When students strike a prom pose this year, they’ll likely be doing so in an outfit that showcases their personal style. Researchers have found that Generation Z is focused on individuality, and now, that state of mind is making an impact on prom style, from DIY dresses to a push for gender fluid options.
"There’s no prescribed way, like there used to be, in terms of how things have to look at a prom, how people have to look," says psychotherapist Jill S. Zimmerman Rutledge, author of Prom: The Big Night Out.
"The kids today — they are more diverse, their generation is more diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, and also they’re so much more open to different gender issues" she said. "Teenagers are striving to find who they are, and if there’s constrictions like 'girls can’t wear this, boys can’t wear this, and you can’t come with your same sex partner, you have to be this conscribed couple,' then a person can’t be who they are."
Over the years, prom and prom fashion have been influenced by the times. The Great Depression interrupted the party for Chicago-area students, as Beth L. Bailey notes in her book From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America. Prom dresses in the 1940s lacked volume thanks to fabric rationing during WWII, according to Yahoo and Elle. Romantic Gunne Sax frocks matched hippie culture in the '60s and '70s. In line with '80s fashion, gowns of the times made statements with big shoulders and bright colors.
The '90s saw a slew of prom movies — 10 Things I Hate About You, She's All That and American Pie — in which female characters wore seemingly off-the-rack creations. However, students in 2018 are taking a cue from Molly Ringwald's Andie from Pretty in Pink, who showed up to prom in a bubblegum original of her own design.
Elissa Stein, author of Prom Night: The Best Night of Your Life, sees a similar spirit in today's students.
"(Prom is) reflecting what’s going on in the world as a whole," she says. "It’s much more about individualism now. Individualism, personal taste and expression."
Stein experienced the trend first-hand when her daughter (a 2016 grad) constructed her own hoop skirt out of refrigerator tubing for her formal at Brooklyn Technical High School.
"There were some kids who came in a pair of chinos and a skinny tie," she says, recalling the evening's varying styles. "There were some kids who came in full out tuxedos and arrived in a limousine. My prom experience, living through my daughter’s is true freedom in fashion."
Retailers have also caught on to kids' desires to be uniquely expressive. Nordstrom's prom guide encourages shoppers to "Own Your Prom Night, Your Way," with models wearing unexpected touches — neon pink shoes with a blush dress, metallic booties with a lace design. "Standout jumpsuits" are also touted.
Though Stein understands for some, individual choices include a traditional princess dress.
"I think it depends on your community, where you live; it depends on the fashion of the adults in your surroundings," she says. "If they’re more conservative, across the country and areas where pageants are very big, there’s likely to be more of a reflection of that in prom attire."
Despite gender fluid fashion showing up on the runways and female celebrities rocking suits on the red carpet, Adams explains prom clothing still is a matter of "personal and local tradition."
Jane Buckingham, founder and CEO of trend forecasting and consulting company Trendera, agrees, saying gender fluid options may pop up in some schools, but it hasn't reached mainstream prom fashion just yet.
"I do think there are people who will go 'less traditional' in pantsuits or creative attire and the difference is now that's accepted and embraced (for the most part) but not quite yet mainstream," she says.
Mental health counselor and gender therapist Dara Hoffman-Fox, LPC, explains this can turn prom from an empowering rite of passage to an uncomfortable event, even risky experience for some students.
"Whether they’re non-binary or are just females who would prefer not to have to wear something like a dress or even men who feel like they don’t want to wear a tux — when it happens, it usually is a big stink," Hoffman-Fox explains. "It ends up causing controversy and uproar when somebody dares to do something like that."
Recent controversies include a lesbian from Pennsylvania who was suspended for wearing a tux to her prom in 2016.
Thanks to mostly student-led initiatives in schools, however, there has been a slow-but-steady push for more inclusiveness in prom fashion.
"Bending the norms is happening," Hoffman-Fox says. "The voice of the youth continues to get stronger. It'll take a while, but every year that passes there are definitely changes."
