By Yairis Alvarado

Prom, short for promenade, was first introduced as being only for college seniors as their final goodbye. However, growing teenage culture continuously pushed for proms earlier and earlier and by the 1950s, the adolescent dance we know today was in place..

Being such an quintessential part of the high school years, prom has been through many changes and modifications. When comparing the 1950’s to recent years, prom has gotten some upgrades.

Attire:

The dress is still a major part of the prom experience, but people who chose to wear dresses, even in the 1950s, still had  to worry about wearing the same dress as another classmate. In recent years, there have been group chats for people to discuss their outfits before the dance to prevent any double-up disasters.

In the 1950s, the most common price for a prom dress was around, with inflation taken into account, $100-$200 , compared to the average price of $400-500 spent on a prom dress today. While prom dresses haven’t gotten any less spendy, online services let girls rent them for the night instead of purchasing them. The website ‘Rent the Runway’ gives the option of renting not only dresses, but shoes and jewelry.

The Group:

The all-important prom group consists of the couples you choose to go to the

dance with. However, “groups” in the 1950s are not as popular as they seem to be now. In the 1950’s, it usually consisted of a couple doing their own activities and meeting everyone at the dance. Current “group activities” will gather for pictures before prom, sit at the same table for prom dinner and ride in the same limo to the dance.

The Dance:

This part hasn’t changed much. There is always a theme to prom. In the 50s, prom themes kept the same trends of “Under the Sea” and “Ballroom” themes. At LHS, we invite the senior class to assist in choosing their prom’s theme.

Seniors, check your email and from six themes choose your top three to help narrow down the 2019 prom theme at LHS.