A long dress, a perfect date, a
sit down meal, a classy dance and a Prom King and Queen. Every American is probably nodding their head
in recognition of my generic prom description. However, us Brits are bamboozled
by this idea. It is common knowledge that British teenagers became obsessed with the idea of prom after
watching hundreds of chic flicks, all ending with what seemed to be
the fairy tale ending of high school. Prom. Of course, this obsession led to British
teenagers begging their teachers to allow them to hold a prom. Over the years
many teachers have given in to the persistent begging and in the last few years
most schools in the UK have a prom for year 11’s and 13’s.
Why
then are the British not nodding along with the statement given at the
beginning of this post? Let me put it this way, although British proms are
heavily inspired by the American ideal, it seems that some of the key elements
of an American Prom have been lost in translation whilst travelling over the
Atlantic Ocean. What is different? What is a British prom like?
Firstly, the whole dress scene
is completely different in the UK. The ratio of long dresses to short dresses
is probably about 1:3 meaning that British proms are made up of hundreds of
girls in short party dresses instead of the traditional ball gown. I personally
am glad that there isn’t a sense of tradition in Britain as I would hate to be expected
to wear a dress which I may not feel comfortable in. The British dress scene
also allows for more self-expression to take place as there is no social
expectation or certain criteria which your dress has to fit into. Nevertheless,
this has caused some problems in my school this year as people have conflicting
ideas of what prom ‘should be’ which has resulted in people confronting others
about their outfit choice because it is either too flamboyant or not flamboyant
enough. However, I have discovered that behind these people’s words is a sense
of insecurity as they are only concerned for themselves as they do not want to ‘stand
out’ or look different to others which causes them to want everybody to have
the same idea of what prom ‘should be’ as them.
In addition, from what I can gather, the
majority of Americans have a date at prom. Of course bringing a date to prom is
every girls dream – wherever you are from. However, the sheer mass of single sex
schools in the UK often prevents this dream from becoming a reality. I
currently attend an all-girls school where the issue of bringing a ‘plus one’
has arisen for many. As you can imagine, plenty of the year group are single
and there being no boys in the school to bring to Prom means that for many a
date is out of the question. Although the dream may be shattered the lack of
dates is not an obstacle which prevents you from having any fun as the
friendship group alternative has many benefits. As I just mentioned, the
majority of people go to Prom with a group of friends. Girly giggles, helping
each other to get ready and taking hundreds of pictures to make sure that each
and every one of you has a suitable Facebook profile picture are just a few of
the activities that take place before arriving at prom where they celebrate in a
relaxed way with their loyal friends. You could say that a year 11 Prom in
Britain is more of an end of exams party where you can celebrate the five years
you have spent together as a year group and say goodbye to the people who will
not be returning in September.
The
dancing. The highlight of a Prom. As you can imagine the lack of couples at a
British Prom has a huge effect on the dancing that takes place. If you were to
walk in and encounter a British Prom you may mistake it for a teenage club
night or a school disco. The dancing does not correspond with the traditional
partner dancing as the whole night is based around dancing within a scale of slightly
prerogative to crazily odd dancing.
Finally, the tense moment when the Prom
King and Queen are announced is not quite so tense in Britain. This may be down
to the fact that this event does not take place. Usually. In British schools
there is often a sense of ‘everyone is a winner’ which means that crowing a
King and Queen at Prom goes against the key ethos of many schools. However, I
always think that us Brits miss out on the competitiveness of Prom which results
in some people not trying their hardest with their appearance or dancing style!
When I started to write this post
I had no idea what it would become. From reading over it is apparent that it
has become a mere outlet for me to compare British proms with American proms
accompanied by some vintage images of Proms which I adore. Well done for making
it to the end of this vast, descriptive comparison. I am assuming that if you
got this far you are slightly interested in this topic. If this is the case
drop me a line below telling me about your prom and where you are from which
will add to my knowledge of Proms which is definitely something that is needed
in life. Isn't it?
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