Rachel Rumschlag
Pro
As a senior in high school, something that is concerning almost everyone is what they are going to wear to prom. If you are active on instagram and other social media platforms, you may have noticed that teenagers are not wearing as extravagant outfits to prom as they used to. This has kind of disappointed me because I have grown up seeing people in amazing prom dresses, and I’ve always wanted an opportunity to wear something fancy.
A pro of treating prom like it’s fancy is that you can have fun spending time with your friends either picking out your dress, putting on makeup, doing your hair together or taking pictures. Picking out a prom dress is a once in a lifetime experience for a lot of people, so it might be an important experience for a teenager.
Choosing what to wear to prom can be expensive and is a big reason why people may be treating prom more casual. Although prom dresses can be expensive, there are a lot of affordable dresses out there that look more fancy rather than basic. It’s also fun to wear something that you don’t get to wear very often, there are only so many times in an average person’s life where it’s appropriate to wear a fancy dress.
The biggest part of prom that everyone talks about is the dance. One last big night for people you have been going to school with for up to 12 years can be a big deal. Being so close to finishing high school is a great achievement and prom is definitely a great night to celebrate that.
You get to have a great night, dress up, get your hair and makeup done and feel fancy, so it is definitely something that can be fun and you can make it worth the money.
Con
Getting ready for a night out is something you can do with your friends many times in your life. So, missing out on the getting ready experience for prom doesn’t mean you can’t do it again.
It also takes a lot of time and effort to get ready for a night like prom. If you’re not super experienced with doing your hair or makeup, you might end up paying to get it done, which is just more money on top of buying an outfit and a ticket to the dance. The getting ready process might be more stressful for a lot of people rather than fun, which is completely understandable.
In terms of finding something to wear, it can be hard to find a dress that meets your criteria of what you want to wear, while also being sold at a price that is within your budget. There are a lot more basic looking dresses that are sold at more affordable prices. Not everyone wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress for one night. Getting dresses altered can cost a lot too and buying a more extravagant dress may come with needing more alterations.
I believe it is understandable if someone wouldn’t want to treat prom super fancy for these reasons. It’s perfectly fine to dress casually as it does not carry any negative connotations, and prom may not hold significance for everyone, but that is completely acceptable.
