 and senior prom on June 13, students are already stressing to find the best and most unique prom dresses.
The influence of social media has deeply influenced the process of finding a prom dress with the surfacing of NVD prom dress Instagram accounts. These student-run Instagram accounts are used as a platform for other students to post what dress they got for prom. While this concept seems sound, it has caused much stress for junior and senior girls. While she hasn’t finalized her dress selection, Junior Aviv Anavy is well versed with how the Instagram account works.
“When you find ‘the dress’, you send it to your grades prom dress account on Instagram that isn’t affiliated with the school and is run by a girl in the grade. Only girls are on the account so it can be viewed as what type of styles the girls are going for and able to help out other girls pick something similar or different to a dress they saw on the Instagram account,” Anavy said.
Junior Raima Rawal was the first girl to post on the NVD junior prom Instagram account. While junior prom is still four months away Raima believes the earlier the better.
“I think the best time to start shopping for your dress is around this time of year. For me, at least, it takes a while to decide on the right color and design for what I want to wear to anything, so for something like junior prom, it’s better to start early!” Rawal said.
Juniors are hurrying to find the perfect prom dress and post it on their Instagram account. Some feel pressure to do so early because of the fear that someone else can choose the same option which could cause some disputes.
“There are definitely a lot of conflicts that can come from posting your dress on the Instagram account. When you post, you confirm that this is the dress for you and make everyone aware so they know to avoid buying the same one. People wanting the same dress can happen often- it happened with mine,” Rawal said.
Finding the right dress comes with a lot of research and browsing and the process could be grueling, there are many things to take into account.
“Having to find the right website that isn’t a scam or if looking for something in person, finding the budget for you and the style, length, and color comes into play. The amount of dresses you buy is really your choice since people find the perfect one for them and just buy one, but usually people buy 2 or 3 to have the options and figuring out what the perfect dress is,” Anavy said.
Rawal also has some insight on finding the perfect prom dress.
“The process of buying a dress can be different for everyone, but it usually involves browsing apps like Instagram, TikTok, and various clothing websites until you find one (or a few) that you like,” she continues by saying, “ It’s good to consider a lot of them and have your options open. There’s no harm in ordering a lot, trying them on, and then deciding on one to wear! You can look anywhere for a dress, but at the end of the day, it should be one that you like and feel comfortable in!” Rawal said.
Senior Hailey Serata offers advice and insight on junior prom dress shopping by reflecting on her experience from last year. When searching for a junior prom dress Hailey found hers early in the year.
“I found my dress pretty early in December. I didn’t regret finding one early because I knew I liked it and didn’t want to give anyone the chance to take it from me,” Serata said.
Senior Roni Cohen offers advice and places to shop when searching for the perfect dress. Dress selection could be time-consuming and hard if students don’t know where to look.
“Finding a dress can be annoying because a lot of the time it’s a process of trial and error. Personally, I purchased one dress and knew it was the one I wanted, but you should purchase 2-3 or even 4 dresses to keep your options open and make sure you love your dress. Your best bet is to look online for dresses. The most popular places are Revolve, Lucy in the Sky, Lulus, and Princess Polly,” Cohen said.
One of the most notable differences between this year’s junior prom and last year’s is the conflict about dress selection.
“I remember an instance last year where Instagram caused conflict or produced stress in finding a dress but there was a possibility someone could have the same dress so I wanted to get one in. However, if that happened it wouldn’t be a big deal,” Serata said.
As juniors begin posting and viewing their classmate’s Instagram posts, duplicates can arise. Senior Roni Cohen offers advice for one when addressing this situation. Cohen has navigated the difficulties of sharing the same dress with another classmate, yet both agreed that they would wear the same dress in different colors, resulting in a good outcome.
“Two people choosing the same dress can be annoying, but you should definitely talk and see if you both are ok with wearing the same dress or different colors,” Cohen said.
