On yesterday’s Project Runway, the challenge was to create a prom dress for a high school girl. That’s a cool challenge on the surface, because the designers have to design something formal and yet make it something that a girl of that age would actually pick. In reality, however, I take issue to how this challenge was presented, because it is something that society in general tries to drill into the heads of young girls. The message was that prom is the most important day of a young girl’s life.

So, crap, because I didn’t go to prom, I have apparently trashed what was the most important day of my young life?? Does that mean that the sum of my teenage life now amounts to almost nothing because I did not partake in this social event?

I don’t regret not going—I wasn’t really the formal dance type of girl, and the group I hung with wasn’t really the dance type either. No one from my school asked me, but then, I didn’t ask anyone either. I’m sure I would’ve had an OK time if I went, hanging with a few people, but I don’t think it would’ve been OMGAWESOME or life altering or anything. I’ve also never been the type to ask my parents to pay for extravagant things, and expensive dresses you only wear once would fall under this category, so I would’ve felt bad asking them to shell out the money.

Not going doesn’t bother me, but it does bother me when the media or society in general hypes up something to a greater importance than it actually is. I guess this is not unlike the high school years in general. At the time, most people seem to feel that it is the most important time ever, but really??? Not so much. I didn’t feel like high school was all that—I’m not sure if that made me wise beyond my years or just abnormal. I wasn’t plagued with a bad experience—I enjoyed it, but I think I was always just looking at it as the path to the next step—college, which would be the next step to the working world, etc.

I’ve done so many more worthwhile things post high school, and I can probably count on one hand the number of people I still talk to on a regular basis. To place such great importance on a night of dress-up with someone the girl is probably going to break up with the next week anyway is being unrealistic. I would hope that other events would hold more worth, like how about graduating high school, or going away to college?

Posted at 7:37 PM |

We don’t have proms as such in the Netherlands, so I have never understood the importance people place on it. I remember when I was in the States for a year, that I did go to a formal dance, but unlike my friends, I was simply regarding it is as a fun evening, whereas they went all out to make sure they had the perfect dress!

I totally understand your point, and I would also have chosen for a fun night out instead of having to pretend to have fun at a prom ;)

1 | Posted by: Leonieke on January 12, 2008 @ 6:52 AM

See, you actually had the right attitude! Sure, it can be (and should be) fun, but I don’t think it’s life-altering.

Prom is just one of those strange American customs we have that is a bit out of control, but that’s cool that you actually got to experience the formal dance and see what it’s all about.

2 | Posted by: Jennifer on January 12, 2008 @ 1:20 PM

As soon as you go to university over here, you will have the opportunity to go to formal dances (galas). I’ve been to a few of those - at one point two in a year - but their hype could not be compared to the prom-hype :) at least, that’s not how I experienced them.

3 | Posted by: Leonieke on January 13, 2008 @ 11:16 PM