Revisiting My Prom

Dress – Melanie Lyne

It’s time for another story time. Prom for me was about 8-9 years ago, and it wasn’t the most memorable one. It was a difficult time for me because I had a couple falling out with close friends, and I was going through a bad relationship. When I look back on my high school career, overall it was quite the happy and enjoyable one, but contrary to the experiences of others prom wouldn’t rank high in my favourite moments.

Regrets aren’t something that I really hold onto, but growing up in the world of Disney princesses made me really itch for that picturesque promposal, followed by the perfect outfit and night out with friends. Sadly none of those rang true, other than a fun night with friends. If I could pick one thing from my high school career to do over, prom is pretty high up on the list.

My prom dress sits in my closet back at home in Ottawa. Each time I pull open the closet doors and catch a glimpse of it, the thought “what were you thinking” flashes across my mind.

I have this long list of reasons why prom truly sucked for me, and I’ve come to the understanding that many of the components were simply out of my control. But the one thing that I can control was my outfit and hair. Gawd that horrendous hair. I thought it was cute to do a half-up, half-down do, but it really just didn’t serve my face shape any justice. Back then I really thought that the bigger the better (fancy hair done at a salon, gel nails, super blingy shoes) but now I truly understand the understated classiness of simplicity and would have gone in a totally different direction.

If I could go back in time and redo prom, this is the sort of get up that I’d be going in instead – minus the designer bag of course. Sleek, simple, and timeless, I can’t get over the beautiful back detailing of this rose dress. Paired together with simple and minimal jewelry, you’ve got yourself the perfectly classic look that will never fail to impress regardless of the era. Oh how I wish that I could have known back then – but ignorance is bliss, and I’ll chalk it up to my eagerness to impress that led me to put together such a gawdy look.

To all of my readers who are currently thinking about prom, or are already in the stages of planning out your outfit, hopefully this aids in providing you with a framework as to how to dress timelessly. Because looking back 10 years from now, the last thing that you’ll want to be doing is cringing at all of your prom decisions like I do.

Photography credits: Allure of Simplicity