Panicking over plus-size prom
The Body Positivity movement has been around for years, yet why can I only find three different styles of dresses, while say a smaller girl has more than half the store to choose from? Instead of finding the ‘perfect’ one, it comes down to just finding one that fits and hasn’t been bought by someone in the school already.
November 20, 2022
NESPA Winner: Bylined Column, 2022
The Lancer Spirit, Londonderry High School, Londonderry, NH
When you’re a size 18 in a sea of zeros, the prom experience can be more than a little daunting.
The prom dress. Arguably one of the most important attires in high school, along with being a magical experience for the buyer, has been haunting me since the end of junior year. While the prom dress shopping experience is meant to spark a sense of joy and excitement, all I feel is dread.
While it’s already excessive to be starting the prom dress hunt this early in the year, many girls have already found, bought, and loved their dresses in early October. So even now with the big day in three months I feel that I’m already late to the game. Now this isn’t through my sheer procrastination (which may or may not be a part of it) but my inability to find anything that looks like it could fit past my thigh. A lot of anxiety stems from the critically acclaimed fat-girl fitting room fear. The fitting room has always been my worst enemy. The fear of something I really like being too small or would show off all the “wrong” parts of me has been an ongoing crisis in my life since second grade.
So to put it simply: it’s hard to find dresses as a plus size girl.
