Avoiding fashion faux pas

With prom season upon us, dress and tuxedo trends find themselves on an entirely new plane of styles, cuts, and colors.

When prom first came into existence in the early 1900s, dresses showcased conservative cuts and layers of tulle and shoulder pads. Tuxedos featured a pointed lapel and thin bowtie, always in a monochromatic black or white.

Today, dresses come in thousands of different styles and fabrics, and the range of cuts and colors on the prom dress market represent the remarkable progression of fashion in the past one hundred years. The classic black tuxedo remains a prom staple, but now dark greens, blues, and maroons sprinkle the sea of tuxedo colors; and bright-hued ties and bowties match perfectly with the shade of any prom date’s outfit.

In the prom dress palooza, girls find it especially difficult to find a dress that sticks out from the crowd. One of the biggest dress trends for this 2017 prom includes two-piece sets that highlight one’s curves and drape to the floor in a cascading flow of fabric.

Another notable trend in prom fashion puts the focus on one’s shoulders: skin-tight off-the-shoulder gowns. Showing skin seems to be the biggest spotlight in prom dresses, featuring dresses that flaunt fashionable cutouts, lace inserts, and shorter hemlines. The most popular dress colors include universally-flattering blue, showstopping red, shimmery gold, and classic black.

For men’s fashion trends, male prom-goers wear vests layered underneath jackets for extra style and pizzaz. Bowties also decorate the collars of dress shirts, with prom stores filling their shelves with various colors and patterns.

In terms of jacket attire during the dance, seniors agree that tuxedos remain buttoned while standing up and unbuttoned when sitting down or dancing.

“If it’s loose you’ve gotta button it up, but if it’s tight then leave it open,” juniors Steven Hubert and Cobi Jefferson agree.

Through the development of fashion, a more relaxed and trendy feel makes itself more apparent in both male and female prom outfits. Regardless of what one wears, a nighttime full of dancing, memories, and laughter will surely ensue.