Now, I'm going to sound like, fully-fledged fossil here [but that's okay, with my birthday approaching I guess I need to accept my ripe old age at some point 😑] - this is going to be one of those 'back in my day' type post; something which I always say in my mind in the voice of Fred Elliott. If you know, you know [#GrowingUpManc, #ISayAshley]
Today we're reminiscing aaaaall the way back to my days of youth; back in my day when proms were quite a new concept and a good old school disco [with kids trying to sneak vodka into the bogs and our preferred currency being those mad yellow polos - the citrus ones] was much more familiar territory. Which was pretty much what our prom was in all honesty; a slightly pimped up school disco, just pulled out of the sports hall and plopped into a hotel instead.
Times have changed so much since we all raided the Debenhams' posh dress section & applied patchy AF fake tan in an attempt to channel our American rom-com prom queen idols - these days there is a lot of money spent on dresses, beauty, hair & makeup for gals attending their prom [pretty much a posh leavers do, right?]... with custom made dresses & Louboutins galore. Like, I've seen cases of over a grand being dropped and CANNOT COPE.
The idea of having this sorta ball was such a culture clash for us at the time - we'd only just got past Adidas popper pants and Helly Hansen bubble jackets, proms were pretty new ground and a far cry from dancing to Robbie Williams' Angels in a big circle at the school disco; with teachers supervising our every move. Parents had no idea what was expected ££ wise, and I don't think I've ever seen a limo in my hometown until the idea of prom arrived there.
I do love the idea of kids celebrating the end of their high school education with friends, in a posh-but-not-quite-grown-up prom style venue - and as someone who's worked in high-end retail, I do love the buzz of all the girls coming in with their Ma's to find the dress, and how much they get into it. But also. The poor Mums. No-one wants to look like pure sh*t at prom - and [most] kids being kids and trying to out-do each other at every opportunity defo don't appreciate the value of money & the financial strain this can put on the family. I hope, if I was ever to squeeze out a bbygirl, she'd accept from a young age that she'd prob be going in one of my recycled bodycons from Uni.
At the time, you think the most important thing in the world is to find your prom dress no matter what the cost.... and that having the world's most bangin' dress and outdoing that snotty cow who's made sly digs at you for years is ALL THAT MATTERS. At that age, you don't typically appreciate that buying that dress full price now and not waiting for it to go on sale might be the difference between the leccy being paid or not this month for your parent[s.] Something which I relate too all too much now.
As much as I see the good side of having a prom [we actually had 2; one at the end of Year 11 & one after 6th Form] I do really think it puts pressure on both kids and parents these days; in this ever more materialistic Instagrammable culture where everyone's trying to look more like a celeb than everyone else in a bid for 'klout' [up there with gusset as one of me worst words that.] And some of the amounts of money I've seen spent on proms is just jaw-droppingly cray-cray.
What do you guys think? Did you have a prom at your school? Do you think kids have it tougher these days in terms of peer pressure?
*Collaborative post, but all opinions and experiences of dancing in the sports hall with a mouth full of polos are totes my own. For more information on what this means, please see my Disclaimer
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