Cultural Questions: Prom - What's the deal?

Amrith from India asks “I was watching this movie called Prom Night, the kind of clothes you wear, they should be expensive, right? And, where was your prom held? Do you pay for the food and all?”

*** Disclaimer: I can only speak with the views, experiences, and opinions of one person - which is obviously me. Anything that I will be talking about can be used as a reference for one American high school student. This post does not even attempt to depict the experiences, views, or opinions of any other high school students in the United States of America. With that being said, this is an insight for people to glean off of my experiences. It may not be accurate to think that any other students go through school like I do, but it is safe to say that one may get an idea of how school operates in my area - and by area I mean my specific school.***

Ok. First of all, I’ve never seen that movie, so I don’t really know how to relate my answer to that specific question – but I will do my best to answer the question from my perspective. Oh, and Dilón will chime in sometimes too.

 “Should the clothing be expensive?” The answer to this question is both yes and no. The clothing generally is much more expensive than everyday wear, but that doesn’t mean that all prom attire is expensive. I’ll talk about ladies’ attire first and transition into men’s attire. In my neck of the woods, the clothing does not HAVE to be super expensive, but, yes, the cost of the dress does tend to be a status symbol. Really shallow girls will search for their dresses by the highest price or by a certain high price range. However, girls will usually go looking for a dress that they think is pretty (perhaps still within a certain price range – like in a budget), and the dress can just happen to be expensive. That’s just usually the way the market works – gowns are almost always wayyyyyyy more expensive than normal clothes. Actually, I have to take that last statement back because designer clothing can be much more expensive than some gowns. But, then again, designer dresses will always be more expensive than designer clothing. In my opinion, dresses are usually way overpriced, but there’s still the argument that fancy gowns have to be hand embellished – so if the dress has been made in the States then it will automatically be expensive due to the cost of time and labor.

Both of my prom dresses have been relatively inexpensive when one compares pricing because my mother taught me how to “shop smart” as the saying goes. In other words, she taught me to only buy clothing when it is on sale at the end of the season when pricing is dirt cheap. So, the total cost of my dresses I bought for my junior and senior prom (yes 2 dresses combined) was about $120. However, the dress I wore for my senior prom was actually a gift from a friend of mine (although I had already bought another dress to wear since I hadn’t met this friend yet). Apparently her mom just goes and buys dresses for her anywhere they’re on sale even if they’re not in her size. I have no idea what the cost of that dress was initially, but I know she (my friend) was willing to sell it to me for $40. In the end though, my friend gave me the dress as my graduation present – which was really nice :)

When it comes to jewelry, I know a lot of people who just get a decent set of costume jewelry to match their dresses, but I just borrow some of my mom’s old jewelry since it’s on hand and Mom is willing to lend it to me for the night.

Both the boy and the girl are usually accessorized with flowers. The girl’s flowers are called a corsage, and the boy’s flowers are called a boutonnière. Nowadays the girl’s flowers get attached to the wrist – though this was not always the style so I’ve been told. The boy’s flowers have always gone in their jacket pocket.

Speaking of boys, the gentlemen are always required to wear a tuxedo (tux for short) that usually matches their dates’ dress.

Dilón here - Boys are required to wear a tux since it's a really formal event, though a few have gotten by in fancy suits.  Though it is true to say that the attire aside from the occasional suit or Converse is fancy, we all know the dancing isn’t right Vic.?  Nobody that I have ever heard of has bought their tux, as this would be both expensive and impractical.  Tuxedos can be rented at many formal-wear stores and can range from the regular/average price of $130, or higher.

Vic here again – Yeah, Dilón does have a great point. The dancing doesn’t match the attire AT ALL. Now, about the location: I don’t know about most other schools, but usually schools will hold their proms either at some fancy place like a hotel ballroom or something like that - if they have it in their budget - but I know several of the schools around here just decorate their gyms. My school is very different since we're private and super tiny. Last year we had our prom on a boat in Knoxville, the closest metropolitan city, but this year we had it at a country club in the same county as our school. 


Both proms I've been to have included the cost of the dinner, a nice sit-down dinner, in the price of the ticket. So yes, we pay for the food. The total price of our tickets this year were $35 per person but last year I think it may have been around$50 because we had to rent the boat and all of its staff instead of staffing the event ourselves. Dilón here again:  I do know of a few schools that went to hotel ballrooms who paid at least $75 for their tickets.


So overall, it tends to be an extremely expensive event. The guy usually pays for both tickets and takes care of his tux and the corsage as well as dinner if the couples decide to go somewhere before the prom. The girl is supposed to wear a fancy dress and jewelry and she is supposed to purchase the boutonnière.  This practice is beginning to fade, however, and be replaced with girls paying, or at least trying to, for half of the ticket, or trying to pay for more than they should…eh hem VIC!


Vic here again: Last year I went by myself to prom because I didn't have a boyfriend and didn't want to ask anyone to take me because I knew a load of my friends were going to be there, but at the beginning of this year as a joke I asked Dillon if he would go, but Dillon actually took me seriously.  Prom is usually a week from Graduation at my high school, but I know that many schools usually hold theirs in April instead of May. Anyways, I wound up going to prom with my best friend since 7th grade haha. But he still totally believes and upholds chivalry and wouldn't let me pay for any of it at all - which made me kinda feel like a jerk because I'm not used to having nice things just handed to me. Because of what started as a joke, he came all the way back from Uni. to come to my prom (he had to drive all the way from North Carolina because his family moved when he left for college and his classes had been over for about a week). So, now I'm still scheming of ways to get him back, and I think I found a way (because he won't accept money - he would just send it back to me with more money in the envelope most likely). Yeahhhhh he's a really good friend. … Dillon is hacking again and telling Victoria that that is what friends, and chivalrous men in general, ought to do, so she had better stop scheming…not that he is the definition of chivalry…  :D  (End Dillon’s rant here.)


So Amrith, I hope that really long explanation hopes you understand prom more ^_^

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Thanks!

- Vic & Dilón