This year, going to the mall to shop for a homecoming dress felt like a waste of time. I spent hours walking around the same stores as lots of other girls and it felt like each one was selling not only the same looks but nothing way different than what they were selling last year.
When going to shop for a homecoming dress, it was hard for me to find one that fit my style. I wanted something fitted on the waist but flowy at the end. I was open to any color that didn’t wash me out. But it seemed the stores catered to nothing but whatever was the current trend. The dresses I saw were fitted satin dresses in assorted colors. They were gorgeous, of course, but not what I wanted. I moved on, trying more stores like Windsor and Urban Outfitters, but still, I had no luck. After too many pointless store trips, I settled for online shopping. I took all of my measurements and began to search online, with the hope that I’d find what I was looking for.
Curious if other students had the same shopping frustrations as me, I talked to girls in each grade to get their perspectives on shopping for homecoming dresses this year. Contrary to my experience, senior Emma Trostel said that after going to MiMi’s prom, an appointment-only boutique, finding her dress was rather easy. When shopping for her final homecoming dress, Emma was adamant about efficiency, ensuring that she’d only be going to one place and finding her dress immediately. “I’m a very much one-and-done kind of person,” said Trostel, “So I was very happy when I found my dress within the first day.”
Junior Jordan Weir-Cundiff’s experience wasn’t quite as easy as Trostel’s but she still had a more easygoing dress-shopping experience than me. “Last year, the first dress I tried on I loved,” she said. “But this year was a little more difficult.” She’d thought she found the dress she wanted at Windsor but was persuaded by a friend to try on a different one. And after only two tries, she found her dress.
Now, sophomore Geniyah Johnson had a bit of a different answer. Instead of even attempting to shop in-store, she went straight to online shopping. I asked her how her experience shopping for homecoming differed from last year to this year. When shopping at Windsor, she expressed that she still found a dress pretty easily last year, but only because she didn’t know what she wanted, so she just went with the first dress she liked. However, this year, she found the exact kind of dress she was looking for in only a fraction of the time it would’ve taken in-store. And though she had an initial reluctance to buy a dress online, she found that the dress was exactly what she was looking for.
The only student I spoke to who had a similar dress-shopping experience as I did was freshman Allie Rapp. She said that after looking in many different stores, she had spent four hours shopping at the mall due to how crowded it was. Even though she didn’t have the best experience shopping in person, she did not want to try online shopping. When asked why she stated, “I don’t like shopping online, because you don’t really know if you’re gonna like the way it fits on you.” This is a very commonly stated and understandable reason, as many online store sizes fit differently than others. After spending a whole day in the mall, Allie ended up finding the dress she liked best.
After talking to other students, I’ve noticed that it mostly just comes down to personal preference. For me? Maybe I’m pickier than others or just have less tolerance for wandering around a mall. For others, the idea of online shopping might be more time efficient, but what if the dress doesn’t fit right? Then more time will be spent doing returns and ordering a new one. The thing that seemed to be in common with everyone, though, was the desire to find the perfect dress. So tomorrow night, let’s all celebrate what everyone is wearing because I know we’re all going to look our best.
