Danielle Sorcher
Reporter
Junior and senior prom are coming up, and quickly. The juniors are scrambling to find dates for their April prom, and the seniors are waiting for their turn in May. Though both proms are both a little ways away, girls have already begun searching for their perfect dresses.
Prom dress shopping started fairly early. “When did I start looking? Last year,” junior Katie Van Veghel said. “No, but really.”
Junior Kelly Brown started a little later, but earlier than she wanted to. “I started looking on [March 6th and 7th], though it was my mom’s idea, not mine. I wasn’t in the middle of the prom craze until this week, and I thought I’d go a few weeks before prom, not a month and a half before,” she said.
The fear that almost every girl has on their mind about prom is the possibility that they may walk into the room and spot another girl wearing the same dress. “I think that’s every girl’s worst nightmare,” Katie said.
However, senior Laura Hoffenberg is a little more zen about it. “Am I worried about that? Yes. But if a girl happens to come in wearing the same dress as me, it’s not a big deal. Obviously I would prefer it if they didn’t wear the same, but if so, it’s not the end of the world,” she said.
Stamford’s evening wear store, A Step Ahead, bases its entire shop on this fear. “We don’t sell the same dress to the same prom—every girl deserves to be an individual,” Danna Lane, the owner of the store, said. “To us it’s so important to not resell the same dress. Everything we do is geared towards that. The fit here is the other most important thing. We will tell you if something you’re wearing doesn’t fit your body right. No one works on commission here.”
A Step Ahead has a logbook where every time a girl buys a dress, their name and what prom they’re going to is recorded.
- Photo by Danielle Sorcher
“Every single person who walks in here deserves to get some help—we try to make it different from a department store. So one of the things we do is find out what prom they’re going to, that way we pull out the page of dresses [in the logbook]going to that prom and make sure we don’t sell duplicates,” Ms. Lane said.
A Step Ahead sells to hundreds of different proms, and their logbook is an impressive size. “Last year we sold to over 155 different proms, all spread out. This year so far we’ve sold to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, and Russia. We ship dresses anywhere you want,” Ms. Lane said.
Styles are constantly changing as well, though long, flowy dresses seem to be a trend for senior prom from year to year.
“I have my heart set on a lavender or lilac dress, just because there are two colors that look good on me: sea-foam green and lavender. I wore one color last year, so I’m doing the other this year. And I love long dresses, because I think they’re elegant and flowy,” Laura said.
Kelly agreed. “For junior year, I kind of want a short dress, though I have no particular preference for color or style,” she said. “Senior year I would prefer a gown, because it’s more important than junior year. I’ve also noticed a trend in the color is royal blue. Another big trend is ruching at the top of a dress.”
Senior and Prom Committee Chair Hannah Herde is covering prom for her senior project, and has a blog detailing all things prom. She has noticed that sheath dresses are a big hit among girls. “From past experience, I’ve noticed that a lot of girls will get sheath floor length dresses; that’s just the way it usually ends up,” she said.
However, Ms. Lane disagreed. “Styles this year are better than previous years. There are a wide variety of them this year. Bold prints, white dresses, slinky and flowy dresses are some of the strong styles. There is an influx in short dresses. At NCHS senior prom last year, 99% of dresses sold were long, but this year I expect more short ones,” she said.
Based on the different styles of dresses, Ms. Lane thinks they tell a lot about the girls wearing them. “Girls figure out in here what type of personality they are; outgoing, classic/understated, the ‘here I am girl.’ They buy the dress that makes them feel the best,” she said.
- Photo by Danielle Sorcher
Besides boutiques, department stores, and malls, some girls look for dresses online. Katie used online resources and knows which dress she’s going to get, though she hasn’t bought it yet. “I found mine on a website, called promdressshop.com, after Google searching prom dresses,” she said.
Though they don’t buy their dresses online, Kelly and Laura look online for ideas. “I’ve been looking online but I don’t want to buy online, because if I get the dress and it doesn’t fit then it’s a bigger deal, harder to return, and costs more money than getting the dress in a store,” Kelly said.
A Step Ahead recognizes the online aspect of prom dress shopping and takes advantage of it. “We have a Facebook page where we post new stock updates. I also encourage facebook questions. Anyone can friend us at ‘A Step Ahead Stamford’ and ask us anything. We also sometimes do private Facebook sales,” Ms. Lane said.
The emotional drama of the search for the perfect dress overcomes many. “Kids faint in here all the time,” Ms. Lane said. “Every year we get four or five girls who faint. They stand in the mirror while their dress is being altered, and just faint. Maybe it’s because they’re so overwhelmed with emotion. It’s such a dramatic time — so much leads up to prom, and it’s so important to girls.”
