Millennials Mourn The Prom Dress After Seeing What Gen Zers Are Wearing On The Once-Glamorous Night
AnnaStills | Shutterstock Many millennials are mourning the prom dress styles they wore back in the day after seeing the "brunch dresses" Gen Z is opting for these days.
When most adults think back on their prom nights, there’s a very specific image that comes to mind. A dimly lit room full of rented tuxedos and, of course, shimmering, floor-length gowns is what’s expected. Each generation has its own unique trends, and social media has been causing them to cycle through at an even faster speed than before. Some things, like a prom dress, feel classic, though. Is there really a need to change it up? According to Gen Z, there is.
Gen Zers are wearing what disappointed millennials have dubbed ‘brunch dresses’ to prom.
The idea of the prom dress being a unique, easily recognizable look has changed a lot. One millennial, Molly Walker, shared how happy she was to have gone to prom before this shift on TikTok. “Thank God ‘brunch’ prom dresses weren’t trending in 2019,” she said.
According to a report from The Atlantic, there are several factors that have led people to switch to wearing fairly average dresses to prom. One is that almost everyone is seeing the same content on social media. Some influencers might be more popular with teens and others more popular with adults, but there’s not as much of a divide in the trends people are fed these days.
Also, the fashion industry has undergone quite a few changes. Many department stores with dedicated prom dress sections each spring, as well as teen-friendly stores like Rue 21, are now closed. Fashion magazines for teens are a thing of the past, too.
All of this has slowly phased out the iconic formal prom dress look, and brought along something more casual that millennials are struggling to wrap their heads around.
Not everyone is mad about the new so-called brunch prom dresses, though.
Another content creator, known as @fromabolivian on TikTok, shared her own thoughts on the new wave of prom dresses, with a screenshot of a Teen Vogue article titled “15 Cottagecore Prom Dresses That Are Fit For Fairytales” behind her in the video.
Artyom Malyukov | Pexels
Honestly, the dresses pictured in the article are cute. Sure, they’re something that someone could wear to a nice brunch, but that doesn’t have to exclude them from being worn to prom, either.
The creator noted that while “older generations” are unhappy with the new look, she sees nothing wrong with it. “So, let the teenagers wear what they want,” she argued. “If they wanna be extra, if they wanna be extravagant and wear sequins and beads and all of that, then let them. And, if they wanna wear fun little cute floral brunch dresses, let them do that too.”
She pointed out something else important about the dresses that most seemed to be missing.
As she went on to say, these are not one-and-done dresses. Technically, nothing is stopping anyone from wearing their formal prom dress again for a night on the town, but it rarely happens. On the other hand, a simple brunch dress is practically made to be worn more than once.
Luis Navarro | Pexels
Someone seconded this in a comment on Walker’s video, saying, “I believe the brunch prom dresses indicate where we are economically. Instead of buying a dress that most girls will only wear once, they can buy a dress to wear to multiple occasions.”
The Terry Costa website, which sells dresses for all occasions, from proms to weddings, stated that the average prom dress usually costs somewhere between $150 and $1,000. They estimated that most people spend about $450 to $550 on their dress.
There’s nothing wrong with buying a fancy dress and getting all dressed up for prom if that’s your thing, but it’s not for everyone. Some people just aren’t interested, and others truly don’t have the funds.
No one should be made to feel less than or judged for wearing a more affordable dress to prom that won’t just get stuck in the back of their closet for the rest of their life. Maybe prom doesn’t look quite as glamorous as it used to, but that’s OK.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
