Senior Prom: Part 2

This post is part 2 of a 2 part post on prom. Go here for part 1.

90% of getting ready for prom is for the pictures. Once you actually get to the prom, it turns out that its a dark, sweaty room where everyone looks less good within 15 minutes of dancing.

I met my date, a close friend, at his house two hours before the prom start time. We live in a small town, on the same street, in a semi-urban setting. My house doesn't have a yard. His does, so we decided to do our first round of pictures there. My parents, my grandparents, and his mom were there. We did all of the standard prom poses with appropriate teenage awkwardness. We also took some great photos near an open trash can (which are still on his camera), which will probably turn out to be my favorite from the evening, due to their antiestablishment nature. You can save all of your jokes about ginger prom dates, we have heard them all. No, we did not go tanning before prom.

After an hour of picture taking at his house we headed to meet a large group of our friends at Fonthill, a whimsical poured-in-place concrete castle designed by local celebrity Henry Chapman Mercer. There, we had hors d'oeuvres, schmoozed, and complimented each other on how not ugly we all looked. Our parents, collectively, took 800 to 100,000 photos.

Me and Sir Date

Dominique's Boyfriend, Dominique, Me, Sir Mister Date Esq. PhD

A Mass Quantity of My Friends, Airborne

Erinn and her date drove me and my date to prom in her sleek 2000 Jetta. Prom was at a surprisingly nice country club. When we arrived, everyone was herded up a grand staircase to walk past security so that drunk kids could be weeded out and their lives could be subsequently ruined. Luckily, nobody at the prom got busted. This walk was a great opportunity to outfit snark. My date, though not a huge fan of fashion, is a huge fan of film and the Oscars, and he used this opportunity to do some red-carpet style fashion critique. Lots of girls wore looks straight out of Seventeen Prom. Tans were orange, makeup was overdone, dresses were skimpy, and boobs were overly prominent. The majority of people looked great though.

We were required to spend the first hour of prom eating. The menu included a salad, which I didn't touch, sourdough bread, and stuffed shells or lemon chicken. Nobody seemed excited to eat this food. Instead, there was a lot of polite, adult socializing, which was maybe the strangest part of the whole night. After, we were all let into the ballroom and we danced. The DJ wasn't very good, and played mostly oldies. Nothing made me feel closer to my peers than grinding to ABC by the Jackson 5. My date, who doesn't usually dance, danced with me the entire time, and even liked it. The room was a sauna of adolescent awkwardness, and we were very sweaty by the end of the evening. My hair eventually retreated to its natural fur-like texture and triangular shape. I didn't really care though, because I was having a great time.

Afterward, we headed to a party at Dominique's boyfriend's house, where we swam, talked, and stayed up until 5 am. In the morning, we had pancakes. As far as I know, most other social groups did similar things. I am not aware of anyone who died or got arrested. Maybe someone got pregnant, but we won't know for a few weeks. I'll let you know!

When I got home the next morning I was really excited to shower. Looking nice is fun, but after two days of makeup, sweating, and swimming I felt absolutely disgusting. I got home and showered. I pulled off my fake eyelashes, and some of my real eyelashes too. I put on sweatpants. It felt great to feel ugly.

In short, prom was awesome, but one prom per lifetime is probably enough for me. If you are younger than me and you are reading this, I definitely recommend that you go to your prom, but just keep it in perspective.

This post is part 2 of a 2 part post on prom. Go here for part 1.

Waxing/Waning

Today was a hugely busy day for me. I woke up late for school and had to rush out the door with my hair in a ponytail and no makeup. I did, however, use this opportunity to try out the romper--the thinking man's unitard-- a trend that Seventeen online swoons over. After all, what could be better for a person with no time for fashion than an article of clothing that comes all in one piece? World's easiest outfit, except for peeing. In that forum its the world's most difficult outfit. Unfortunately, I didn't get to snap a picture of myself a-rompin'. I did, however, capture my onesie, er, romper, on video. (See below.)

