the promperfect dress — FashiontoFlow

So prom is quickly coming around and every girl is working long and hard to find their perfect, one of a kind prom dress. Boys just don't understand how much time and money goes into prom, they just have to throw on their tux, tie and shoes and there they go! But what exactly goes on with the girls? They have to buy a pretty dress, one that no other girl has in their grade, get shoes, have their make up done, then their hair, AND the nails (BOTH manicure and pedicure), all while making sure they've spent weeks if not months getting that prom perfect body at the gym. That sounds like a whole lot of work to go to a dance that lasts 4 hours.

Many girls have the issue of where to find the right dress. My "go to" online store would be Revolve, Rent the Runway, or Shopstyle. Of course there will be beautiful dresses at Sherri Hill or Davids Bridal, but those can get very expensive very fast, plus there are still a number of other things you need to spend your money on which I mentioned.

One of the greatest difficulties is trying to find one that no one else has. If there's a common theme, lets say spring colors, it's difficult to try to find something different. Of course the communication between everyone (via facebook group chats in my case) will allow people to see who has already chosen which dress, and these dress options are first come first serve. No one wants to be wearing the same dress as someone else, whether they say so or not. There are so many different dresses out there, and stores like Shopstyle and Revolve help to show you that.

Revolve and Shopstyle are similar in that they sell their clothes based on different categories and brands. For example, theres Free people, ASOS, Chloe, JCPenney, Jovani, Lulus, and many more. You can literally name any brand and there will be a very likely chance that it will be on there. I really like this form of shopping, where everything is provided to me, because I don't like scrolling through a bunch of websites just to not find anything I like. I also like the fact that it's only one tab thats open on my computer. I don't like having a lot of tabs open at once. You can also shop by not only brands, but stores, color, sizes, prices and sales. Since there are so many dresses to choose from, I think that's a really organized way to try to find exactly what you're looking for.

I got my dress from Saks Fifth Ave through Shopstyle. I went through so many dresses off of so many different websites, I felt like it was going to be impossible to find something. I first started off by looking at an Australian website called Hello Molly. I found an orange dress that had a choker neckline that I loved. Since it shipped from Australia, I had to pay extra for it, but I didn't mind because I knew I was going to love it. Turns out I was wrong. It looked completely different on me than it did on the model and the material was so uncomfortable, so I ended up having to ship it back to Australia...not a very fun experience. Then I looked on Revolve and there were some dresses I liked, but didn't love. I think the reason why I wasn't in love with it was because of the way it looked on the model. The way it's photographed on the model plays a huge role in what I purchase, especially when it's online because that's the only thing that you have of the clothes. You can't feel the material, you can't try it on, so you have to rely on the website to see if you would really look good in it. That's why I'm not a huge fan of online shopping, but that was really the only option I had for picking out a dress. Anyways, I tried Shopstyle and I was seeing the same "model problem" (I couldn't see myself wearing it because of the way it looked on the model). My mom, who has super good taste in clothes, ended up just picking a bunch of dresses that she liked and just ordering them. There were about 6 dresses that came and I ended up liking ones on me that I originally didn't like online. From there, I narrowed it down to two blue dresses, and I think that the dress I chose is a super cute, springy dress that I could wear more than once. I also really liked the color because I don't usually wear bright blue in my wardrobe, so it mixed it up a little.

Rent the Runway is also a super good place to go to find a dress. I got my prom dress there last year for prom. The process of getting a dress there was also super fun. I started off by looking online. It asked me to fill out a survey saying which style of dress, along with color, neckline and all these specifics about my occasion and what I'm looking for. Then, I scheduled an appointment at the store location in New York City, where a personal shopper would get all of the dresses that fit my description. It costs around 100 dollars for an hour, but it's so worth it. When I walked into the store, I look at the dresses on display and I unfortunately was not really seeing anything I liked. But the secret is that they have all their best dresses in the back of the store, but you can only go back there if you have an appointment. My personal shopper was cool. I was originally looking for a long dress that was tight on top and flowed out on the bottom. There were a bunch of that style that I tried on, then the girl had me try on a mermaid dress, which at first I was like "no", but I actually ended up choosing that style. Although the one I was was pretty, the mermaid was more flattering on me. They also allowed me to buy two dresses for the price of one, so I rented out both the mermaid and the flowy dress. The only thing that I have to warn you about is the way that it delivers. They allow you to rent the dress for 4 days, including the shipping. That means that it will ship and arrive at your house either two days before or the day before and you have to ship it back right after your done with it or else they will charge you for it. If you get super anxious about shipping like me, then you will probably worry the same way I did. It had shipped to my house as planned the second day before prom, but no one was home to sign for the package, so it went back and I had to wait until the next day. Luckily, I got it, but it was the day before prom, so that was super stressful. Other than that, whenever someone asks me where they should get there prom dress, I always suggest they go to Rent the Runway.

That's my spiel about my favorite places to get my prom dresses. Some places to go for shoes are Macy's, Nordstrom or Bloomingdales. I'm not that big of a "shoe gal" just as long as they look good, so I'm not really that particular on where I buy my shoes. I got my shoes for prom last year at Macy's. They are nude heels from the Michael Kors section of Macy's. They are my favorite pair of heels and I have worn them for basically every formal event I go to since I bought them, including my prom this year!

I got my make up all at Bare minerals. I think they have a really good selection of make up that make you look more natural. I don't like feeling that I'm wearing make up, even though I am. My favorite kind of make up is eye shadow because I love all the colors you can choose from. I wear Bare Minerals on an everyday basis along with special occasions.

I know that was a long talk about dresses and everything going into the prom. All those boys reading this, you probably didn't think that there was this much that went into prom. Now you know what a girl goes through every time there's a dance.

Saks fifth Ave Revolve prom 2017

Saks fifth ave Revolve prom 2017

Saks fifth ave Revolve prom 2017