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.
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Joelle, you have a wonderful point. I know girls who are spending $400 and more on dresses and accessories for prom and I think this is ridiculous. Prom is one night out of many in high school. Now, while their is a certain specialty to prom, spending this much on dresses is insane. As demand increases around March, prices skyrocket. The closer to prom, the higher the demand gets for dresses, and the higher prices will go. Now, some people are smart and choose to get their dresses way ahead of time (after homecoming or mid-winter) after other spikes in demand. All together, we will be having this argument for years to come. Prom dresses will always be ridiculously expensive because we will always have that high demand at that time of the year.
Yes girls my sister just got her prom dress this weekend, but lets put it this way it wasn't 400 dollars. However it is beginning to be a very expensive past time, and if you can buy your dress early the better off you are to bat off the large prices
My question is, why does society make such a big deal out of prom? Sure, the dress shops and limo drivers are going to rake in a couple extra bucks, but teenagers are the ones with the most expendable income (even if it doesn't feel like it most of the time) If we weren't spending our money on fancy dresses, odds are, it would get spent somewhere else.
yes, prom dresses can be very expensive. however, if you approach the situation with very elastic demand, things go much smoother. if you are less picky about the specifics of the dress and the brand (you will only wear this dress once after all), then a reasonably priced dress is suddenly much easier to find. i know several people who have found great dresses at goodwill and others who have simply traded dresses with other people from previous years. as for me, i just know where to look-my dress was about $30. if we all refuse to pay the crazy high prices, they will eventually fall.
Society doesn't place value on prom - high school girls place value on prom. And you hit it on the head - higher disposable income = great opportunity to increase prices to make higher profits.
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