For those of you who are a member of Greek life, or are dating a Greek, formal season is upon us. It is that time of year again, when grown adults get all giddy about dressing up for a more ‘grown up’ version of prom. Thus begins the quest to find the perfect dress and shoes, which no one else will have, without emptying your bank account.
In high school I never stressed over prom like many girls do. I would wait until the last minute to find something to wear, purchase the first dress that I was officially satisfied with, and throw together some accessories that matched appropriately (generally stealing necklaces from my little sister, who seems to have accumulated a mass collection of jewelry). For some reason I never really took any of it seriously, until I came to college.
Formal has it’s prom-esque tendencies (in that you eat a fancy dinner, dance the night away, and consume mass amounts of alcohol, all while looking fabulous), but it supersedes any level of fashion that a high school-er could pull off. When picking out a formal dress the whole point is to find one that doesn’t look like you are going to prom. Those gigantically poofy Cinderella dresses are soooooo out of the question, and a general rule of thumb is to go for a cocktail dress. After all, we are adults now, and grown up women wear cocktail dresses, not ball gowns.
There are a few general guidelines one should follow when picking out a formal dress. If you are super tall, going for a long a-line dress would be killer (ala Audrey Hepburn in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’). Tall women can also pull off a floor length silk low backed dress, like the one that Kate Hudson wore in ’How to loose a guy in 10 days’ ( I would avoid a dress with a train though if you plan on dancing and not looking like an idiot doing it).
For all of you short women out there, do it short…As in get a short dress. Knee length teacup strapless dresses are one of the best dresses to flatter a shorter person, in fact don’t get a dress that goes too far past the knees (not to mention too close to your crotch, after all this is a formal dance, not a Decatur prom). Any dress that has a seam right underneath the breasts is always a good bet for short women, because it makes the torso look longer, and is great for any of you who have bigger boobs because it doesn’t make you look preggers.
I found two dresses that were perfect for me (one is that knee length strapless number that I mentioned earlier, and the other is a below the knee silk chiffon v-neck dress with wide straps) and I came to a problem that many girls may face: Which one do I buy? Now I was fortunate to find them at the Limited in Bloomington, where my mother fortunately gave me a charge card to (stupid move on her part), and they happened to be have a sale on everything in the store. Apparently Karma worked in my favor for one day, and since I was so fortunate to find what I wanted I bought both dresses.
Now, I am not by any means suggesting that everyone runs out and buys multiple dresses on a credit card that their mother pays, because it is extremely impractical (and I only managed to get away with it because my birthday is in a few weeks). If you do manage to find a killer sale, or happen to have an irregular amount of money for a college student (or maybe you saved up money for this very event), I say buy, buy, buy!
No matter what you decide to wear, just remember to find something that flatters your body. Every woman secretly (or not so secretly) wants to look glamorous, and dress up like a movie star going to the academy awards, so for one night you should be able to. For those of you that are not going to any formal kind of dance, it never hurts to have pretty dresses in your arsenal of clothes. And above all else, make sure it is comfortable!