I spent the better half of my afternoon engaged in prom related activities. I went to the florist to order my boutonnière. I researched hairstyles online. I got my eyebrows waxed.

Seventeen Prom suggested that I shape my brows 5 days before prom. I wasn't aware of this timetable until I got the magazine yesterday, so it came as a shock to me when I realized how far behind schedule I was!

I was going to pluck my eyebrows myself, but I figured that since I was running behind on the schedule it might be okay to get them waxed at a salon, that way I wouldn't have to worry about them turning out poorly. Not wanting to defy Seventeen in any way, though, I consulted with the website before committing to waxing. It turns out that Seventeen does approve of waxing, or at least that's the conclusion that I drew from this article on their website. I decided to go for it.

The ladies over at Salon 39 were kind enough to let me record the ordeal. Honestly, the video is pretty boring. Its 15 solid minutes of hair removal. I'll admit, laying on a plastic table in a toddler outfit getting hairs ripped out of my face with hot wax is not one of my proudest moments. Still, I decided to post it to make up for the lack of romper pictures.

**Not to be a huge tease, but I can't figure out how to upload a YouTube video that is more than 10 minutes, and I don't know how to edit a Quicktime movie to a shorter length. Thus, there is no video for now. Here is a still from it. If someone can help me out a little (tutorial somewhere?) it would be greatly appreciated!**

Here is the after picture:

They look pretty good I think. I was worried about getting that perpetually surprised look, but I think I'm in the clear. Please excuse the non-Seventeen-approved frizz. The humidity here is killing me.

Some other (non-waxing) stuff:

• I did an interview with the nice people over at I Heart Daily. Click the link if you want to read it.
• CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: I am looking to create a list of teen friendly products and media that "get it." I hope for this list to serve as a resource to girls (and parents) who are looking for an alternative to the stuff marketed at teens today. If you know of any movies/books/media/institutions that seem to understand teenagers in a way that Seventeen doesn't, please send your recommendations my way! These don't necessarily need to be media created for teens, just media that is accurate of its portrayal and understanding of the teenage experience. If you are company that makes an innovative, teen-friendly product, also feel free to contact me. I'll link to everyone that contributes!

Seventeen Prom Gets It Right (Mostly)

I went to no less than 20 bookstores to track down a copy of Seventeen Prom, which was published months ago-- months before I even thought to start planning for The Most Important Night of My Teenage Life. Every store I went to said they hadn't had the issue in stock for months. I finally got a copy of it from a friend of a friend who heard through a friend that I was looking for the magazine. Talk about luck!

My prom is this Friday, and I am one of few people at my school who appears to be relaxed, or even excited, about the event. Conversations seem to skew more toward, "Lauren is crying because we invited Mike and Sarah to be in the limo with us," than "I'm looking forward to dancing and having a good time with my friends." Also popular topics of discussion among my peers: worrying about table seating, worrying about plans for acquiring post-prom booze, and worrying about the humidity on prom night. (Okay, that last one might just be me.)

Nonetheless, I am actually excited for the evening. Today I conferenced with my date about corsage/pictures/transportation. My hair/nails/makeup appointments are booked. Everything seems to be in line for a good weekend. I practically feel like a normal teen. I'm a sucker for rites of passage, though.

And so are a lot of other people, presumably, judging from the nearly 400-page length of the 2010 issue of Seventeen Prom. Surprisingly, the magazine actually gets a lot right, much more than their non-prom counterpart Seventeen, in my opinion. Seventeen Prom has lots of reasonable advice on how to do prom in a way that's low-cost, high-glam, and surprisingly unconventional. Here are a few things that stood out to me:

The Good

This hair is so cute! Definitely not the typical half-up half-down curling-ironed look that 90% of everyone I know will probably sport. Just cute natural hair, times THREE.

