This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Fainite Auguste. Find her on Instagram at @ceilingdancing. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
As we enter a new prom cycle all of social media is flooded with “get ready with me” videos, thousand-dollar dresses, and discourse on prom. This year people have turned their attention to Easter prom dresses and are making fun of the teen girls wearing them.
What is Prom?
A prom is short for promenade. It is a formal event usually hosted by a high school for the students. Sometimes there are certain themes that attendees are encouraged to follow. The event happens toward the end of the school year ranging from as early as March and as late as June. My prom happen in mid April and the theme was “enchanted.”
American Prom Culture
In the US prom is the main event of the whole year. It is planned for months by the students, faculty, and families. There’s often a prom committee elected by the students whose job is to create different prom fundraisers. It usually takes the form of a bake sale.
To offset the cost of hosting a prom schools will sell tickets. Prom ticket prices can vary depending on where the school is located, the income of the parents, and the importance of prom for students. My prom tickets cost 60 dollars per person. Surprisingly it had been the same price for 10 years.
For nearly all American high schools prom is an exclusive event. It’s often only for upperclassmen, AKA 11th and 12th graders. Underclassmen can attend, but only if an upperclassman buys them a ticket and is escorted by that person.
There are two parts to prom, the dancing, and the food. Depending on how much money the school and students raise the school faculty hires caterers. Some students receive decadent steak and potato dinners. However; my high school could only afford mini cupcakes, cookies, and lemonade. The money was allocated to the DJ, floral decorations, and a cheap glambot.
Easter Tradition in the South
So how did Easter dresses become a thing? It is common for certain churches especially Black churches to dress in fancy clothing. On holidays like Christmas, the congregation decided to buy new clothes to wear for the specific event. It was inevitable that people would do this for Easter Sunday as well.
If families could afford it they would buy a new dress every Easter. You may have seen photos of big poofy colorful dresses and large hats to match. Little girls were also put in poofy dresses, frilly socks, and even child-sized heels. I wore these outfits when I was young and celebrating Easter. The night before Easter in a religious household involved food prep, ironing clothes, and styling hair. This was and still is a tradition in the South.
Easter Prom Dresses
Easter prom dresses are long pleated floral pattern dresses. You can see some beautiful examples of these in Sherri Hill’s latest prom collection. They come in bright blues, yellows, and reds. Since both Prom and Church are viewed as formal people are connecting the two. Is it so wrong that a dress could be worn to multiple events? Millions of teen girls spend hundreds even thousands of dollars on a dress they won’t wear again. The prom industry is a 4 billion dollar industry.
In my honest opinion, these Easter prom dresses are beautiful. A few months ago similar floral pattern dresses went viral. They were all over Pinterest and TikTok labeled as bridesmaid dresses instead of prom dresses.
Leave Teenage Girls Alone!
Society has a terrible habit of judging teenage girls. Unfortunately, it’s other women ridiculing these high schoolers on their appearance. I’ve seen about twenty grown women make tiktoks stitching videos showing their prom dresses from a decade ago. At a certain age, people have to move on from high school and let the next generation experience it. It is not your place to judge a seventeen-year-old.
What did you wear to your Prom? Or did you decide to ditch the whole thing? What do you think about the Easter prom dress trend? Let us know!
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