It’s no accident that prom season comes each spring after a string of awards shows have given teenage girls plenty of ideas about how to dress for their spring formals. Seeing all the glitz and glamour makes teens want to emulate what their favorite actresses and musicians are wearing.
It’s why girls this year might pick a print dress, like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams wore to the Academy Awards ceremony. Or go sleek in a strapless mini, like Taylor Swift wore to the People’s Choice Awards.
“There was a lot of bright color on the red carpet — like magenta, pink and red — and girls want to wear it,” says Lisa Cipriotti, who selects prom dresses that are sold at David’s Bridal stores. “This season another color that’s doing very well is electric green, which the actresses on shows like ‘90210’ and ‘Glee’ have been wearing.”
Others agree. “Prom is a great opportunity to wear color. It’s springtime and it’s a way to feel contemporary and fashion-oriented,” says Adam Moon, who’s in charge of teen fashion trends at Macy’s. “We’ve seen a lot of really beautiful color, from cerise and fuchsia to coral; and turquoise, bridging the gap between blue and green.”
Other top trends of the season that teens are embracing are one- shoulder styling, dresses with cutouts on the back and sides, and lots of sequins and beading, according to Cipriotti.
“It’s all about embellishment,” she says. “We have a white beaded dress like the one that Mariah Carey wore to the People’s Choice awards and girls are loving that.
“We’re seeing all-over sequins, or just elements, like on the bodice,” the buyer says. “They’re liking the bling.”
Prom has become such a big business that it’s getting the notice of such designers as Nicole Miller, who added prom styles to her collection this spring for the first time in many years. “I felt there was a younger customer I was missing,” Miller said on a recent trip to Denver where she presented her dressy styles at a Denver Ballet Guild benefit showing at Saks Fifth Avenue. The looks were modeled by local high school seniors who are part of the guild’s Les Demoiselles group.
Among the styles Miller is offering are short tiered looks in tulle and lace, stretch metallic fabrics, one-shoulder designs in satin, and silk georgette dresses with Lurex touches. The looks are sophisticated enough to appeal to both mothers and daughters.
“Sometimes a mother and daughter will share a dress. I don’t have a problem with that,” Miller says. “I don’t like to label things.”
The key to pulling off a prom look that you’ll love — even years from now when you pull out the pictures — is in personalizing your look, says Moon, Macy’s fashion director. He grew up in Colorado and attended his prom at Standley Lake High School in Westminster.
“It’s really the first opportunity to dress up and have that sense of meaning,” he says. “You put so much into it, it’s easy to overthink it.”
Instead, he says, relax. “Have fun with it; make it your own. You don’t even have to be on trend. The key is to personalize your look with jewelry, shoes, a handbag and a wrap. And that way even if someone else has the same dress on, you’ll look different.”
Suzanne S. Brown: 303-954-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com
Prom events
Dressing room divas
Macy’s stores at Park Meadows and Flatiron Crossing shopping malls will hold Dressing Room Parties at 2 p.m. April 3. A stylist will be on hand to help coordinate outfits and accessories, there will be a DJ and refreshments will be served.
Give a dress, get a discount
Donate a gently used prom or special-occasion dress to Saks Fifth Avenue through March 31, and you’ll receive 20 percent off a new dress. The dresses will be donated to ARC.
Dress sale
Sale of gently used dresses coordinated by Aurora’s Smoky Hill High School and radio station HOT 107.1, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Piney Creek Clubhouse, 5800 S. Joplin Way, Centennial. All dresses, $10-$20, cash or checks only. More at .
