by Rachel Deena ’13
In my last post, I outlined what a girl would need to capture her fantasy prom night. What I didn’t do was help you ladies harness your vision of the perfect prom dress and turn it into reality.
Let me try.
When you first go shopping, it can be quite overwhelming seeing the all the choices you have. It’s a good idea to have an idea of what you want before you start this endeavor, perhaps narrowing down the color, whether it will be with or without straps and the length.
This past award season was a great opportunity to start looking for inspiration. First, you should try and decide on a color palette that compliments your skin tone and your hair color. If tanning is hard for your skin, try to stay away from yellows, champagne, creams, and whites that would tend to wash you out. A great example of this happening is Amanda Seyfried at the Oscars this year. She wore a gorgeous white Alexander McQueen gown, but rather than standing out she just seemed to just be there. Nothing really special. If you have light hair and tan fairly easily, you might want to look at what other actresses have worn to these awards.
Reese Witherspoon was spotted at the Oscars sporting a stunning royal blue Louis Vuitton gown with black trim which highlighted her blue eyes and made her blonde hair glimmer in the light.
When considering your prom dress options, keep in mind your body shape. We all have different bodies and should celebrate that. Unless you are a mannequin in a store, I stress the importance of the fitting room. Just because a dress looks good on the mannequin or on the hanger doesn’t mean it will compliment your body. That said, when you see a dress that looks like something you wouldn’t wear on the hanger it might look great on your body. You won’t know that until you try it on.
If you are one of those girls lucky enough to have curves, then you can look for a dress that flows away from your body which would not accentuate your curves but sometimes gives you the appearance of a princess if done correctly.
Octavia Spencer did this at the Oscars in her Tadashi Shoji gown, which gave her a soft feminine look.
In contrast to Octavia, Jennifer Lopez drew a lot of attention to her curves at the Golden Globes in a form fitting Zuhair Murad lace gown. Again, I don’t recommend choosing a color that is similar to your skin tone like J.Lo did with this gown, but I do adore how it is done here with taste. She is not letting her assets steal the show but is captivating as a whole.
Legs that go on for days are a huge asset and, if you’ve got them, I suggest you show them off—tastefully of course. An elegant slit in the dress is a great way to accomplish showing off your legs while still being sophisticated. How high your slit rises is a huge deciding factor between looking sultry and looking dignified with an edgy twist. Take Rosie Hungington-Whitely at the Golden Globes. Her long black Saint Laurent gown had a surprising twist with the slit stopping around the mid-thigh. This is a modest place to stop your slit (because as a young lady you really shouldn’t be giving a peep show).
If you do decide to take your dress’s slit to above the mid-thigh, like Heidi Klum did at the Golden Globes, learn from her example and allow your dress to have a train. The train plays the role of elongating your image as the extra fabric in the train makes up for what’s lacking. When donning a higher slit, you really should wear more fabric on top, like Heidi did in this Alexandre Vautheir gown at the Golden Globes. She chose to draw attention to her long legs with upper-dress modesty.
Finally, if you’re on the petite side, show it off! Zoe Saldana did this at the Oscars with this Alexis Mabille gown, which cinched in around the waist to show off Zoe’s already small waist. The gown fits her form nicely to show off her figure. What I don’t recommend for a petite body structure is overdoing it. Overdoing it is exactly what Amy Adams did in her Oscar De La Renta gown at the Oscars. The gorgeous gown seemed to overwhelm her small frame with the long train and the layering ruffles. The gown didn’t compliment her figure, it just hid it.
Finally, when trying on your prom dress, keep in mind how high your heels will be. This is important because you don’t want to be struggling to walk and tripping over a train, but if you have a slit, you’ll have the opportunity to show off your heels.
Hopefully these tips helped you. Now, happy prom shopping!
http://www.elle.com/fashion/spotlight/golden-globes-2013-red-carpet-dresses?click=elle-more#slide-1
