A picture perfect prom

Cinderella buries her face in her arms and weeps. But not to worry. Suddenly, her fairy godmother appears and with a flick of a magic wand, a pumpkin becomes a sparkling carriage and the ratty dog Bruno transforms into a courteous footman. ”Bippity-boppity bippity-boppity bippity-boppity-boo!”

Cinderella's raggedy old dress turns into a shimmering white gown, complete with elegant hair twists and a pair of perfectly coordinated sparkling glass slippers.

Unfortunately, most Blazers don't have a fairy godmother, a magic wand or a ”bippity-boppity-boo.” So come prom time, they must head frantically for the mall and smash open their piggy banks in hopes that their special night will be the fairy tale it's made out to be.

The look

Their prom photos will adorn the photo albums, wallets and memories of their friends and dates for years. So when most Blazers prepare for prom, they have to make sure their outfits are the fairest of them all.

Fashionably inclined ladies like senior Chase Green suggest that having dresses custom made guarantees an original outfit. Green formulated the idea for her dream gown in her head and had her friend draw it. She then visited the fabric store to choose a color she was sure no one else would have: shiny royal blue. Next came the problem of shoes. She solved it easily enough, deciding to purchase white ones that she will dye to match the color of her dress. For other girls, the solution to the dilemma of having the same outfit as someone else presents itself in a in a slightly different form than self-designed clothes. ”[It's terrible] when you get there and someone has the same dress or hair as you,” exclaims senior Megan Washington. ”That's when you know you have to fight somebody,” she says. While girls are fretting over perfecting every inch of their prom outfits, guys like senior Gabriel Alfaro are hardly losing sleep. ”If I want to be apart from everyone else I'll wear a fancy blazer,” he says nonchalantly.

Senior Benaye Lizardo also says he is not very stressed about choosing his prom attire. But despite his cool exterior, he brought a tuxedo catalogue to school and asked everyone he met which snazzy suit they found most attractive.

Girls trying to avoid the last-minute fashion anxiety strap on their purses and sneakers and embark on desperate hunts for the perfect dress months in advance. Green's idea for her dress was born her freshman year. She did not get started on its creation until February of this year.

Many girls discover the downfalls of prom procrastination. Sophomore Ame Perez, who attended prom last year, started searching for a gown a month before prom, but did not find the right one until a week prior to the big night. ”I was so stressed,” she says. ”My boyfriend was going to wear a silver tux, but I couldn't find a silver dress anywhere. The only one I found was see-through,” she says. Perez passed up the transparent gown and opted to wear a ”purplish-pinkish” one instead. Of course, after she finally laid her eyes on the perfect dress, she had to find shoes to match, which turned out to be yet another sweaty-palm, dry-mouth experience. Luckily, Steve Madden saved the day. But Perez has learned her lesson from last year's frantic last-minute shopping trips. ”If I go to prom again, I will look for the dress at the beginning of the school year,” she says.

Two scoops of stress

But even those Blazers who sparkle all the way from their professional hairstyles down to their trendy open-toes have only just gotten started on the pre-prom stress mobile. ”You have to go different places, find a dress, find a date, spend money,” rattles off senior Latoya Jackson. ”Prom is very stressful.”
Those who are single and don't want to go stag need to decide on the lucky person who will accompany them, a feat easier said than done. ”Make sure that your date is who you want to go with, so you can say, 'I went with so-and-so' and so your night will be off the hook,” says senior Ebony Thomas. ”You should be really comfortable with him [or her].” Once the dream date is chosen, the next obstacle to tackle is finding out if the feeling is mutual. According to senior Cecilia Grey-Coker, many Blazers get cold feet when it comes to putting their hearts on the line. ”Some [girls] are stressed because no one has asked them. Then guys go through rejection when half the people they ask say 'no,'” she says. But junior Jesse Rivas says he doesn't have to worry about rejection. ”I can always find a last-minute date,” he says, grinning confidently.

After finding a prom date, you may have one less problem to worry about. But don't bother relaxing—soon more challenges will arise. All of the details need to be planned and endless choices await.

Blazers can make a posh appearance in a limousine or cruise around town in a sleek sports car or they can fill their bellies with herbtastic Italian, home-style American or with hot Mexican food.

Then there's the nail-biting task of getting everyone from the restaurant to the dance. And for after the formalities, there's the choice between partying at a friend's house, hanging at a hotel, heading home or having a blast at the school-sponsored After Prom party. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

No money, mo' problems

Many Blazers expect prom to live up to its reputation of being the ultimate fairytale. But unfortunately, the real world requires a little more from buyers than leaving the ball before midnight. It calls for something with a little more substance, something you can hold in your hand. Something like money.
”Phew,” sighs out Green, thinking about all the money prom has gobbled from her pocketbook. ”Wow. There's $130 for the limo, $180 for the dress, $80 to $100 for the shoes, $80 for my hair, $80 for dinner, about $80 to spend at the [Baltimore] harbor [where I am going after prom], $65 for prom tickets, then if we girls decide to get a hotel, that's another $40.” Green's grand total comes to over $750.

According to Prom Night Tips For Gals (www.Prom-Night.com), a website that is dedicated to guiding prom-goers through the maze of confusion and anxiety, the special evening can cost anywhere from $150 to $1500. Lucky for most girls, their dates will cover a lot of the costs. But that's not so lucky for their dates, says senior Jonathan Funes. ”All girls have to do is get a dress. We have to have enough money to pay the ride, get a tux and buy dinner,” says Funes.

”And hear her complain if she doesn't like the color of her dress,” he adds at the last minute.

Last-minute woes

The big day has finally come. The dress is hanging in the closet, that special someone has agreed to go, the before, during and after prom plans have been made and the piggy bank has been smashed to smithereens.

But the anxiety is still there, and for many Blazers, as strong as ever. ”The day before and the day of [prom] are most stressful. Your stockings are ripped and you have to run to CVS to get new ones. Then you have to get your make-up on right,” says Thomas. ”You have to worry about how much you can eat so your stomach doesn't get too big. Then when you're dancing you have to make sure your dress doesn't rip. You have to bring something to wear afterwards, which is a whole other shopping trip. It's just too much,” she concludes, as her friends nod in agreement.

Thomas and her friends suggest frazzled Blazers stay as stress-free as possible by constantly reassuring themselves that ”everything is going to be okay.”

Jackson has more to add to her friends' words of advice. ”Pray,” she says. ”Put that in big letters.”

Jackson was so nervous the day before she went to a Virginia prom last year that she burst into tears. But when she saw her date dressed in his sexy all-white suit, her worries quickly disappeared. ”He was just pimpin',” she says, her voice full of pride.

In the end, even if a girl's fairytale fantasy prom isn't a dream come true, life goes on. There's still time to live happily ever after.