Walking down the red carpet for the last dance of your high school career, it’s as if your prom queen dreams have come true: people “ooo” and “ahh” as you strut down the stairs, a gorgeous, long dress billowing beneath your feet. You’re ecstatic! After four long years of waiting, the time has finally come for it to be “socially acceptable” to wear a long dress to a school dance.
Except, this isn’t the norm for seniors at LFHS. Instead, in years past, seniors have started a trend of wearing short dresses to prom— both to the liking, and dismay, of many.
Each year, LFHS hosts two dances that welcome every grade: homecoming and winter formal. The expectation for each dance is that students wear short dresses— floral patterns for homecoming, and a more party-esque vibe for winter formal.
When prom rolls around in the spring— exclusively for juniors and seniors— it’s the one time when it’s considered “acceptable” to wear a long dress. Now, though, long dresses have been ousted from the senior prom wardrobe and have been replaced with the same short dresses students have been wearing for the past four years of high school.
“There’s only one dance where you can wear a long dress— junior prom— but that one dress should at least be worn during our senior prom. It’s an expression of who you are, and it’s what makes prom more memorable and important,” said senior Natalie Elliott.
Senior Bella Greazel agrees that long dresses are a special addition to prom.
“I feel like we can only wear long dresses once during high school, and wearing short dresses again just seems like any other dance, which makes prom a lot less exciting,” said Greazel.
Some students also believe that long dresses are more suitable for seniors as they are heading into graduation and adulthood.
“I think that seniors should wear long prom dresses because long dresses can be seen as more mature and have a more elegant nature than short dresses. Since the majority of us will be adults this year, it would fit that theme very well,” said senior Bella Mattera.
It’s not that some seniors still don’t wear long dresses to prom. However, those who do are often seen by other students as not abiding by the dress code, or that they’re disconnected from the norm. We need to change these expectations as it’s important to allow all forms of expression to flow freely at prom. Senior Sofia Zaramella speculates that if she wore a long dress, she might not be met with the best responses.
“I feel like if I were to wear a long dress, there would one-hundred percent be negative comments about it,” said Zaramella.
Meanwhile, some students simply wish they could have more of a choice when it comes to choosing either a long or short dress.
“I’m okay with wearing a short dress because I wore a long one last year but, if they switched the expectations, I would love to wear a long dress again,” said senior Alison Hauer.
Students at LFHS shouldn’t berate or judge their peers for wearing a dress they choose, no matter whether it’s long or short. We need to normalize self-expression and, rather than creating barriers to the length of a dress, we should welcome any kind. Senior prom is our last hoorah and we shouldn’t feel like the options for our wardrobe are limited.
