OMG It's Prom!!!!

This weekend my sister and I went shopping and stumbled upon some prom dresses. I decided to look and see if I could find anything cheap. I was sorely mistaken if I thought it was still possible to buy a dress for (what I thought was) a reasonable price. Not only were most of the dresses hideous (picture a mini lime green leopard print with pink lace, only $160), but they were way too expensive for my budget.

When we got home my sister and I looked online to see if there was anything decent. One website http://www.promsgalore.com had dresses for an average of $275. The average price for another site http://www.tiza.com was $350.

Now, if one has the money and is willing to spend it on a prom dress, then fine have at it. However, I don't see how the average high school girl has an extra $300 to spend on a dress. And just a dress, not even shoes! This got me thinking, why do people spend this much even if they can't afford it? Most likely you'll only wear the dress once or twice. I decided that this is a very minute and sneaky form of price discrimination. Society has worked prom up to be a HUGE deal. It was influenced girls so much that they are willing to do unrational things to make prom night the "perfect night." The knowledge that a lot of girls are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money on prom dresses allows companies to raise the prices. Not only does the demand allow for a price increase, but I bet many companies assume that we, as teenagers, will not be responsible enough to know what is a reasonable price for a dress.

The last few weeks in May, after most proms are done, the demand for dresses go down and the prices drop considerably. So, for all you shoppers who probably won't actually buy a dress until the week or so before the dance - that's ok. It will be cheaper.