These nails are really cute-- fun and subtle! (two words I don't often put together to describe Seventeen)This picture! A well-dressed couple goofing off and having a good time. Sort of personifies my opinion of what prom should be.

Conceding that there were some good things in this magazine, though, does not mean that it is without flaws. A few things were downright bad, but most were just weird.

The Bad

Lots of dresses in the issue were really ugly or really bizarre. Seventeen calls this trend "High-Low" but I think "Mullet Dress" would be a more fitting name.

Maybe I'm conservative, but a silver lamé bikini does not a dress make. I can't imagine dancing in that. Same goes for the super tight, super short, super gaudy red minidress, which is so short that the model needs to hold the hemline down just for the photo shoot.

This dress itself isn't that bad in my opinion, but I am curious to hear the thinking behind putting a cutout in a place that most people work diligently to camouflage. The model looks good in it, but I don't really know anyone who is looking for a dress with a love handle window.

I don't see anything wrong with the dress in this one, I just wonder, WHERE IS THIS GIRL? There's a stage, there's a disco ball, and there's an..... exercise ball? This appears to be shot on the set of a bad 80's exercise video.

Speaking of bad 80's things.... this hair looks a little Dynasty to me.

There were, of course, lots of bits in the magazine about dates and dating. This blurb itself actually addresses something that a lot of people in my school have been discussing. The example of a romantic prom proposal, though, seems likes its really setting the bar low. (That is, unless Craig and Emily are huge stoners, which in that case, the McDonald's breakfast might just be the holy grail of romance.)

Prom Sex is one of the hugest teen movie clichés of all time. Googling the phrase brings up some really entertaining advice forums. Lots of things in the magazine allude to doin' it, some not so subtly....

....and some REALLY not so subtly.

If you think teenage boys struggle with bras, you'll get a huge kick out of watching him struggle with this number before your Prom Sex:

Overall, the magazine was pretty good. It delivers what it promises.... advice on hair and makeup, and pictures of dresses. I think that niche magazines such as this one do a better job of actually giving people what they want in terms of content. In attempting to provide one been-all end-all magazine for lifestyle, fashion, and beauty, normal Seventeen ends up tackling each area poorly.

Frivolous

Today was my first real fashion day. This is all good and well, except for the fact that it was Sunday, I had nowhere to go. Seventeen Hair Calendar Girl had Sunday blocked out for a backyard BBQ, but all that I had scheduled for today was writing a paper for school, an activity that I usually do in clothes with elastic waistbands.

Anyhow, I ended up going to DSW this morning so I'd have an excuse to get dressed. The real me has been avoiding the ordeal that is shopping for prom shoes, but the Seventeen Me loves shopping and especially loves prom (!!!!).

Today I tackled the "Glam Camp" look from the magazine.

This outfit seemed like a good point of entry since, save for the heels and socks, it isn't that fashion-ey. Socks and heels are not commonly paired here in suburban Pennsylvania, but I thought DSW might be a good place to give it a chance since it seemed probable that the people there might understand fashion (at least from the knees down).

I also tried the "Shine Down" summery makeup look with the "Mermaid Braid" from the "Special Guide for Girls with Thick Waves, Frizzy Curls, or Poufy Hair." I will address this guide in more depth at a later day, because I've got an entire post worth of thoughts on it. For now, here are my efforts...

The general thinking behind magazine makeup seems to be "pack shit all over your face so it looks like you don't have pores." This seems bizarre to me, but I won't claim to "get" fashion. I can appreciate good design, but the notion of adorning yourself makes me feel a little like a commodity.

My mom seems to like this project because it means I am dressing less like an independent bookstore employee/NPR listener and more like a Normal Teen. People in public seem to be pretty receptive to the look too. I definitely felt attractive, but I also felt stupid, because I am not sure what sort of rational person goes to a giant shoe warehouse in heels. Seems frivolous.

I bought three pairs of shoes at DSW..... something about being frivolous also makes you fiscally irresponsible I guess.