As prom approaches for most seniors, dresses are running out! Walking through the streets of Manhattan around 3 p.m., you will witness cliques of girls rushing with excitement to get to the store on time to shop for dresses.
Gianna Peralta, a current senior at the High School of Fashion Industries, is a victim of still not finding her dress nor having enough money for it.
“Prom takes place on May 21. My budget is about $150, because I pay for my own things. My parents are divorced and they really aren’t helping me out, except for when they bought my prom ticket,” she said.
Gianna goes on, about how she needs to find the perfect dress because she wants to feel like an absolute princess. “Our prom theme is Arabian. So I want to find something that goes with the theme and the weather. The weather is important because that defines if I get a warmy dress, or a cleavage dress,” she said.
But the longer she takes, she’ll have fewer options. Many girls in this school have already bought their dress, for very little money. Some have said they have found the perfect dress, and others that if they don’t find their dress, they won’t go to prom.
“I have to get heels, I need to know how I’ma do my hair, I need to set up the appointment for my make-up and I NEED MY PROM DATE!” Gianna says.
As seniors are all excited about prom, it’s causing them some stress.
Emely Pena, another student from the High School of Fashion Industries, breaks down and says “I don’t know what I’m going to do, I don’t even know what I’m going to wear, I haven’t even paid for my prom ticket and all of my friends are already ahead of me. I have to worry about college applications and how I’m going to pay my senior dues, I really want to go but I don’t know if I am,” she said. Unfortunately, most seniors pay for their own ticket.
Prom, in this high school, isn’t as good as what it seems in movies. Seniors are excited about it, but they are also overwhelmed on the stress about looking absolutely stunning on this day.