Prom Dress Shopping 101 Finding the Perfect Dress for Your Body ...

1. Don’t Limit Yourself to in-Person Shopping

The Internet is a great place. Utilize it when it’s time to go prom dress shopping. As someone who comes from a fairly small town, prom dress shopping is not easy. I don’t have the typical taste in prom dresses, making shopping for prom dresses even more difficult. Rather than limit myself to in-store shopping, though, I found both of my prom dresses online!

2. Determine Your Body Type

Once you determine your body type, shopping for a prom dress can be infinitely easier. You can ask dress consultants for a specific style that you know looks good on your body type, and they can help you find the most flattering dress for your figure.

3. Don’t Go with Friends

I know that it’s a typical cliché to go shopping for a prom dress with a group of your best girlfriends but think of actually not doing that. If you go with a group of girls who are all trying on similar dresses, emotions are going to run wild. Everyone’s focused on her own dresses rather than giving her friends advice, and you and a friend may even fall in love with the same dress, only leading to a fight. If you’re going to go shopping for prom dresses in person, don’t go with a big group of friends!

4. Find a Color That Complements Your Skin Tone

Prom is in the spring and summer, which means that it’s all about color. However, you don’t want to wash out your complexion by wearing a color that doesn’t look good on you. Read up on your complexion and the different colors that highlight your skin tone best before you commit to any prom dress!

5. Listen to Your Mother

Let me tell you a little story. When I was a junior in high school, I fell in love with a prom dress from a website that claimed to recreate celebrity red carpet looks. I was so stubborn that despite my mom’s worries that it may not look like it did in the pictures, I bought it anyway. Thankfully, she secretly ordered another dress from a reputable department store just in case my dress didn’t work out. The original dress didn’t look like the pictures at all, and I actually loved the dress that she picked out so much more than the one I had picked out! Mom always knows best, even if it’s hard to admit sometimes! She's the best person to go to for advice about shopping for a prom dress.

6. Know the Return Policy

To continue with that last story, the website that I bought the dress from had no return policy at all, which in retrospect, should’ve been a red flag. Because of that, I was stuck trying to sell a dress that I never even wore for four years until I finally gave up and donated it. Don’t buy a prom dress unless you know the return policy, and if they don’t have a return policy - run. It’s that simple.

7. Avoid the Big Prom Dress Stores

This tip is especially important if you live in a small town. Avoid the stores that you know everyone else is shopping at. While some stores will make a note if someone from your school has already purchased a dress, why even risk wearing the same dress as someone else? The more obscure you go, the less chance there is that that will happen! And that's probably one of the best ways to find the perfect prom dress.

What are your prom dress tips? Let me know how you get prom ready in the comments!